Elites played a pivotal role in the formation of post-Roman Europe on both macro- and microlevels during the Early Medieval period. History and archaeology have long focused on their description and identification based on written sources or through their archaeological record. We provide a different perspective on this topic by integrating paleogenomic, archaeological, and isotopic data to gain insights into the role of one such elite group in a Langobard period community near Collegno, Italy dated to the 6-8th centuries CE. Our analysis of 28 newly sequenced genomes together with 24 previously published ones combined with isotope (Sr, C, N) measurements revealed that this community was established by and organized around a network of biologically and socially related individuals likely composed of multiple elite families that over time developed into a single extended pedigree. The community also included individuals with diverse genetic ancestries, maintaining its diversity by integrating newcomers and groups in later stages of its existence. This study highlights how shifts in political power and migration impacted the formation and development of a small rural community within a key region of the former Western Roman Empire after its dissolution and the emergence of a new kingdom. Furthermore, it suggests that Early Medieval elites had the capacity to incorporate individuals from varied backgrounds and that these elites were the result of (political) agency rather than belonging to biologically homogeneous groups.

Archaeo and Palaeogenetics Institute for Archaeological Sciences Department of Geosciences University of Tübingen Tübingen 72074 Germany

Arne Faculty of Arts Masaryk University Brno střed 602 00 Czech Republic

Climate Change and History Research Initiative Princeton University Princeton NJ 08542

Department of Archaeogenetics Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig 04103 Germany

Department of Bioarchaeology Faculty of Archaeology University of Warsaw Warszawa 00 927 Poland

Department of Biology University of Florence Firenze 12 50122 Italy

Department of Ecology and Evolution Stony Brook University Stony Brook NY 11794

Department of History and Cultural Studies Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology Freie Universität Berlin Berlin 14195 Germany

Department of History Archaeology and Art History Catholic University Milan Milan 20103 Italy

Department of Humanities Institute of Archaeological Sciences Eötvös Loránd University Budapest 1088 Hungary

Department of Philosophy and Humanities Institute of Greek and Latin Languages and Literatures Freie Universität Berlin Berlin 14195 Germany

Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente Università di Cagliari Cagliari 09126 Italy

Institute for Medieval Research Austrian Academy of Sciences; Institute for Austrian Historical Research University of Vienna Vienna 1020 Austria

Institute of History Jagiellonian University in Krakow Kraków 31 007 Poland

Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena 07745 Germany

Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology Jena 07743 Germany

School of Historical Studies Institute for Advanced Study Princeton NJ 08540

Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la città metropolitana di Torino Torino TO 10122 Italy

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