The Impact of Medieval and Early Modern Migrations on Dental Nonmetric Variation in Hungary
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Authors
Dern, Laresa L.
Issue Date
2023
Type
Dissertation
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Abstract
The Carpathian Basin has been a natural crossroads for expanding empires and populations migrating between Europe and Asia. During the medieval and early modern periods, three major migrations shaped the population history of the basin: 1) the migration of the Avars in the late 6th century; 2) the conquest of the Magyars in the late 9th century; and 3) the invasion of the Ottomans in the mid-16th century. While these migrations have been explored archaeologically and linguistically, their impact on biological variation is not well understood. In response to this disparity, this dissertation uses dental nonmetric data to address three aims: 1) to explore the impact of these migrations on dental variation, 2) to see if these migrations changed how Hungarians were related to other Eurasians, and 3) to determine whether or not the impact of these migrations differed by sex. Nonmetric dental data were collected from medieval and early modern bioarchaeological collections at the Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum, including individuals from eight medieval and early modern Hungarian sites that span the Carolingian through Ottoman periods (Dánszentmiklós-Tetveshalom, Fonyód-Fehérbézseny, Fonyód-Vár, Budapest-József nádor tér, Zalavár-Kápolna, Zalavár-Rezes, Zalavár-Vársziget Hadrianus templom, and Zsámbék-Premontrei templomrom). This sample was bolstered by Avar period data collected at the same institution and Szeged University and additional data collected from post-Magyar conquest medieval sites. The Avar, Carolingian, Magyar, and Ottoman period Hungarian samples were compared to a Byzantine sample from Çatalhöyük and Roman, medieval, early modern, and modern European and Central Asian samples of the Christy G. Turner II database. Trait frequencies, phenotypic diversity, and relatedness were assessed and compared across time periods to explore the impact of these migrations on dental variation. Analyses revealed relative consistency among post-Avar period Hungarian samples. This similarity supports historical records that indicate people of Slavic origin made up the bulk of the basin’s population during these periods, regardless of major demographic shifts. The consistency between the Carolingian and Magyar periods supports the elite dominance model of the Magyar conquest. The Ottoman period sample was the most dissimilar of the post-Avar group indicating major demographic shifts during this period. The distinctness of the Avar period sample is likely a reflection of their population history originating in Mongolia or Northern China and suggests that the collapse of the Avar empire was the event that most impacted biological variation in the basin. Some significant differences were observed in analyses of sex-separate samples indicating that these major migrations differentially impacted biological variation by sex. This study demonstrates the utility of dental nonmetric data as a genetic proxy to explore major migrations and contributes to the limited literature on the demography of the medieval Carpathian basin and the impact of Ottoman occupation in Europe. The results highlight the complex relationship between cultural and demographic change and give insight into dental variation at the crossroads between Europe and the rest of Eurasia. These relationships would be further clarified with additional data from medieval and early modern Eurasia.
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 United States