A large-scale genetic study published in Nature Human Behaviour has concluded that present-day Albanians descend from a small ancestral population that lived in the western Balkans during the Early Middle Ages, centuries before Albanians first appeared in written historical records.
The research, led by Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou of the University of Oxford, analyzed more than 6,000 ancient genomes from across Western Eurasia alongside 74 newly collected DNA samples from ethnic Albanians representing all major dialect groups.
According to the study, Albanian ancestry can be traced to Bronze Age and Iron Age western Balkan populations historically associated with the Illyrians. Researchers estimate that Early Medieval Albanians preserved between 68 and 84 percent of this ancient western Balkan ancestry.
The study found that surrounding populations in present-day Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia absorbed far larger genetic contributions from Eastern European and Anatolian migrations during the Migration Period, while Albanian ancestors showed significantly lower levels of such admixture.
Researchers identified the strongest Slavic genetic influence in areas along the Albanian-Montenegrin border and northeastern Albania, regions historically associated with long-term Albanian-Slavic linguistic contact.
The study proposes that the proto-Albanian homeland likely stretched across northern Albania, southwestern Kosovo and parts of present-day North Macedonia, an area historically linked to Illyrian and Dardanian populations.
The research also included a separate discovery involving three individuals from the Barç archaeological site in Albania, previously believed to be of Central Asian origin. Genetic analysis instead showed South Asian ancestry linked to the Roma population, which researchers described as the first ancient DNA evidence of Roma communities in Europe.
Another finding involved an individual recovered from Roopkund Lake in India, whose DNA reportedly clustered closely with present-day Greeks while also sharing genetic segments with medieval and modern Albanians. Researchers suggested the person may have descended from Albanian-speaking communities historically present in Greece.
According to the study, the founding Albanian population may have numbered between 8,000 and 11,000 individuals, while showing no major signs of inbreeding. The research also found that the two major Albanian dialect groups, Gheg and Tosk, share the same medieval genetic foundation despite centuries of linguistic divergence.
The researchers cautioned, however, that genetic continuity alone cannot definitively prove linguistic continuity, stressing that further studies are needed to fully explain the development of the Albanian language and identity.