Overview

• Researchers trace early Slavic ancestry to the region between the Dniester and Don, spanning southern Belarus to central Ukraine.
• Beginning in the 6th century CE, large-scale movements spread this Eastern European ancestry across Central and Eastern Europe, with near-total genetic turnover in Eastern Germany and Poland.
• In Eastern Germany, more than 85% of ancestry reflects newcomers from the east, and the Sorbs retain a closely related genetic profile today.
• The Northern Balkans show substantial admixture rather than replacement, with early sites such as Velim in Croatia preserving up to 30% local ancestry in Slavic-era burials.
• An independent Genome Biology study of Southern Moravia reports the same northeastern affinities tied to Slavic material culture and shows continuity into the 9th–10th centuries.