Krakauer #8 – my medieval Y-DNA I2a cousin from Wüstung Krakau bei Peißen

An abandoned medieval settlement named as Krakauer Berg is located in Sachsen(Saxony)-Anhalt region of Germany and it’s das Berg per se, it refers to which now looks like field with MAYBE a few mounds on south direction. It is designated as Wüstung Krakau – meaning some kind of desert, people-less abandoned place.

Saxony region is relatively close to borders with Poland and Czechia, and genetic DNA data proves, that that Medieval settlement nearby Peißen represents more people from Slavic tribes (with deep roots to Scythians) rather than local Germanic tribes of those days.

My special interest is ONLY ONE DNA sample KRA008 whose Y-DNA haplogroup is I2a and terminal SNP is I-FT156638.

Other DNA samples are either R1a+ or I1+ or J2b+.

Touristic caveat there is in the location. Because there are two Peißen in Saxony-Anhalt and a few Krakau settlements in that area.

 

 

 

Study 1 – aka Parker et al. 2020

A systematic investigation of human DNA preservation in medieval skeletons [nature.com]

“Differential DNA preservation across these elements was investigated in individuals excavated from the church cemetery associated with the abandoned medieval settlement of Krakauer Berg, near Peißen, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Overall, the site exhibited excellent morphological preservation, as expected from a medieval burial in a temperate region.”

“Individuals from the Krakauer Berg collection housed at the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology, Saxony-Anhalt [State Museum of Prehistory, Halle (Saale)] were sampled for DNA extraction. This collection consists of approximately 800 individuals and represents a typical medieval burial, with age and sex distribution consistent with an attritional context.”

” In addition, the authors would also like to thank the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology, Saxony-Anhalt [State Museum of Prehistory, Halle (Saale)] for opening up their collection and providing all samples used in this study and Xandra Dalidowski for leading the excavation. This study was funded by the Max Planck Society, the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreements No 771234—PALEoRIDER (WH, ABR) and No. 805268—CoDisEASe (KIB).”

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7588426/ – mirror

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7588426/

 

 

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7588426/

ENA

https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJEB36983

… study provides a better perspective on DNA preservation across the skeleton and takes a step toward the more responsible use of ancient materials in aDNA studies. 

 

 

Instrument Platform: ILLUMINA
Instrument Model: Illumina HiSeq 4000
Center Name: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Library Layout: PAIRED
Library Strategy: WGS
Library Source: METAGENOMIC
Library Name: KRA008.****
Library Selection: RANDOM
Library Construction Protocol: automated single-stranded DNA library

 

Study 2, Jul-2023 also by Cody E. Parker

14^th century Yersinia pestis genomes support emergence of pestis secunda within Europe [journals.plos.org]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10414589/ – mirror

 

“Multiple skeletal elements from 11 individuals excavated from the abandoned medieval cemetery at Krakauer Berg, near Peißen, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany were provided by the State Museum of Prehistory, Halle (Saale), Germany.”

“Given the demonstrated success of the dental sampling locations, 50 teeth from an additional 43 individuals excavated from the site were obtained to further explore plague’s impact on the mortality of the individuals buried in the Krakauer Berg cemetery.”

“Datasets for the enriched products of KRA008, KRA028, KRA032 yielded average genomic coverages of 0.7-fold, 3.3-fold, and 0.5-fold respectively, and hence were considered too low for inclusion in downstream analyses”

“Our manual evaluation of the partial SNP profiles for the lower coverage genomes (KRA008, KRA028, and KRA032) were also used to extrapolate their placement in the phylogenetic tree”

“Here we present the rare occasion to conduct pathogen screening of individuals recovered from an abandoned European settlement, the 14^th century Krakauer Berg cemetery in Halle (Saale), Germany”

“Further to these findings, this process resulted in the discovery of two additional individuals (KRA004 and KRA008) who showed possible genetic evidence of Y. pestis infection.”

“While geographical ranges of the Y. pestis genotypes presented here are unknown, recovery from the Krakauer Berg cemetery of the most basal lineage in the pestis secunda cluster identified thus far could be viewed as support for the hypothesis that the pandemic emerged regionally, or somewhere within the regional network of established trade contacts [30]. This in turn supports historical interpretation of plague’s endemic status in Europe in the 1350s CE, with the first human cases of the pestis secunda reported in 1356 CE [30], just three years after conclusion of the Black Death.”

