Tracing genetic connections of ancient Hungarians to the 6th–14th century populations of the Volga-Ural region

Abstract

Most of the early Hungarian tribes originated from the Volga-Kama and South-Ural regions, where they were composed of a mixed population based on historical, philological, and archaeological data. We present here the uniparental genetic makeup of the medieval era of these regions that served as a melting pot for ethnic groups with different linguistic and historical backgrounds. Representing diverse cultural contexts, the new genetic data originates from ancient proto-Ob-Ugric people from Western Siberia (6th–13th century), the pre-Conquest period, and subsisting Hungarians from the Volga-Ural region (6th–14th century) and their neighbours. By examining the eastern archaeology traits of Hungarian prehistory, we also study their genetic composition and origin in an interdisciplinary framework. We analysed 110 deep-sequenced mitogenomes and 42 Y-chromosome haplotypes from 18 archaeological sites in Russia. The results support the studied groups’ genetic relationships regardless of geographical distances, suggesting large-scale mobility. We detected long-lasting genetic connections between the sites representing the Kushnarenkovo and Chiyalik cultures and the Carpathian Basin Hungarians and confirmed the Uralic transmission of several East-Eurasian uniparental lineages in their genepool. Based on phylogenetics, we demonstrate and model the connections and splits of the studied Volga-Ural and conqueror groups. Early Hungarians and their alliances conquered the Carpathian Basin around 890 ad. Re-analysis of the Hungarian conquerors’ maternal genepool reveals numerous surviving maternal relationships in both sexes; therefore, we conclude that men and women came to the Carpathian Basin together, and although they were subsequently genetically fused into the local population, certain eastern lineages survived for centuries.

High Coverage Mitogenomes and Y-Chromosomal Typing Reveal Ancient Lineages in the Modern-day Székely Population in Romania

“…The selected ancient populations are the Hungarian Conquest Period (10th century AD) populations of the Carpathian Basin [41–44]. KL4-5-6 groups indicate different cemetery types in the Hungarian Conquest Period, as used in Szeifert et al 2022 [45]. The investigated Székely population and previously examined Székely groups are marked in purple, the ancient populations from Hungary in pink, modern-day Romanian populations in orange, other modern-day Europeans in green and Asian populations in beige.…”

“…Whole mitochondrial data are missing from Romania, and the Slovakian and Czech datasets are also limited; therefore, the resolution of that analysis is restriced. Among the ancient populations, the KL6 group, which was discussed by Szeifert et al as comprising large village cemeteries opened in the 10th century and used until the 11th and 12th centuries in the Hungarian Kingdom [45], was the closest to the Székelys.…”

“…On the A12a phylogenetic tree (Figure 5), a modern-day Hungarian sample and a Hungarian sample from the time of the Hungarian conquest (10th century, Harta_HC3), as well as two samples from the 9th–10th century Volga-Ural region (Bolshie Tigani RC8 and Uyelgi-No7, [42,45]), cluster together with the examined modern-day Székely sample. The Conquest Period and the Bolshie Tigani individuals had identical mitochondrial DNA sequences to the Székely individual and that lineage could also be found among today’s Hungarian population.…”

“…On the C4a1a3 partial neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree (Figure 5B) the MKC26 refers to a sample that originated from the 6th–8th century West-Siberian Ust-Tara archaeological site of the Nizhneobskaya culture [45]. The population of this culture was probably proto-Ob-Ugric (Southern-Khanty), although it showed typical Hun-period cultural traits [46].…”

“…Parts of the neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree of A+152+16362 and D4e4 mitochondrial haplogroups are shown in Supplementary Figures S5 and S6. On the A+152+16362 tree, a sample from Cis-Uralic Sukhoy Log cemetery (7th–8th centuries) [45], as well with the latter contemporaneous, ‘Kimak’-reported individual from the Central Steppe [47], can be found in close proximity to the Székely sample. The relationships between samples from the Volga region Early Mediaeval sites Karanayevo, Bolshie Tigani, Gulyukovo, Tankeevka, from the Conquest Period Transdanubia and the Székely sample on the D4e4 phylogenetic tree suggest a possible connection between these sublineages via the conquerors.…”