Roman genetic link found across Iberian Peninsula

Archaeologists and geneticists in Spain discovered a brother and sister buried approximately 725 kilometers apart in the 5th century.

One sibling received burial with honors in Augusta Emerita, now Mérida, while the other was found near a Roman road close to Ildum, a small town on the Mediterranean coast. DNA analysis confirmed their familial relationship.

Researchers find this distance between the graves of close relatives to be unprecedented in similar studies and are now seeking to understand who these individuals were and why they were buried so far from each other.