“By 1359 CE it spread further to the Netherlands in the north-west and Pomerania in the north-east, Austria in the south-east, and the Zurich hinterland and Alsace in the south-west. While no surviving textual records describe the pestis secunda outbreak in Halle/Krakauer Berg or its immediate hinterland, plague was reported in both Meiningen (20km south-west of Halle) and Magdeburg (90km north of Halle) in 1357 CE, implying that Halle (Saale), situated between the two cities, experienced its first outbreak most likely in the same year [50,51]. Drawing upon the synthesis of these historical data we propose a temporal placement of the burials KRA004, KRA008, and KRA028 within a narrow time interval of 1356–1357 CE. Burials from the later interval, KRA018 and KRA032, likely date from 1366 CE at the latest, which corresponds to the conclusion of this pandemic wave in Europe [32]. The above scenario is consistent with calibrated radiocarbon dates for the individuals of this study (KRA004: 1284–1392 CE, calibrated 2-sigma range [37], KRA008: 1301–1402 CE, cal. 2-sigma [36], and KRA018: 1283–1389 CE, cal. 2-sigma). These data also indicate an average acquisition of one SNP in the circulating bacterial population approximately every three to four years during this outbreak for the genomic regions considered here, which is consistent with inferred mutation rates for branch 1 of Y. pestis [14].”

 

 

Quote to study:

“Map of the cemetery excavation site at Krakauer Berg, near Halle (Saale), Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Graves highlighted in yellow mark those initially screened, while the green highlighted features represent those utilized for the second, targeted Y. pestis screening effort. Labelled graves denote individuals where Y. pestis has been detected”. 

 

 

 

Yersinia pestis (чумна паличка)

Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis; formerly Pasteurella pestis) is a gram-negative, non-motile, coccobacillus bacterium without spores that is related to both Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, the pathogen from which Y. pestis evolved^[1][2] and responsible for the Far East scarlet-like fever. It is a facultative anaerobic organism that can infect humans via the Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis).^[3] It causes the disease plague, which caused the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death, the deadliest pandemic in recorded history. Plague takes three main forms: pneumonic, septicemic, and bubonic. Yersinia pestis is a parasite of its host, the rat flea, which is also a parasite of rats, hence Y. pestis is a hyperparasite.

 

Black Death (чорна смерть, епідемія чуми)

The Black Death was a bubonic plaguepandemic occurring in Europe from 1346 to 1353. One of the most fatal pandemics in human history, as many as 50 million people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe’s 14th century population. Bubonic plague is caused by the bacteriumYersinia pestis and spread by fleas. One of the most significant events in European history, the Black Death had far-reaching population, economic, and cultural impacts.

 

eva.mpg.de – Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

There is small article with the name “Destructive sampling on archaeological remains” and there is mentioned Parker et al 2020:

Different skeletal elements allow for unique research questions, and come in different numbers. For example, with 32 teeth per individual vs. two petrous bones, teeth are a less scarce resource and potentially less destructive than removing a petrous bone from a skull. At the same time, they allow for more simultaneous analysis, including human DNA, pathogen DNA, Isotope analysis of enamel and dentine, calculus DNA and proteomics, and radiocarbon dating, compared to petrous bones and other elements. On the other hand, petrous bones and potentially other elements (Parker et al. 2020) have typically better preservation and hence allow for the generation of deeper sequencing data.

 

Die mittelalterliche Wüstung Krakau bei Peißen

“Die später wüst gefallene Siedlung, für die aus den Schriftquellen der Name Krakau überliefert ist, der sich bis heute im Flurnamen »Krakauer Berg« erhalten hat, umfasste mehrere Hausgrundrisse, die anhand von gemauerten Steinkellern identifiziert werden konnten.”

“Auf die Entstehung der Siedlung in slawischer Zeit weist der Name Krakau hin, der im Mittelalter im slawischen Siedlungsraum mehrfach nachgewiesen ist. Schon vor der Ausgrabung waren Spuren der Wüstung im Gelände deutlich sichtbar und noch um die Wende zum 20. Jahrhundert sollen die Grundmauern der alten Kirche zu erkennen gewesen sein.”

“Möglicherweise könnten die Holzhäuser als (saisonale) Verkaufsstände für lokale Waren entlang der befestigten Straße gedeutet werden. Somit zeigt sich erneut die Einbindung der Bewohner der Region um Bernburg in (über-) regionale Handelsnetze, wie sie schon für die bronzezeitlichen Fundstellen entlang der Trasse beobachtet werden konnten.”

“Durch die aktuellen archäologischen Ausgrabungen wird somit ein Schlaglicht auf die untergegangene mittelalterliche Siedlung Krakau und deren damalige Lebensgrundlagen geworfen.”

