Since the time of Herodotus, speculation has surrounded the origins and fate of the Etruscans (responsible for the artwork pictured), an ancient culture based in central Italy that was strikingly different from its neighbours at the time. Although eventually absorbed by the Roman Empire, the Etruscans' genes survived into the Middle Ages, say Guido Barbujani of the University of Ferrara, Italy, and his colleagues. But between then and now, the line of descent has become much more complicated.
The researchers compared mitochondrial DNA taken from Etruscan remains, from Tuscan bones dating from the tenth to fifteenth centuries, and from modern Tuscans. The same markers were detectable in the two older groups, but not in today's Tuscans, probably owing to migration.
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Palaeontological genetics: Untraceable Etruscans. Nature 460, 439 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/460439d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/460439d
