I will be posting further essays on the fascinating subject of the Unetice Culture of central Europe in the coming days and weeks, having already posted two recent essays. Before I proceed with this ongoing work I wish to explain my own connection to the Unetice Culture or as it is known in German, Aunjetitzer Kultur, one of the most advanced human cultures of prehistoric Europe, stretching from the German Harz mountains into Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria.
As many of my old readers will know, my late mother's ancestry is rooted in the Harz mountains, where she was born in 1918 in a small village called Langelsheim, near Goslar in Herzogtum Braunschweig (Duchy of Brunswick) which since 1946 has been in present day Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony). I know from what she told me in general about her ancestry that it was rooted in the Harz region so it comes as no surprise to me to learn that I am genetically related to 14 of the 46 recovered bodies from Leubingen in Thüringen, less than 30 miles away from the foothills of the Harz. Interestingly, geneticists were unable to obtain sufficient DNA from the princely remains in order to determine Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups. There is a moral in that story if you care to look for it!
A study carried out in 2024 identified five distinct family groups, 12 of my sample matches being derived from each of the groups. It should be made clear that with the exception of the prince's grave, none of the others excavated were buried with any distinct grave goods. All my sample matches were buried in simple burial pits, representative of the broad mass of the non-elite. In my next post I intend to analyse the family relationships of all 14 of my DNA matches,
These are my genetic sample matches from Leubingen:
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU060 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: T2b
Y-DNA Haplogroup: R1b1a1b1a1a2b1 (L2/S139)
Genetic Distance: 6.8896Sample Match! 91% closer than other users
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU040 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: I1a1
Y-DNA Haplogroup: R1b1a1b1a1a (L151/PF6542)
Genetic Distance: 6.9358Sample Match! 94% closer than other users
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU031 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: T2b11
Y-DNA Haplogroup: R1a1a1b (PF6162/S224/V1754/Z645)
Genetic Distance: 7.3709Sample Match! 96% closer than other users
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU024 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: U5b2b2
Y-DNA Haplogroup: R1b1a1b1a1a2 (P312/PF6547/S116)
Genetic Distance: 7.9007Sample Match! 94% closer than other users
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU059 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: H2b
Genetic Distance: 8.4423Sample Match! 84% closer than other users
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU039 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: V7
Genetic Distance: 8.4755Sample Match! 68% closer than other users
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU041 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: U5a1a1+16362
Y-DNA Haplogroup: R1b1a1b1a1a2b1 (L2/S139)
Genetic Distance: 8.5258Sample Match! 89% closer than other users
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU046 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: U5a2c
Genetic Distance: 8.6899Sample Match! 76% closer than other users
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU007 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: T2a1b1a
Y-DNA Haplogroup: R1b1a1b1a1a1 (M405/U106/S21)
Genetic Distance: 8.7015Sample Match! 95% closer than other users
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU025 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: H2a1
Y-DNA Haplogroup: R1b1a1b1a1a2b (PF6570/S28/U152)
Genetic Distance: 8.7746Sample Match! 90% closer than other users
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU050 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: T2b11
Genetic Distance: 9.8614Sample Match! 96% closer than other users
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU023 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: U4d1
Genetic Distance: 10.697Sample Match! 99% closer than other users
Bronze Age Unetice Thuringia Leubingen Sommerda Germany
LEU009 (1950 BC)mtDNA Haplogroup: U5a1b1
Y-DNA Haplogroup: R1a1a1b (PF6162/S224/V1754/Z645)
Genetic Distance: 11.406Sample Match! 95% closer than other users
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