The genetic history of Rus (Andreeva et al. 2025 preprint)

Over at bioRxiv at this LINK. As far as I can see, this is the most interesting preprint published in the last 12 months. At the same time, however, the authors could've done a much better job with the fine scale analysis of their samples. For instance, they rely solely on a West Eurasian-level Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to study intra-European diversity. Hopefully, the paper will be better. Abstract:

The foundation of the first ancient Rus’ state occurred as a result of the consolidation of diverse communities inhabiting Eastern Europe during the second half of the first millennium CE. Historical sources imply that these communities mostly include East Slavs, whose settlement across a vast territory led to the emergence of the East Slavic/Rus’ culture within the Rus’ state. We generated genomic data for 200 medieval individuals from different locations to elucidate the origin and genetic structure of the Rus’ population during the early stages of the state formation. Our findings reveal a genetic continuum predominantly shaped by two key genetic groups: a broad Slavic-related continuity of different genetic subclusters of Rus’ occupying the enormous European Plain area, and a Fenno-Ugrian (Uralic)-related component in the Northern Rus’ region. Importantly, both groups have a shared genetic substrate inherited from preceding ancient Baltic region populations. To scale Scandinavian ("Viking") heritage, we traced minor Scandinavian genetic lineages that did not make up the dominating genetic stratum of the early Rus’ state. Our study presents the first comprehensive genomic image of the medieval Rus’, highlighting the intricate cultural and genetic interactions between Slavic, Fenno-Ugrian, and other groups that formed the first Rus’ state affecting Europe’s history.

Andreeva et al., Genetic history of Rus’, bioRxiv, Posted December 30, 2025, doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.30.695215

See also...

They came, they saw, and they mixed

New Iron Age samples from southeastern Poland

A new dataset has appeared online from a yet to be published paper titled Cosmopolitanism in the depths of Barbaricum evidenced by archaeogenomic data from the Late Iron Age Goth community of the Masłomęcz group [Update: the paper is now available at this Link].

Most of these Gothic samples are clearly of Scandinavian origin, and very similar to present-day Swedes. Overall, however, they create a somewhat heterogeneous cluster that also overlaps with present-day Poles thanks to the presence of a few Balto-Slavic-related and possibly Roman-related individuals.

The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) plots below were produced with the excellent Vahaduo G25 Global Views tool using the data here.

Their Y-haplogroups more or less reflect the PCA results:

PL046 R-YP6228
PL048 I-PH833
PL049 I-A11537
PL052 R-Y48961
PL059 I-PH833
PL062 I-S15301
PL065 I-Y294193
PL066 R-FGC2555
PL067 R-S7759
PL070 I-CTS10028
PL071 I-BY316
PL076 I-S9318
PL082 I-Z2041
PL085 J-Z38241
PL086 I-FT29339

See also...

Early Slavs from Tribal Period Poland

Wielbark Goths were overwhelmingly of Scandinavian origin

High-resolution stuff