Scientists from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Natural History Museum Vienna and the University of Vienna, together with an international research team, have carried out a complete genetic examination of two cemeteries in Mödling and Leobersdorf. The surprising result: while the population of Leobersdorf was mostly of East Asian origin, those buried in Mödling were mostly of European descent. And, as the scientists report in Nature, the two settlements lived peacefully side by side.

Genes and culture do not have to match, as confirmed by the latest findings of a research project that has genetically examined two cemeteries from the 8th century Avar period: 500 graves in Mödling and almost 150 in Leobersdorf. The question: Who were the people living there at the time? Were they descendants of the Avar conquerors or the pre-existing population? Or had the two groups long since mixed?

In Lower Austria, Eastern Asia meets Europe

The surprising result: while the population of Leobersdorf was mostly of East Asian origin, those buried in Mödling were mostly of European descent. This conclusion would not have been reached without the genetic material. The two communities had very similar ways of life. The grave goods in both places were also similar.

‘Cultural integration apparently worked despite major genetic differences. It is the first time that we have been able to demonstrate such a contrast,’ says medieval expert Walter Pohl of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW).

He is responsible for the overall coordination of the major HistoGenes project funded by the European Research Council (ERC), which has now published its research in the scientific journal Nature. The interdisciplinary project is coordinated at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and also includes the Natural History Museum (NHM) Vienna and the University of Vienna, as well as teams in Germany, Hungary and the USA. It is the first major project in which researchers from genetics, archaeology, history and anthropology are working closely together.

Peaceful coexistence

Evidence of peaceful coexistence comes from anthropology and archaeology. Weapons were only occasionally placed in the grave. ‘We find no battle wounds on the skeletons and there are hardly any deficiency symptoms,’ explains Margit Berner, an anthropologist and project manager at the NHM. ‘It was one of the most peaceful periods in the history of the Vienna Basin, which contradicts the cliché of the “wild” Avars,’ adds Pohl. ‘Thanks to improved genetic analysis, we were able to create family trees over six generations. This also allowed us to determine that almost none of the mothers had ancestors in the area – so they must have come from other regions. There was a clear ban on incest in both Mödling and Leobersdorf.’

No parallel societies

The women were mobile and came from other communities – there were also hardly any genetic connections between Mödling and Leobersdorf. What distinguishes the two places is the criterion of which settlements the women came from: in Leobersdorf, apparently from communities that also descended from the immigrants from East Asia, whereas in Mödling they were of European descent. ‘Nevertheless, no parallel societies emerged that maintained their own customs,’ explains Pohl: “Status symbols such as belt fittings depicting griffins, culture and customs were the same. Most likely, both considered themselves Avars.”

One intriguing question remains: what became of the two settlements? Around 800, the Franks under King Charlemagne subjugated the Avar Empire. Around this time, the two burial grounds were also no longer in use. From the last generation, almost only children and a few adults were buried. ‘We don’t know why the young people and adults left the area before that. The genetic traces of the people of East Asian descent are also lost. How this came about is one of the many exciting questions that the HistoGenes project still wants to answer,’ says Pohl.