Ancient DNA reveals the Bronze Age leader was from the region

Archaeologists at the University of Cincinnati have found that the Griffin Warrior, an ancient Greek leader, most likely grew up close to the port city that would one day become his capital.

The results are part of three new studies that looked at the ancient DNA of the Griffin Warrior and 726 other people who lived before and during the Bronze Age to discover more about their origins and travels across three continents surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The studies were published in the journal Science.

The papers show that between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago, people with ancestry from the Caucasus, a region between the Black and Caspian seas, moved west into Anatolia (now Turkey) and north into the steppes of Eastern Europe. The papers were co-authored by experts from all over the world and were led by researchers from Harvard University. People from Eastern Europe then began to disperse over the European continent, into Western Asia, and back to the Caucasus some 5,000 years ago. As they merged with the indigenous inhabitants, "speakers of the Greek, Paleo-Balkan, and Albanian languages arose from a tapestry of different heritages."

“When we look at the rise of Mycenaean civilization, the ancient DNA supports the notion that it was a local phenomenon, not something imported from the outside,” said co-author Jack Davis, a UC Classics professor and department head.

“The development of the state by the Mycenaean was indigenous to Greece,” Davis said.

The UC Classics project was hailed as the largest archaeological find in Greece in the last 50 years by Archaeology magazine.

Their discoveries carried on UC's illustrious legacy of Greek discovery. Homer mentions King Nestor in his epic poetry, and UC Classics professor Carl Blegen and his Greek colleague Konstantinos Kourouniotis previously uncovered the Palace of King Nestor at Pylos.

Davis and Stocker discovered a second astounding discovery of two neighboring gold-covered tholos, or beehive-shaped family tombs, in 2018 while continuing to work on the Griffin Warrior. The Tholos graves also included an abundance of priceless jewelry and cultural relics, similar to the Griffin Warrior's tomb.

In order to rebuild the warrior's features, Davis and Stocker consulted Lynne Schepartz, a former UC anthropology professor who is now affiliated with the University of Arizona. Ancient DNA research is currently being used to fill in the blanks concerning the Griffin Warrior's life in Greece 3,500 years ago.

According to Stocker, "He was a youthful, affluent man who played various functions: a religious or sacred duty, as an exceptional warrior, and as a leader of his people."

He was one of Pylos's early Mycenaean kings. There had previously been rival aristocratic families, which is why there were numerous tholos graves, according to Stocker. Yet one of the first people to combine all of these societal functions was the Griffin Warrior.

The Griffin Warrior and Tholos tomb excavations were under the direction of Stocker.

"This study tackles a more significant issue of population dynamics. From where did the Greeks originate? Without considering genetic links, we had no way to respond to that question, Davis said.

Davis and Stocker once again turned to Schepartz to analyze the remains for the ancient DNA analysis.

Mycenaean tombs are challenging to analyze because of the burial practices that involved moving remains to make room for newer interments in formerly utilized tombs, according to Schepartz.

The Griffin Warrior's petrous bone, a portion of the skull close to the inner ear that frequently maintains ancient DNA, was sampled by Schepartz, a co-author of the Science papers.

secrets revealed by ancient DNA

Because it can reveal connections between people and their past locations, ancient DNA is a potent tool for researchers. Ancient DNA has been studied by UC researchers to understand more about the farming methods employed by the ancient Maya in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

According to Schepartz, "this kind of research is essential for our comprehension of the region's ancient history and the role of the Mycenaeans in establishing that history."

Two tholos graves and seven chamber tombs in the Palace of Nestor that were first excavated by Blegen held more people than archaeologists initially believed, according to Schepartz.

To find out more about the ancient Greek cuisine at Pylos, Schepartz put the samples through isotopic analysis. She discovered that men ate more protein than women did. Protein consumption was higher among those buried in tholos tombs than it was among those in chamber tombs. Diets high in protein are seen as a sign of good nutrition, which is frequently associated with money or prestige.

According to her, these findings are consistent with what is known about ancient Greek rituals.

For instance, male attendance at feasts that included meat has been documented, although female attendance may have been significantly less common.

For us, Stocker said, "the connections between the people interred in the Pylos tombs and the general populace truly interest us." "The only way to establish these ties is through ancient DNA."

Ancient DNA also confirms what UC academics have long hypothesized: that the Griffin Warrior originated in the area that he would later rule. The claim that Davis was an outsider or invader is disproven by the new evidence, according to Davis.

Although we have never been able to establish it other than through DNA analysis, Davis added, "We have always been dubious about that theory.

Blegen, the former department chair of UC Classics, had the forethought to conserve materials, which allowed UC to contribute to the study. Blegen demonstrated in Turkey that the sack of Troy during the Trojan War was one of the factual events on which Homer's Iliad was predicated.

More than 1,200 clay tablets with some of the earliest known European writing from 1250 B.C. were discovered by Blegen at Pylos while he was working there in 1939. World War II forced Blegen to put his research on hold, but he came back in 1952 to continue his study at Pylos and stayed in Greece until his death in 1971.

Blegen was ahead of his time in realizing that better technology would be available in the future, according to Stocker. They were able to go back and take samples of the DNA he collected since he conserved every single piece of human and animal remains from his dig.

Similar to this, Stocker said, her team has taken measures to conserve excavated material at its locations for future archaeologists who will probably have access to more sophisticated tools or methods.

They take great care to preserve some of what we have, according to Stocker. "We are aware that technology will advance. It's crucial to protect them so that future generations can study them.

According to Stocker, anthropological studies are still in the early stages of using ancient DNA analysis. Sample sizes are currently too modest for statistical interpretation. Yet she is ecstatic with the direction the study is taking.