 

FTDNA

Info:

• Krakauer 8 (aka KRA008) was a ca 20 year old man who lived between 1301 – 1402 CE during the Medieval Age and was found in the region now known as Wüstung Krakau bei Peißen, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
• He was associated with the Medieval Germany cultural group.
• His direct maternal line belonged to mtDNA haplogroup T1a10*.
• Reference: KRA008 from Cody Parker et al. 2020

 

FTDNA Discover Time Tree info:

 

Closer look under branch FT156638:

FTDNA Discover Globetrekker info:

 

 

 

FTDNA Discover Ancestral Path info:

 

The I-FT89045 (Andrii Lundiak) ancestral path is:

I-S20602>Y4460>Y3106>FT10545>FT9301>FGC63213>FT89045

The I-FT156638 (KRA008) ancestral path is:

I-S20602>Y3548>Y4882>Y16473>FT156638

Notes:

• My terminal SNP I-FT89045 is around 350 CE, which means that a time distance between my birthday and my SNP is 1632 years.
• KRA008’s terminal SNP I-FT156638 is around 400 CE, which means that a time distance between KRA008 boy age and his terminal SNP is around 1000 years.
• Our common ancestor’s SNP I-S20602 age is around 400 BCE, and actual man could have been from age 350-300 BCE. But I believe there will be new genetic/archeological discovery about younger common ancestor. It’s a matter of time. Maybe that one who will be positive for the T2T discovered SNP Y508496.

 

And here is FTDNA SNP tree nearby:

 

On Group Time Tree: I2a Y-Haplogroup => link we can see that at least someone from Ukraine belongs to the same terminal SNP as Krakauer 8 DNA sample.

And Block Tree for the SNP I-FT156638 is like this:

 

Other KRA*** on FTDNA

• KRA004 belongs to Y-DNA I1a haplogroup, FTDNA Discover link is here.
• KRA001 (father) and KRA003 (son) belong to R1a Y-DNA haplogroup – here the FTDNA Discover link for details.
• KRA009 is also Y-DNA R1a, FTDNA Discover link here.
• KRA010 belongs to Y-DNA J2a, FTDNA Discover link here.

Interesting to observe, that almost all Krakauer Berg DNA samples are always together in the same age with either Pohansko (Czechia) DNA samples, or Markowice (Poland), or Plońsk (Poland) or Ravna (Serbia). And I assume that is good sign that all people were so diverse in Y-DNA haplogroups, but that didn’t stop them communicate, live together, co-exist.

 

SNP Tracker

Map puts SNP FT156638 in Ukraine 🙂

450 CE age is quite the same as my terminal SNPs (I-FGC63213, I-FT89045), meaning that the terminal SNP for KRA008 from Krakauer Berg is from the same ages, but NOT NECESARY known and related people.

 

YFULL

 

Branch I-Y4882 provides info about KRA008 under sub branch I-Y16473 (where same level FT68522, FGC30458 also mentioned).

Important and interesting to observe, that Krakauer ancient DNA sample is VERY close to Pohansko ancient DNA sample POH36 from Czechia. My article about Pohansko is here.

YFULL also shows on Samples info that it’s positive for SNP FT66517).

All other Krakauer Berg ancient DNA samples listed here:

 

 

MyTrueAncestry

 

 

DNA sample KRA0008, as Medieval Germany Krakauer Berg Peissen, 1140 AD listed #25 in my list, and designated with genetic distance in 11.24.

Quote from MyTrueAncestry:

In the hauntingly serene climes of medieval Germany, nestled amid the undulating landscapes of what we now call Saxony-Anhalt, archaeologists have unearthed a time capsule of human life from the 12th century. The discovery of a male individual’s remains has afforded us a rare peek into the life and lineage of Medieval Germanic peoples.

This man, whose life ebbed away around 1140 AD, was interred with the reverent care that bespoke the customs of the era. His remains lay in the soil of the Krakauer Berg in Peissen, a site that would have been a local hillock, perhaps a mound or a knoll that locals traversed daily, unaware of the secrets it cradled beneath its green cloak.

Genetic whispers from the past breathed life into his origins, as his Y-chromosomal DNA revealed he belonged to the haplogroup I2a1a2b1a1a1b2, a lineage that tells tales of ancient migrations across the European landscape. This genetic marker marks his paternal line as one that had potentially been indigenous to Europe for tens of thousands of years, it is a chronicle of survival and adaptation over aeons.

