Elites played a pivotal role in the formation of post-Roman Europe on both macro- and microlevels during the Early Medieval period. History and archaeology have long focused on their description and identification based on written sources or through their archaeological record. We provide a different perspective on this topic by integrating paleogenomic, archaeological, and isotopic data to gain insights into the role of one such elite group in a Langobard period community near Collegno, Italy dated to the 6-8th centuries CE. Our analysis of 28 newly sequenced genomes together with 24 previously published ones combined with isotope (Sr, C, N) measurements revealed that this community was established by and organized around a network of biologically and socially related individuals likely composed of multiple elite families that over time developed into a single extended pedigree. The community also included individuals with diverse genetic ancestries, maintaining its diversity by integrating newcomers and groups in later stages of its existence. This study highlights how shifts in political power and migration impacted the formation and development of a small rural community within a key region of the former Western Roman Empire after its dissolution and the emergence of a new kingdom. Furthermore, it suggests that Early Medieval elites had the capacity to incorporate individuals from varied backgrounds and that these elites were the result of (political) agency rather than belonging to biologically homogeneous groups.

中文翻译：

---

罗马帝国灭亡后新兴精英在社区形成和发展中的作用


中世纪早期，精英阶层在宏观和微观层面上对后罗马欧洲的形成发挥了关键作用。历史和考古学长期以来一直关注基于书面资料或考古记录的描述和识别。我们通过整合古基因组学、考古学和同位素数据，深入了解公元 6-8 世纪意大利科莱尼奥附近兰戈巴德时期社区中这样一个精英群体的作用，从而对这一主题提供了不同的视角。我们对 28 个新测序的基因组以及 24 个先前发表的基因组进行分析，并结合同位素（Sr、C、N）测量结果表明，该社区是由生物和社会相关个体网络建立并围绕其组织的，该网络可能由多个精英家庭组成，这些个体可能超过时间发展成一个单一的扩展谱系。该社区还包括具有不同遗传血统的个体，通过在其存在的后期阶段整合新来者和群体来保持其多样性。这项研究强调了前西罗马帝国解体和新王国出现后，政治权力和移民的转变如何影响前西罗马帝国关键地区的一个小型农村社区的形成和发展。此外，它表明中世纪早期的精英有能力融合来自不同背景的个人，并且这些精英是（政治）机构的结果，而不是属于生物学上同质的群体。