"We have a powerful phantom that has haunted us for many decades: on the Adriatic, this phantom is the Picenes" - so said, in 1975, Massimo Pallottino, the scholar who has contributed more than any other to the study of pre-Roman Italy. Today, thanks to interdisciplinary research involving archaeologists and geneticists, this " phantom " is coming back to life, allowing us to explore in depth the origins, contacts and development of the Picenes, one of the most fascinating civilisations of pre-Roman Italy.

A study conducted by the Department of Biology and Biotechnology "Charles Darwin" of Sapienza University of Rome in collaboration with the Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology of the National Research Council in Rome (CNR-IPBM) analysed the ancient DNA of more than 100 skeletal remains from various necropolises in Central Italy, covering a time span of more than 1,000 years, from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity. The results, published in the journal Genome Biology, revealed a surprising genetic history that differentiates the peoples of the Adriatic from those of the Tyrrhenian Sea and provides new insights into the genetic legacy of the Roman Empire, and its role in shaping genetic and phenotypic changes throughout the Italian peninsula.

"In recent years, the study of ancient DNA has become an irreplaceable tool for reconstructing human history. Through the analysis of genetic material extracted from human remains, we can better understand the migrations, interactions and evolution of populations over millennia. These data now offer an unprecedented insight into our past and the dynamics that shaped ancient societies", says Fulvio Cruciani, Professor of Population Genetics at Sapienza University and co-author of the paper.

 "Genomic analysis of the Picenian necropolises, the main one being that of Novilara, in the Marche region, central Italy, showed that, although culturally distinct, this people shared a common genetic heritage with other coeval cultures and in continuity with earlier Italic cultures. However, the Adriatic populations had peculiar characteristics, linked to the continuous trade and cultural exchanges across the Adriatic, reflecting a complex mosaic of interactions that shaped the Picenian gene pool in a different way than that of the Tyrrhenian populations", adds Eugenia D'Atanasio, CNR-IPBM researcher and  study co-coordinator.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the research is the phenotypic diversity of the Picenes compared to their neighbours. The study showed that they had a greater prevalence of phenotypic traits such as blue eyes and fair hair, features much less common among coeval populations such as the Etruscans and Latins. This physical diversity, combined with genetic contacts with Northern European and Near Eastern populations, makes the Picenes a unique case in the study of pre-Roman Italy.

 "This multidisciplinary study represents a crucial step in understanding the evolution of the gene pool of pre-Roman Italy, highlighting both the complexity of population movements and cultural exchanges that characterised ancient societies. The results open up new perspectives on the demographic history of the entire peninsula, suggesting that a cosmopolitan society began to emerge and persisted in Italy during the Iron Age, reaching its peak during the Roman imperial era", explains Beniamino Trombetta, Professor of Human Genetics at Sapienza University and project scientific supervisor.

Analyses of ancient DNA, although still in its infancy, are opening up new and fascinating perspectives, not only in the fields of archaeology and human evolution but also in the medical field, as demonstrated by the 2022 Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded to studies of this kind. Following this trend, the publication of this research marks a milestone for Italian archaeogenetics and lays the foundations for further research that could rewrite the history of our origins.

References:

Ravasini, F., Kabral, H., Solnik, A. et al. The genomic portrait of the Picene culture provides new insights into the Italic Iron Age and the legacy of the Roman Empire in Central Italy. Genome Biology 25, 292 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-024-03430-4

Further Information 

Beniamino Trombetta
Department of Biology and Biotechnology "Charles Darwin", Sapienza University of Rome
M (+39) 3426283281
beniamino.trombetta@uniroma1.it