Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
197,768 studies31 sourcesUpdated 1 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BYNature

Tracing the spread of Germanic languages using ancient genomics

  • Hugh McColl1,2,3,4
  • Guus Kroonen5,6,7,8
  • J. Víctor Moreno-Mayar9,10,4
  • Frederik Valeur Seersholm9,10,4
  • Gabriele Scorrano11,9,10,4
  • Thomaz Pinotti9,12,10,4
  • Tharsika Vimala9,10,4
  • Søren M. Sindbæk13
  • Per Ethelberg14,15
  • Ralph Fyfe16,17
  • Marie‐José Gaillard18
  • Hanne Marie Ellegård Larsen19,20
88 more authors
  • Morten Fischer Mortensen19,21
  • Fabrice Demeter9,22,10,23,4
  • Marie Louise Schjellerup Jørkov24,25
  • Sophie Bergerbrant26,27
  • Peter de Barros Damgaard9,10,4
  • Morten E. Allentoft9,10,28,4,29
  • Lasse Vinner9,10,4
  • Charleen Gaunitz9,10,4
  • Abigail Daisy Ramsøe9,10,4
  • Isin Altinkaya9,10,4
  • Rasmus Amund Henriksen9,10,4
  • Evan K. Irving-Pease9,30,10,4
  • Karl-Göran Sjögren31
  • Serena Sabatini31,32
  • Anders Fischer31,33,32,34
  • William Barrie35
  • Andrés Ingason9,36,10,4
  • Anders Rosengren9,36,10,4
  • Andrew H. Vaughn37,38
  • Jialu Cao9,10,4
  • Jacqueline Staring9,10,4
  • Jesper T. Stenderup9,10,4
  • Fulya Eylem Yediay9,31,10,32,39
  • Torbjörn Ahlström40
  • Irakli Akhvlediani
  • Sofie Laurine Albris
  • Vladimer Aslanishvili
  • Biyaslan Atabiev
  • E. V. Balanovskaya4
  • Oleg Balanovsky
  • Pernille Bangsgaard9,10
  • Maria Giovanna Belcastro
  • Elizaveta M. Chernykh
  • Philippe Charlier
  • Elizaveta M. Chernykh
  • Torben Trier Christiansen
  • Alfredo Coppa
  • Maura De Coster
  • Sean Dexter Denham
  • Sophie Desenne20
  • Jane Downes
  • Гадиев Умалат Бесланович19
  • Olivér Gábor
  • U. B. Gadiev
  • Johan Zakarias Gårdsvoll
  • Zanette Tsigaridas Glørstad
  • Jesper Hansen
  • Stijn Heeren

60 listed; 100 in total.

40 affiliations
  1. 1Centre for Ancient Environmental Genomics, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. [email protected]
  2. 2Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. [email protected]
  3. 3The Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. [email protected]
  4. 4Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Center, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.,
  5. 5Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. [email protected]
  6. 6Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. [email protected]
  7. 7Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark,
  8. 8Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands,
  9. 9Centre for Ancient Environmental Genomics, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  10. 10The Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  11. 11Center for Molecular Anthropology for the Study of Ancient DNA, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
  12. 12Laboratório de Biodiversidade e Evolução Molecular (LBEM), Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
  13. 13Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
  14. 14Arkæologi, Museum Sønderjylland, Haderslev, Denmark
  15. 15Museum Sønderjylland, Arkæologi,
  16. 16School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
  17. 17School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth UK,
  18. 18Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden
  19. 19Environmental Archaeology and Materials Science, National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
  20. 20National Museum of Denmark,
  21. 21National Museum of Denmark. Environmental Archaeology and Materials Science,
  22. 22Eco-anthropologie (EA), Département ABBA, Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, France
  23. 23Eco-anthropologie (EA), Dpt ABBA, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme 17 place du Trocadéro, 75016 Paris, France,
  24. 24Laboratory of Biological Anthropology, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  25. 25Laboratory of Biological Anthropology, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark,
  26. 26Department of Archaeology, Ancient History and Conservation, Campus Gotland, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
  27. 27Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Campus Gotland, Uppsala Univeristy,
  28. 28Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  29. 29Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Australia,
  30. 30Section for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  31. 31Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
  32. 32Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden,
  33. 33Vendsyssel Historiske Museum, Hjørring, Denmark
  34. 34Sealand Archaeology, Kalundborg, Denmark,
  35. 35Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
  36. 36Institute of Biological Psychiatry, Mental Health Services, Copenhagen University Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark
  37. 37Center for Computational Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
  38. 38Center for Computational Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America,
  39. 39Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Center, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark,
  40. 40Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

