The end of Rome supposedly came as suddenly as thunder, relative to history’s long arc. The legions withdraw from their ...

DNA from medieval emperors Otto I and Henry II confirms their royal lineage and bolsters history by validating an ancient European dynasty.

This image shows the skull of the East African individual plus the oil lamp with the legionary eagle that he was buried with. Despite the Roman Empire’s extensive military and cultural influence on ...

Ancient DNA is spilling more secrets about the Avars, a fearsome people who built a mysterious empire that ruled much of Central and Eastern Europe for 250 years from the mid-sixth century. Primarily ...

Ancient DNA from the rise and fall of the Roman Empire reveals Italian ancestry had little detectable influence on Balkan Peninsula populations, despite the Empire’s cultural supremacy in the region.

The fall of the Western Roman Empire is commonly explained in world history textbooks alongside the Great Migration of the Germanic tribes. However, analysis of ancient DNA revealed that Northern ...

Timeline of new and published genomes. (A) 204 newly reported genomes (black circles) are shown alongside published genomes (gray circles), ordered by time and region (colored the same way as in B).

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Ancient DNA is ...