Probable ancestors of Hungarian ethnic groups: an admixture analysis

Abstract

The history of Hungary starts in the 9th century with the arrival of the Magyars in the Carpathian Basin. They spoke, like modern Hungarians, an Uralic language belonging to the Finno‐Ugric language group. Their original composition probably included Iranian and Turkish people, while other populations were already present in the territory (Avars, Slavs, Germans). Some of the Hungarian ethnic groups claim to be descendants of ancient Magyars settlers (such as the Örség), others of Huns, Turks or Iranians. We collected and compared the previously published gene frequencies of eight ethnic groups and seven hypothetical ancestral populations, including Uralics, applying a model of admixture. The results, most of which confirm historical hypotheses or the oral tradition, show that only one ethnic group (Örség) highly resembles the Uralic population.