Germanic languages, including German, English, Frisian, Dutch and the Nordic languages, are widely spoken across northwest Europe. However, the timing and location of the prehistoric arrival of this Indo-European linguistic phylum, as well as its Iron Age diversification, remain contentious 1–3 . Here, by sequencing 712 ancient human genomes and analysing them alongside 4,009 previously published genomes, we identify an archaeologically elusive population that entered Sweden, likely from the Baltic region, by around 4000 bp . This population, which became widespread throughout Scandinavia by 3500 bp , offers a potential vector for the introduction of the Germanic language group to Scandinavia 4–6 , some 800 years later than traditionally assumed 7–9 . Following the Late Iron Age disintegration of Germanic into its descendant languages, we observe by 1650 bp a southward migration from southern Scandinavia into presumed Celtic-speaking areas, including present-day Germany, Poland and the Netherlands. During the subsequent Migration Period (1575–1375 bp ), we see this ancestry among Germanic-speaking Anglo-Saxons in Britain and Langobards in southern Europe. In the same time period, we identify a related large-scale northward back-migration into Denmark and southern Sweden, coinciding with the rise of Danish influence and the linguistically documented emergence of Old Norse. These findings indicate that multiple migrations and geographical locations had a major role in the arrival and formation of Germanic, as well as in its divergence into historical and modern descendant languages.

Related

  1. Evolutionary genomics of ancient and endangered Achnatherum breviaristatum on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
    Ying Yang, Xieyong Zhang, Xu Su +6
    Communications BiologyPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0General biologyNatureCrossref
  2. The spread of genomics
    Andrew H. Paterson, Brock A. Harpur
    Frontiers in geneticsPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textGenetics & genomicsEurope PMCPMC
  3. Elucidating the evolution of litchi: insights into the population genomics of ancient trees on origin, dispersal, and adaptive genetic basis
    Han Wang, Xiaoqian Yu, Lianlian Rao +3
    Horticulture researchPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textGenetics & genomicsEurope PMCPMC
  4. Bridging Languages, Rebuilding Communication: Best Practices for Assessing and Treating Discourse for Bilingual People with Aphasia
    Danielle Fahey, Niharika M K, Reem S. W. Alyahya +1
    PsyArXivPreprintAll rights reservedFull textNeuroscienceOSF
  5. Enhanced cortical tracking of unfamiliar languages in both monolinguals and bilinguals
    Q. Zheng, F. Ahmed, A. Chopra +1
    bioRxivPreprintCC BYFull textNeurosciencebioRxiv