 

 

Closest ancient setup for the KRA008:

• Scythian + Kievan Rus (2.326)
• Scythian + Early Slav (4.22)
• Viking + Scythian (4.602)
• Kievan Rus + Early Slav (5.065)
• Viking + Kievan Rus (5.193)
• Early Slav (7.383)
• Kievan Rus (7.456)
• Scythian (8.196)
• White Croat (9.074)
• Viking (11.36)

Closest Modern setup for KRA008:

• 1. Polish (4.655)
• 2. Ukrainian (5.182)
• 3. South_Polish (5.414)
• 4. Ukrainian_Lviv (6.650)
• 5. Estonian (8.292)
• 6. Russian_Smolensk (8.360)
• 7. Belorussian (8.441)
• 8. Estonian_Polish (8.457)

Other similar DNA samples:

• Gleb Svyatoslavich Prince of Novgorod Rurik Dynasty (1078 AD) (3.36)
• Early Medieval Austria Pottenbrunn (773 AD) (3.877)
• Early Slav-Mix Avar Grave (590 AD) (4.416)
• Early Medieval Slovakia Bratislava (1250 AD) (4.631)
• Medieval Germany Krakauer Berg Peissen (1140 AD) (5.091)

 

 

So I do know, that KRA008, as 20 years old boy, only Y-chromosome genetically similar to me, is STILL farther cousin from me. And is closer to many other people, especially from Poland, Czechia and Croatia or Balkans in general.

I am closer to DNA sample of Gleb Svyatoslavich (VK542), and I know it since I wrote an article with details.

 

 

 

slavicorigins.blogspot.com

https://slavicorigins.blogspot.com/2021/06/krakauer-and-berg.html

slawomirambroziak.pl

Usrednione wartosci dla Krakauer Berg.

 

 

 

historycy.org

http://www.historycy.org/historia/index.php/t164942-950.html

 

KRA001 – 1. Polacy, 2. Ukraińcy, 3. Białorusini
KRA002 – 1. Łużyczanie, 2. Polacy, 3. Czesi
KRA003 – 1. Polacy, 2. Łużyczanie, 3. Czesi
KRA004 – 1. Polacy, 2. Białorusini, 3. Ukraińcy
KRA005 – 1. Ukraińcy, 2. Polacy, 3. Białorusini
KRA006 – 1. Łużyczanie, 2. Polacy, 3. Ukraińcy
KRA007 – 1. Polacy, 2. Białorusini, 3. Litwini
KRA008 – 1. Polacy, 2. Ukraińcy, 3. Białorusini
KRA009 – 1. Łużyczanie, 2. Polacy, 3. Ukraińcy
KRA010 – 1. Polacy, 2. Ukraińcy, 3. Białorusini
KRA011 – 1. Polacy, 2. Białorusini, 3. Ukraińcy

 

 

Twitter

I found this on Twitter, but I am NOT sure what exact DNA sample it refers to.

Source:
https://twitter.com/waters_of_mem/status/1668471799238017025/photo/1

 

 

 

 

Location

Person from Facebook page “Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle” confirmed that it is Peißen near Bernburg. And also sent me a PDF file of press release from 2014 on the archaeological work on Krakauer Berg near Peißen, which looks very similar as an article here: Die mittelalterliche Wüstung Krakau bei Peißen.

“Die später wüst gefallene Siedlung, für die aus den Schriftquellen der Name Krakau überliefert ist, der sich bis heute im Flurnamen »Krakauer Berg« erhalten hat, umfasste mehrere Hausgrundrisse, die anhand von gemauerten Steinkellern identifiziert werden konnten.”

 

 

All Ancient DNA excel file

Coordinates: 51°44’42.0″N 11°45’24.9″E, which refers to Peißen – that one which is closer to Bernbrug.

But I’m still NOT SURE if it was exact excavation location – I mean it might have been OUTSIDE of Peißen… TBD.

 

haplotree.info

Refers to location in Peißen (that one not far from Bernburg):

 

 

SNP Tracker

SNP I-FT156638 map points geo location (51.745°N, 11.757°E) to Peißen – that small town not far from 

But the location points to Peißen small town, which is closer to Bernburg:

 

And nearby, westwards there are fields, and some mounds by the road with name “Krakauer Berg” on the map but there are NO markers of cemetery, or abandoned settlement:

That is MOST PROBABLE area where excavation was. Maybe next time I will visit by car for more details.

 

Ancient DNA map

So far this is ONLY one source, which put map marker which points to Peißen which is in the north-east region from Halle (Saale) city.

