Publications by authors named "Yijie Tian"
The role of emerging elites in the formation and development of communities after the fall of the Roman Empire.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
September 2024
Article Synopsis
- Elites were very important in shaping Europe after the Roman Empire fell, influencing both big and small communities during the Early Middle Ages.
- Researchers studied a community in Italy from the 6th to 8th centuries and found that it was made up of related elite families that grew into one big family over time.
- This community was diverse, welcoming different people as it developed, showing that powerful leaders could bring together various backgrounds instead of just sticking to their own.
Article Synopsis
- The Western Roman Empire started to fall apart in the 4th and 5th centuries, and different groups, called "barbarians," began to settle in the areas it left behind.
- Researchers studied 38 burial sites from the 5th century in Lake Balaton, Hungary, to understand how communities formed after this collapse.
- They found a lot of genetic variety among the people in these burial sites, with some showing influences from northern Europe, and discovered that burial customs were similar but the people's ancestry was quite different.