Hundreds of skeletons found in cemeteries on the Great Hungarian Plain reveal clues about nine generations of Avars, a mysterious warrior culture that dates back nearly 1,500 years. A new analysis of the remains suggests that men stayed put while women married into the culture and that it was common for people to have multiple partners.
In a study published Wednesday (April 24) in the journal Nature, an international team of researchers conducted DNA analysis on 424 skeletons located in four Avar cemeteries in present-day Hungary. Based on those results, the team identified 298 people who were closely biologically related, and they mapped out family trees across nearly three centuries.
