An international team of researchers has used ancient DNA to reconstruct the genetic and social makeup of a Bronze Age community in Calabria, southern Italy, offering rare insight into how early societies in the region were organized about 3,500 years ago.
The study, published in Communications Biology, was led by scientists from the Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Ancient Mediterranean in Germany and the University of Bologna in Italy. Researchers combined ancient DNA analysis with archaeological and anthropological evidence to examine family relationships, ancestry, diet, and burial practices within an early Protoapennine community.
The remains were recovered from Grotta della Monaca, a prehistoric cave site in northwestern Calabria that dates to the Middle Bronze Age. Protoapennine culture is known mainly from limited archaeological traces, making genetic evidence from the site especially valuable.
Grotta della Monaca and Calabria’s prehistoric past
Grotta della Monaca lies deep within the Pollino massif, near the town of Sant’Agata di Esaro in the province of Cosenza. The cave is among Calabria’s most important prehistoric sites. Archaeological evidence shows it was used for early copper and iron ore extraction before later becoming a burial place.
Researchers analyzed ancient DNA from individuals dated between about 1780 and 1380 B.C. The results allowed scientists to place this small mountain community within the wider genetic landscape of the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age.
Before Magna Graecia, an indigenous population
Although the Grotta della Monaca community predates Greek settlement by several centuries, the findings carry broader significance for the history of Magna Graecia. From the eighth century B.C. onward, Calabria became a central part of the Greek world in southern Italy, home to influential city-states such as Rhegion and Kroton.
Scientists have reconstructed the genetic and social profile of a Bronze Age community from Calabria, dating back 3,500 years. The study reveals family ties, long-distance mobility, dairy-based diets, and burial practices. pic.twitter.com/2eqt4jLtJx
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) December 17, 2025
Researchers say identifying the genetic and social makeup of earlier populations helps clarify the human landscape that existed before Greek colonists arrived and provides context for how Greek communities later interacted with, absorbed, and coexisted with indigenous groups across the region.
Links to Sicily and regional distinctiveness
“Our analysis shows that the Grotta della Monaca population shared strong genetic affinities with Early Bronze Age groups from Sicily,” said Francesco Fontani, the study’s lead author and a researcher at the Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Ancient Mediterranean.
Fontani said the findings suggest regular contact across the Strait of Messina, while also pointing to distinct regional patterns. According to the researchers, communities along the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria followed their own demographic and cultural paths during prehistory.
Evidence of mobility and shared ancestry
Despite the site’s remote mountain location, the population was not genetically isolated. Two individuals showed ancestry linked to groups from northeastern Italy, indicating long-distance movement and gene flow across the peninsula.
The genetic profiles also revealed a mix of ancestry from European hunter-gatherers, early Anatolian farmers, and Steppe pastoralist groups. These components are common in Bronze Age Europe, but at Grotta della Monaca, they formed a distinct local pattern shaped by both broader migrations and regional continuity.
Family ties revealed through burials
By combining genomic data with archaeological context, researchers were also able to reconstruct how burials were arranged inside the cave. The funerary area showed clear patterns based on sex and biological relationships.
One discovery stood out. The team identified a parent-offspring union among the buried individuals. According to the researchers, this represents the first time such a close biological relationship has been genetically documented in a prehistoric European context.
“This finding emphasizes the distinction between unambiguous biological evidence and its social meaning,” said Alissa Mittnik, a group leader at the Department of Archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and a co-senior author of the study.
Mittnik cautioned that the broader meaning of the case remains uncertain. Researchers said the evidence may reflect culturally specific behavior within a small community, but stressed that firm conclusions about social norms cannot be drawn from a single example.
Diet, culture, and adaptation
Isotopic and genetic data also shed light on daily life. The evidence shows that the community practiced pastoralism and consumed milk and dairy products, even though their genetic makeup included variants linked to lactose intolerance in adulthood.
Donata Luiselli, a co-senior author of the study and head of the Ancient DNA Laboratory at the University of Bologna, said the findings illustrate how cultural adaptation can come before genetic change.
According to the researchers, the community developed dietary strategies that allowed them to thrive in a demanding mountain environment despite lacking genetic tolerance to lactose.
Rethinking the role of caves
The findings also challenge traditional views of caves in Protoapennine ritual life. Rather than functioning as isolated or symbolic spaces, Grotta della Monaca appears to have served as a collective burial site that reinforced shared identity and family bonds within a small group.
Felice Larocca, a speleoarchaeologist and director of research at Grotta della Monaca, said the site continues to reshape understanding of early societies in southern Italy. Located more than 1,970 feet above sea level, the cave provides key evidence about the emergence of complex social structures and the deeper biological and cultural roots of human diversity in the region.
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