IT IS WRONG geolocation! Confirmed by Museum from Halle.

 

IT IS WRONG geolocation! Confirmed by Museum from Halle.

 

 

PS. Mar-29 / Apr-01 I visited Sachsen-Anhalt lands: After flight from Krakow to Berlin I visited first was Magdeburg, and then I kinda planned to go to Bernburg, Peißen and Krakauer Berg but because of Easter holidays I didn’t take a risk to rent a car, and I hoped for some info at least in Halle (Saale) museum. But it wasn’t anything there. And then I traveled to Leipzig. And then back to Berlin to take another flight back to Krakow.

 

 

PS. My assumption about history

What I observe kinda new for me, it’s that in the Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony regions there are AT LEAST 4 locations with the name KRAKAU:

map: (and yes, that Krakauer Berg near Dresden is ANOTHER one, NOT related to Parker et al 2020)

 

These things:

• in ancient Poland there is legendary Krak;
• then Kraków city itself,
• not yet sure how Kraken related, but etymologically MAYBE related;
• Krak people who assumably migrated from nearby Poland lands towards central Europe,
• and then on Balkans there are Krk in Croatia

leads me to think that those early Slavic settlements footprinted “KRAKAU” in many places where they lived, they might have been derived from White Croats migrations from Carpathians to Roman empire.

 

 

And don’t you see/think that my assumed migration path of KRAK people from Kraków to Krk is at least VERY similar to how White Croats were migrated based on Wikipedia image:

 

Wiki (Origin hypotheses of the Croats):

The mention of the Croatian ethnonym Hrvat for a specific tribe before the 9th century is not yet completely confirmed. According to Constantine VII‘s work De Administrando Imperio (10th century), a group of Croats separated from the White Croats who lived in White Croatia and arrived by their own will, or were called by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610-641), to Dalmatia where they fought and defeated the Avars, and eventually organized their own principality.^[9] 

According to the legend preserved in the work, they were led by five brothers Κλουκας (Kloukas), Λόβελος (Lobelos), Κοσέντζης (Kosentzis), Μουχλώ (Mouchlo), Χρωβάτος (Chrobatos), and two sisters Τουγά (Touga) and Βουγά (Bouga),^[9][10] and their archon at the time was father of Porga, and they were baptized during the rule of Porga in the 7th century.^[11] This is documented in chapter 30 and 31 of Constantine VII’s work.^[12]

 

Wiki (White Croats)

Most what is known about the early history of White Croats comes from the work by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII, De Administrando Imperio (10th century).^[90] In the 30th chapter, “The Story of the Province of Dalmatia” Constantine wrote:

“The Croats at that time were dwelling beyond Bagibareia (Bavaria), where the Belocroats are now. From them split off a family, namely of five brothers, Kloukas and Lobelos and Kosentzis and Mouchlo and Chrobatos, and two sisters, Touga and Bouga, who came with their folk to Dalmatia and found this land under the rule of the Avars. After they had fought one another for some years, the Croats prevailed and killed some of the Avars and the remainder they compelled to be subject to them… The rest of the Croats stayed over near Francia, and are now called the Belocroats, that is, the White Croats, and have their own archon; they are subject to Otto, the great king of Francia, which is also Saxony, and are unbaptized, and intermarry and are friendly with the Turks. From the Croats who came to Dalmatia, a part split off and took rule of Illyricum and Pannonia. They too had an independent archon, who would maintain friendly contact, though through envoys only, with the archon of Croatia… From that time they remained independent and autonomous, and they requested holy baptism from Rome, and bishops were sent and baptized them in the time of their Archon Porinos“.^[91]

 

Wiki:

According to United States Congress Joint Immigration Commission which ended in 1911, Polish immigrants to the United States born in around Kraków reportedly declared themselves as Bielochrovat (i.e. White Croat), which with Krakus and Crakowiak/Cracovinian was “names applying to subdivisions of the Poles”.^{[240][241][242].} The Northern Croats contributed and assimilated into Czech, Polish and Ukrainian ethnos.^{[22][243][244][245]} They are considered as the predecessors of the Rusyns,^{[246][247][248][249]} specifically Dolinyans,^[250]Boykos,^[251][252]Hutsuls,^[253][254] and Lemkos.^{[255][256][257]}

 

But those locations at north east are somehow can be related to Vistula Veneti (Baltic Veneds) (en: Wends, de: Weneden, pl: Wendowie) and those south locations to Adriactic Veneti (pl: Wenetowie) and maybe with Gaul Veneti.