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Abstract
The Cumanians were originally Asian pastoral nomads who in the 13th century migrated to Hungary. We have examined mitochondrial DNA from members of the earliest Cumanian population in Hungary from two archeologically well-documented excavations and from 74 modern Hungarians from different rural locations in Hungary. Haplogroups were defined based on HVS I sequences and examinations of haplogroup-associated polymorphic sites of the protein coding region and of HVS II. To exclude contamination, some ancient DNA samples were cloned. A database was created from previously published mtDNA HVS I sequences (representing 2,615 individuals from different Asian and European populations) and 74 modern Hungarian sequences from the present study. This database was used to determine the relationships between the ancient Cumanians, modern Hungarians, and Eurasian populations and to estimate the genetic distances between these populations. We attempted to deduce the genetic trace of the migration of Cumanians. This study is the first ancient DNA characterization of an eastern pastoral nomad population that migrated into Europe. The results indicate that, while still possessing a Central Asian steppe culture, the Cumanians received a large admixture of maternal genes from more westerly populations before arriving in Hungary. A similar dilution of genetic, but not cultural, factors may have accompanied the settlement of other Asian nomads in Europe.
KEY WORDS: ANCIENT mtDNA, mtDNA, HVS I, HVS Π, CUMANIANS, HUNGARIANS.
Driven by the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, a tribal confederation of pastoral nomads known in Europe as Cumanians (called Polovici in Russian, Valben in German, Comains in French, and Quibcaq in Arabic-Persian sources or in their own tongue, Qunok) moved from the Trans-Carpathian steppes into the territory of Hungary, which had been devastated by the Mongol hordes (Berend 2001; Marquart 1914; Nerneth 1941; Selmeczi 1992). Before the Mongol invasion it was the Hungarian king BeIa IV (1235-1270) himself who welcomed the Cumanians to the country. The king, in return for their military service, invited the Cumanians to settle in areas of the Great Plain between the Danube and the Theiss Rivers (today's Great Cumania and Little Cumania); this region had become almost uninhabited after the Mongol raids of 1241-1242 (Horvâth 2001). The Cumanians lived there until their settlements were destroyed during the Turkish wars (16th-17th centuries) (Szakâly 2000). At...