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Subject: [DNA] PubMed abstract: Y chromosomes in Denmark and Italy: anyCimbri connection?
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 12:26:29 EST
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2006 Nov 28; [Epub ahead of print]
No signature of Y chromosomal resemblance between possible descendants of the
Cimbri in Denmark and Northern Italy.
Borglum AD, Vernesi C, Jensen PK, Madsen B, Haagerup A, Barbujani G.
Institute of Human Genetics, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Two European populations are believed to be related to the ancient Germanic
tribe Cimbri: one living in Northern Italy, the other living in Jutland,
Denmark. The people called Cimbri are documented in the ancient Roman historical
record. Arriving from the far north their movements can be tracked from
successive battles with the Romans. The Cimbri finally entered Italy from the northeast
and were defeated at Vercellae (present day Vercelli) in 101 BC by Gaius
Marius and his professional legions. Classical sources from the first centuries AD
relate the homeland of the Cimbri to the coasts around the Elb estuary
(northern Germany) or specifically towards the north (Himmerland in northern
Jutland). In the alpine parts of Veneto, northeast of the historical battlefield,
local traditions dating back to late medieval time, identify a local population
as Cimbri living in Terra dei Cimbri. They are considered the descendents of
the Germanic combatants that fled the battlefield at Vercelli. As the defeated
Cimbri that possibly fled to the mountains of Northern Italy most likely would
have been male (warriors), the present study investigated the possible Y
chromosomal diversity of the two present populations using microsatellite markers
and single nucleotide polymorphisms. While Cimbri from Himmerland resembled
their geographical neighbors from Denmark for the Y-chromosome markers, Cimbri
from Italy were significantly differentiated both from Cimbri from Himmerland
and from Danes. Therefore, we were not able to show any biological relationship
for uniparentally transmitted markers. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2007 (c) 2006
Wiley-Liss, Inc.
PMID: 17133438 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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