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{mccoll2026tracing,
  title = {{Tracing the spread of Germanic languages using ancient genomics}},
  author = {Hugh McColl and Guus Kroonen and J. Víctor Moreno-Mayar and Frederik Valeur Seersholm and Gabriele Scorrano and Thomaz Pinotti and Tharsika Vimala and Søren M. Sindbæk and Per Ethelberg and Ralph Fyfe and Marie‐José Gaillard and Hanne Marie Ellegård Larsen and Morten Fischer Mortensen and Fabrice Demeter and Marie Louise Schjellerup Jørkov and Sophie Bergerbrant and Peter de Barros Damgaard and Morten E. Allentoft and Lasse Vinner and Charleen Gaunitz and Abigail Daisy Ramsøe and Isin Altinkaya and Rasmus Amund Henriksen and Evan K. Irving-Pease and Karl-Göran Sjögren and Serena Sabatini and Anders Fischer and William Barrie and Andrés Ingason and Anders Rosengren and Andrew H. Vaughn and Jialu Cao and Jacqueline Staring and Jesper T. Stenderup and Fulya Eylem Yediay and Torbjörn Ahlström and Irakli Akhvlediani and Sofie Laurine Albris and Vladimer Aslanishvili and Biyaslan Atabiev and E. V. Balanovskaya and Oleg Balanovsky and Pernille Bangsgaard and Maria Giovanna Belcastro and Elizaveta M. Chernykh and Philippe Charlier and Elizaveta M. Chernykh and Torben Trier Christiansen and Alfredo Coppa and Maura De Coster and Sean Dexter Denham and Sophie Desenne and Jane Downes and Гадиев Умалат Бесланович and Olivér Gábor and U. B. Gadiev and Johan Zakarias Gårdsvoll and Zanette Tsigaridas Glørstad and Jesper Hansen and Stijn Heeren},
  journal = {Nature},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1038/s41586-025-09064-1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09064-1},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Tracing the spread of Germanic languages using ancient genomics
AU  - Hugh McColl
AU  - Guus Kroonen
AU  - J. Víctor Moreno-Mayar
AU  - Frederik Valeur Seersholm
AU  - Gabriele Scorrano
AU  - Thomaz Pinotti
AU  - Tharsika Vimala
AU  - Søren M. Sindbæk
AU  - Per Ethelberg
AU  - Ralph Fyfe
AU  - Marie‐José Gaillard
AU  - Hanne Marie Ellegård Larsen
AU  - Morten Fischer Mortensen
AU  - Fabrice Demeter
AU  - Marie Louise Schjellerup Jørkov
AU  - Sophie Bergerbrant
AU  - Peter de Barros Damgaard
AU  - Morten E. Allentoft
AU  - Lasse Vinner
AU  - Charleen Gaunitz
AU  - Abigail Daisy Ramsøe
AU  - Isin Altinkaya
AU  - Rasmus Amund Henriksen
AU  - Evan K. Irving-Pease
AU  - Karl-Göran Sjögren
AU  - Serena Sabatini
AU  - Anders Fischer
AU  - William Barrie
AU  - Andrés Ingason
AU  - Anders Rosengren
AU  - Andrew H. Vaughn
AU  - Jialu Cao
AU  - Jacqueline Staring
AU  - Jesper T. Stenderup
AU  - Fulya Eylem Yediay
AU  - Torbjörn Ahlström
AU  - Irakli Akhvlediani
AU  - Sofie Laurine Albris
AU  - Vladimer Aslanishvili
AU  - Biyaslan Atabiev
AU  - E. V. Balanovskaya
AU  - Oleg Balanovsky
AU  - Pernille Bangsgaard
AU  - Maria Giovanna Belcastro
AU  - Elizaveta M. Chernykh
AU  - Philippe Charlier
AU  - Elizaveta M. Chernykh
AU  - Torben Trier Christiansen
AU  - Alfredo Coppa
AU  - Maura De Coster
AU  - Sean Dexter Denham
AU  - Sophie Desenne
AU  - Jane Downes
AU  - Гадиев Умалат Бесланович
AU  - Olivér Gábor
AU  - U. B. Gadiev
AU  - Johan Zakarias Gårdsvoll
AU  - Zanette Tsigaridas Glørstad
AU  - Jesper Hansen
AU  - Stijn Heeren
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/28
JO  - Nature
DO  - 10.1038/s41586-025-09064-1
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09064-1
AB  - Germanic languages, including German, English, Frisian, Dutch and the Nordic languages, are widely spoken across northwest Europe. However, the timing and location of the prehistoric arrival of this Indo-European linguistic phylum, as well as its Iron Age diversification, remain contentious 1–3 . Here, by sequencing 712 ancient human genomes and analysing them alongside 4,009 previously published genomes, we identify an archaeologically elusive population that entered Sweden, likely from the Baltic region, by around 4000 bp . This population, which became widespread throughout Scandinavia by 3500 bp , offers a potential vector for the introduction of the Germanic language group to Scandinavia 4–6 , some 800 years later than traditionally assumed 7–9 . Following the Late Iron Age disintegration of Germanic into its descendant languages, we observe by 1650 bp a southward migration from southern Scandinavia into presumed Celtic-speaking areas, including present-day Germany, Poland and the Netherlands. During the subsequent Migration Period (1575–1375 bp ), we see this ancestry among Germanic-speaking Anglo-Saxons in Britain and Langobards in southern Europe. In the same time period, we identify a related large-scale northward back-migration into Denmark and southern Sweden, coinciding with the rise of Danish influence and the linguistically documented emergence of Old Norse. These findings indicate that multiple migrations and geographical locations had a major role in the arrival and formation of Germanic, as well as in its divergence into historical and modern descendant languages.
SN  - 0028-0836
SN  - 1476-4687
ER  -