Ancient DNA unravels the history of chickens in the Baltic Sea region and the continuity of landrace lineages
century CE), indicating later introgression. Both Estonian and Finnish landrace chickens had a higher frequency of the TSHR wild-type allele than the modern reference samples. Based on our results, the ancient chickens from the Åland Islands differed from other ancient chickens from the Baltic Sea region, and the landrace chickens differ from other modern chickens.
Authors
- Lembi Lõugas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2011-2141)
- Eve Rannamäe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1186-5512)
- Hanna Kivikero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6396-2288)
- Kristiina Mannermaa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8510-1120)
- Rudolf Gustavsson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8883-5958)
- Giedrė Piličiauskienė (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5168-8568)
- Jeremy B. Searle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7710-5204)
- Laura Kvist (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2108-0172)
- Johanna Honka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2536-5869)
- Suvi Olli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0582-8729)
Institutions
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Vilnius University (LT)
- Tallinn University (EE)
- Cornell University (US)
- Stiftelsen Längmanska Kulturfonden (SE)
- Department of Archaeology (LK)
- University of Tartu (EE)
- Oulu University of Applied Sciences (FI)
- University of Oulu (FI)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Heredity
- Published
- 2026-04-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-026-00842-9
- Primary Topic
- Livestock and Poultry Management
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Eesti Teadusagentuur
- Suomen Kulttuurirahasto
- Oulun Yliopisto
- Tartu Ülikool
- Estonian Research Competency Council