Research conducted by the National Geographic Genographic
Project, a multiyear global initiative that uses DNA to map the history of
human migration, is helping unravel the timing and source of human settlement
in central Europe.
RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS: New ancient-DNA research led by the
National Geographic Society’s Genographic Project, the Australian Centre for
Ancient DNA (ACAD) and researchers from the University of Mainz in Germany and
the State Heritage Museum in Halle (Germany) showed a pattern of genetic
replacement taking place across several millennia in a region of central
Europe. The genetic data reveal the complex dynamics that went into producing
the present-day genetic patterns in Europe and show that the region that is now
Germany saw at least four stages of significant migration and settlement,
highlighted by marked shifts in the genetic composition of the populations in
the region.