Researchers collected genetic samples from skeletons found across the former region of Etruria, which spanned Tuscany in northern Italy and the central part of the peninsula, as well as the island of Corsica.Īs the study’s authors write in the journal Science Advances, “he local gene pool largely maintained across the first millennium B.C.E.” That finding changed dramatically during the time of the Roman Empire, when imperial expansion sparked the incorporation of populations from across the Mediterranean. and 1000 C.E., shows that these ancient people shared many of the same genes as their Roman neighbors. The new DNA analysis, which was centered on 82 individuals who lived between 800 B.C.E. Now, reports Ariel David for Haaretz, a sweeping genetic survey has confirmed the Etruscans’ origins, suggesting they were local-and proving Herodotus wrong. As early as the fifth century B.C.E., Greek historian Herodotus wrote that the enigmatic people first lived in a faraway land before migrating to the Italian Peninsula.Įtruscan civilization started out in northern Italy, in what is now Tuscany, before spreading to other parts of the Italian Peninsula.
and fully assimilated into the Roman Republic by 90 B.C.E.įor generations, researchers have wondered who the Etruscans were and where they came from. “he first known superpower of the Western Mediterranean,” in the words of Live Science’s Ben Turner, the Etruscans thrived for centuries, only to be conquered by the Romans in the third century B.C.E. With a unique and still largely unknown language, this early civilization was substantially different from other Iron Age societies, boasting a sophisticated knowledge of farming, metalworking and sculpture that strongly influenced ancient Greek and Roman culture. Some of Rome’s first kings were from Etruria, and Etruscans may have founded the city-state that would dominate much of the known world for centuries.
Before the glory of Rome, the Etruscans ruled much of what is now Italy.
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