Echoes of Roman Spain

The Roman presence in Hispania unfolded on a landscape already layered with millennia of human history. Archaeological evidence from sites sampled here — Paseíllos universitarios-Fuentenueva and Plaza Einstein (Granada), Mas Gassol, Alcover (Tarragona), and the necropolis at Empúries (Girona) — spans from the late Republic through the early medieval Visigothic transition (44 BCE–676 CE). Material culture shows the spread of Roman urban forms, road networks, and port-linked commerce.

Genetically, these individuals reflect that same palimpsest: local Iberian ancestry persists alongside signals consistent with wider Mediterranean exchange. Limited evidence points to increased mobility during the Imperial period, when soldiers, merchants and administrators moved along maritime and overland routes. Archaeology indicates continuity in local burial practices in some cemeteries and clear Roman influence in others, suggesting varied degrees of acculturation.

Because samples come from a modest, regionally clustered set of cemeteries (19 individuals total), interpretations must be cautious: the data illuminate local population dynamics but cannot alone represent all of Roman Hispania. Ongoing excavations and broader genomic sampling will refine where local continuity ends and immigrant influxes become prominent.

The genetic snapshot from 19 individuals paints a Mediterranean mosaic shaped by local continuity and long-distance connections. Y-DNA haplogroups observed among typed males include R (4), J (3), and single occurrences of E, L, and T. These patterns suggest a predominance of typically West Eurasian lineages (R), substantial Near Eastern/Mediterranean links (J), and occasional lineages that may reflect broader Afro-Eurasian interactions (E, L, T). It is important to note that only a subset of the 19 individuals yielded Y-chromosome calls, and the counts above reflect typed males rather than the full sample.

Mitochondrial DNA (maternal lineages) shows H (4), K (4), T (3), U (3), and HV (2) among the samples — a distribution consistent with common European and Mediterranean maternal ancestries. These mtDNA haplogroups align with archaeological expectations for coastal and inland Iberian populations, reflecting both deep local roots and connectivity with Mediterranean gene pools.

Archaeogenetic interpretation must emphasize caution: the sample set is regionally focused and modest in size. While 19 individuals provide valuable, direct glimpses into population composition, broader claims about all of Roman Hispania require larger, geographically diverse datasets. Nevertheless, the combined presence of R and J haplogroups, plus sporadic E and L, supports historical models of Roman-era mobility, recruitment of soldiers from diverse provinces, and maritime trade that brought people and genes into Iberia.