Biology subjects

Pinotti, T.

Publications and source records attributed to Pinotti, T..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Tracing the Spread of Celtic Languages using Ancient Genomics

Celtic languages, including Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Breton, are today restricted to the Northern European Atlantic seaboard. However, between three and two thousand years before present (BP), Celtic was widely spoken across most of Europe before being largely replaced by Germanic, Latin or Slavic1-4. Despite this rich history, how Celtic spread across the European continent remains contentious5. The debate is currently focused around three main models based on historical linguistics and archaeology: (1) a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age spread from Central Europe associated with the Hallstatt and La Tene Cultures6-9; (2) a Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age spread along the Atlantic seaboard linked to the Bell Beaker Culture10-13; and (3) a Bronze Age spread from France, Iberia or Northern Italy14-16. Previous genomic investigations are centred around the arrival of Celtic to specific regions: Britain17, Iberia18 and Southwestern Germany19. Here, we utilise new genomic data from Bronze and Iron Age Europe to test how the population histories align with the three models of prehistoric spread of the Celtic languages. In line with the theory that Celtic spread from Central Europe during the Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age, we find Urnfield-related ancestry - specifically linked to the Knoviz subgroup to have formed between 4 and 3.2 kyr BP, and subsequently expanded across much of Western Europe between 3.2 and 2.8 kyr BP. This ancestry further persisted into the Hallstatt Culture of France, Germany and Austria, impacting Britain by 2.8 kyr BP and Iberia by 2.5 kyr BP. Our findings thus agree with the model of Central European spread of the Celtic languages through consecutive expansions of the Urnfield, Hallstatt and La Tene Cultures rather than the competing models. These results demonstrate, yet again, the power of ancient population genomics in addressing long-standing debates in historical linguistics and archaeology.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Ancient genomics support deep divergence between Eastern and Western Mediterranean Indo-European languages

The Indo-European languages are among the most widely spoken in the world, yet their early diversification remains contentious1-5. It is widely accepted that the spread of this language family across Europe from the 5th millennium BP correlates with the expansion and diversification of steppe-related genetic ancestry from the onset of the Bronze Age6,7. However, multiple steppe-derived populations co-existed in Europe during this period, and it remains unclear how these populations diverged and which provided the demographic channels for the ancestral forms of the Italic, Celtic, Greek, and Armenian languages8,9. To investigate the ancestral histories of Indo-European-speaking groups in Southern Europe, we sequenced genomes from 314 ancient individuals from the Mediterranean and surrounding regions, spanning from 5,200 BP to 2,100 BP, and co-analysed these with published genome data. We additionally conducted strontium isotope analyses on 224 of these individuals. We find a deep east-west divide of steppe ancestry in Southern Europe during the Bronze Age. Specifically, we show that the arrival of steppe ancestry in Spain, France, and Italy was mediated by Bell Beaker (BB) populations of Western Europe, likely contributing to the emergence of the Italic and Celtic languages. In contrast, Armenian and Greek populations acquired steppe ancestry directly from Yamnaya groups of Eastern Europe. These results are consistent with the linguistic Italo-Celtic10,11 and Graeco-Armenian1,12,13 hypotheses accounting for the origins of most Mediterranean Indo-European languages of Classical Antiquity. Our findings thus align with specific linguistic divergence models for the Indo-European language family while contradicting others. This underlines the power of ancient DNA in uncovering prehistoric diversifications of human populations and language communities.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2024

Steppe Ancestry in western Eurasia and the spread of the Germanic Languages

Today, Germanic languages, including German, English, Frisian, Dutch and the Nordic languages, are widely spoken in northwest Europe. However, key aspects of the assumed arrival and diversification of this linguistic group remain contentious1-3. By adding 712 new ancient human genomes we find an archaeologically elusive population entering Sweden from the Baltic region by around 4000 BP. This population became widespread throughout Scandinavia by 3500 BP, matching the contemporaneous distribution of Palaeo-Germanic, the Bronze Age predecessor of Proto-Germanic4-6. These Baltic immigrants thus offer a new potential vector for the first Germanic speakers to arrive in Scandinavia, some 800 years later than traditionally assumed7-12. Following the disintegration of Proto-Germanic13-16, we find by 1650 BP a southward push from Southern Scandinavia into presumed Celtic-speaking areas, including Germany, Poland and the Netherlands. During the Migration Period (1575-1375 BP), we see this ancestry representing West Germanic Anglo-Saxons in Britain, and Langobards in southern Europe. We find a related large-scale northward migration into Denmark and South Sweden corresponding with historically attested Danes and the expansion of Old Norse. These movements have direct implications for multiple linguistic hypotheses. Our findings show the power of combining genomics with historical linguistics and archaeology in creating a unified, integrated model for the emergence, spread and diversification of a linguistic group.

genetics↗