Genetically unique group in southern Greece can trace their paternal ancestry to the Bronze Age
A group of people living in the far south of Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula have been genetically isolated for more than a millennium and can trace their roots back to the Bronze Age, an analysis of their DNA reveals.
A new genetic study shows that this group, known as the Deep Maniot Greeks, are paternally descended from the ancient Greeks and Byzantine era Romans. Long-term genetic isolation and strict patriarchal clans likely contributed to the unique genetics of the Deep Maniot Greeks over the past 1,400 years, according to the study authors.
In a study published Wednesday February 4 in the journal Communication biologyresearchers analyzed the DNA of more than 100 living Deep Maniots and found that they represent a “genetic island” due to long-standing isolation.
“Our results show that historical isolation left a clear genetic signature,” lead author of the study Léonidas-Romanos Davranoglouzoologist at the Natural History Museum at Oxford University, said in a statement. “Deep Maniots preserves a snapshot of the genetic landscape of southern Greece before the demographic upheavals of the early Middle Ages.”
During the period of migration from Europe (c. 300 to 700 AD), sometimes called “barbarian invasions”, various groups of people, including Germanic tribes, VisigothsTHE The guys and the early Slavs — moved across the continent. This gave rise to numerous waves of migration, only a few of which have been historically documented. Ancient DNA research has begun to discover them Demographic waves of the migration period.
But these migration period movements do not appear to affect the Deep Maniots, according to historical, linguistic and archaeological evidence. So Davranoglou and his colleagues turned to analyzing the DNA of modern Maniots to determine why.
Researchers looked at genetic markers on the Y chromosomes (which are passed down from father to son) of 102 people with Deep Maniot ancestry on their father’s side, as well as mitochondrial DNA sequence data (passed down from mother to child) from 50 people with Deep Maniot ancestry on their mother’s side.
DNA analysis revealed that Deep Maniots possess an extremely high frequency of a rare paternal lineage that originated in the Caucasus region around 28,000 years ago, the researchers wrote in the study. And compared to the DNA of today’s mainland Greeks, the DNA of the Deep Maniots lacked evidence of common lineages originating from Germanic and Slavic peoples during the migration period.
Taken together, these results suggest that genetic drift (a reduction in genetic variation due to small population size) played an important role in shaping the Deep Maniots’ paternal lineage, the researchers wrote, forming a sort of “genetic island.” This island of paternal ancestry is rooted in the ancient Balkans and Western Asia and is strongly linked to the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman-Greek-speaking populations of the time, they noted.
Analysis of Deep Maniot maternal lines through mitochondrial DNA, however, revealed a more complex genetic picture. The researchers identified 30 distinct maternal lineages in their sample population of 50 Deep Maniots. Most of these lineages have connections to Bronze Age and Iron Age peoples of Western Eurasia, but several appear to be Deep Maniot specific, showing no close correspondence with other present-day European populations.
“These patterns are consistent with a strongly patriarchal society, in which male lineages remained locally rooted, while small numbers of women from outside communities were integrated,” co-author of the study. Alexandros Heraclidesepidemiologist at the European University of Cyprus, said in the statement.
Paternal and maternal DNA markers also show evidence of a founder effect, which occurs when a new population is established by a very small subset of a larger population. The new population includes only the genes of its small number of founders and, over time, becomes distinct from the larger population.
The genes of today’s Deep Maniots reveal that there was a founder effect among their paternal ancestors between 380 and 670 AD. As a result, more than 50% of Maniot men today are descended from a single male ancestor from the 7th century. There was also a founder effect among their maternal ancestors between 540 and 866, the team found, suggesting that the number of maternal and paternal lineages declined around the same time.
The DNA study suggests that the Deep Maniot population “represents a snapshot of the genetic landscape of the Greek-speaking world before the demographic crisis of the Migration Period,” the researchers wrote.
“Many oral traditions of common descent, some dating back hundreds of years, are now verified through genetics,” study co-author and independent researcher Athanasios Kofinakos said in the release.
Davranoglou, L., Kofinakos, AP, Mariolis, AD, Runfeldt, G., Maier, PA, Sager, M., Soulioti, P., Mariolis-Sapsakos, T. and Heraclides, A. (2026). Uniparental analysis of the Deep Maniot Greeks reveals genetic continuity from the pre-medieval era. Communication biology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-09597-9
