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Daunians
The Daunians (Latin: Daunii) were an Iapygian tribe that inhabited northern Apulia in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Messapians, inhabited the central and southern Apulia respectively. Although all three tribes spoke the Messapic language, they had developed separate archaeological cultures by the seventh century BC.
The Daunians lived in the Daunia region, which extended from the Daunian Mountains river in the southeast to the Gargano peninsula in the northwest. This region is mostly coincident with the Province of Foggia and part of Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani today. Daunians and Oscans came into contact in northern Daunia and southern Samnite regions. Gradually, parts of northern Daunia became "Oscanized".
The ethnonym is connected to the name of the wolf, plausibly the totemic animal of this nation. The cult of the wolf was widespread in ancient Italy and was related to the Arcadian mystery cult. Daunos means wolf, according to ancient glosses,[citation needed] and is cognate with Greek τηαυνος (thaunos) (compare τηēριον (thērion) in the lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria), from an Indo-European root *dhau- 'to strangle', meaning literally 'strangler'. Among the Daunian towns one may mention Lucera (Leucaria) and among other nations the ethnonym of the Lucani (Loucanoi) and that of the Hirpini, from another word meaning 'wolf'. The outcome of the Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirate *dh is proper to the Illyrian languages and so is different from the corresponding Latin faunus and Oscan, which is not attested.[citation needed]
The Messapic tribal name Daunioi/Daunii has been connected to the Dardanian Thunatae/Thunatai in the Balkans.
Recent archaeological evidence dating to the period between 1700 BCE and 1400 BCE in the post-Cetina horizon confirms trans-Adriatic migrations from the Western Balkans to southeastern Italy, which brought a Western Paleo-Balkan language to Apulia. However, the way in which Proto-Messapic speakers spread in Apulia and which pre-Indo-European languages that had existed in the region were thereby assimilated or displaced is still unknown. Developing their own identity, the Daunians emerged as a sub-tribe distinct from the rest of the Iapygians (Messapic-speakers) in the Iron Age.
The descendants of the tribes that arrived in Apulia, collectively known as the Iapygians, were the Peucetians, Messapians and Daunians. The broader region was inhabited by Italic peoples of Southern Italy with whom the Iapygians maintained contacts; among them are the Ausones/Oscans, Sabines, Lucani, Paeligni, Bruttii, Campanians, Aequi, Samnites and Frentani. Strabo, in a mythological construction to explain the foundation of Taranto, connects the Iapygians with Cretans. Strabo recounts that they were descendants of Iapyx and a Cretan woman. Archaeological material shows little contact between Iapygians and Greek colonists. The retroactive ascription of a Cretan or Arkadian heritage for the Iapygians was simply constructed for political purposes of the time these sources were written, and can be confidently attributed to mythology.
A genetic study published in 2022 examined DNA extracted from three necropoleis: Ordona, Salapia and San Giovanni Rotondo, in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, which have been linked to the Daunian region during the Iron Age. Most samples from Ordona and Salapia date to the Daunian period and some samples from San Giovanni Rotondo date more broadly to the Iron Age. Paternal haplogroups of seven Iron Age samples were identified. Two paternal lineages of the Iron Age samples belong to J-M241, one of them could be further processed as J-L283+. Two Iron Age samples belonged to R-M269, one further designated as Z2103+ and one to I-M223.
Iron Age Daunians showed the highest autosomal affinity with Early Iron Age Illyrian populations from Croatia and populations that were formed in Italy in the Roman Republican era, which both can be broadly included in a pan-Mediterranean genetic continuum (stretching from Crete to Republican Rome and the Iberian Peninsula). Links to Minoans/Crete and Iron Age Greeks/Arkadia are less likely. A parsimonious explanation of the Daunian's origin favors a genetic continuity between the Daunians and the population that inhabited the area prior to the historical period that was analyzed, although additional influences from Croatia (ancient Illyria) cannot be excluded, as described by the material remains and the available historical sources.
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Daunians
The Daunians (Latin: Daunii) were an Iapygian tribe that inhabited northern Apulia in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Messapians, inhabited the central and southern Apulia respectively. Although all three tribes spoke the Messapic language, they had developed separate archaeological cultures by the seventh century BC.
The Daunians lived in the Daunia region, which extended from the Daunian Mountains river in the southeast to the Gargano peninsula in the northwest. This region is mostly coincident with the Province of Foggia and part of Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani today. Daunians and Oscans came into contact in northern Daunia and southern Samnite regions. Gradually, parts of northern Daunia became "Oscanized".
The ethnonym is connected to the name of the wolf, plausibly the totemic animal of this nation. The cult of the wolf was widespread in ancient Italy and was related to the Arcadian mystery cult. Daunos means wolf, according to ancient glosses,[citation needed] and is cognate with Greek τηαυνος (thaunos) (compare τηēριον (thērion) in the lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria), from an Indo-European root *dhau- 'to strangle', meaning literally 'strangler'. Among the Daunian towns one may mention Lucera (Leucaria) and among other nations the ethnonym of the Lucani (Loucanoi) and that of the Hirpini, from another word meaning 'wolf'. The outcome of the Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirate *dh is proper to the Illyrian languages and so is different from the corresponding Latin faunus and Oscan, which is not attested.[citation needed]
The Messapic tribal name Daunioi/Daunii has been connected to the Dardanian Thunatae/Thunatai in the Balkans.
Recent archaeological evidence dating to the period between 1700 BCE and 1400 BCE in the post-Cetina horizon confirms trans-Adriatic migrations from the Western Balkans to southeastern Italy, which brought a Western Paleo-Balkan language to Apulia. However, the way in which Proto-Messapic speakers spread in Apulia and which pre-Indo-European languages that had existed in the region were thereby assimilated or displaced is still unknown. Developing their own identity, the Daunians emerged as a sub-tribe distinct from the rest of the Iapygians (Messapic-speakers) in the Iron Age.
The descendants of the tribes that arrived in Apulia, collectively known as the Iapygians, were the Peucetians, Messapians and Daunians. The broader region was inhabited by Italic peoples of Southern Italy with whom the Iapygians maintained contacts; among them are the Ausones/Oscans, Sabines, Lucani, Paeligni, Bruttii, Campanians, Aequi, Samnites and Frentani. Strabo, in a mythological construction to explain the foundation of Taranto, connects the Iapygians with Cretans. Strabo recounts that they were descendants of Iapyx and a Cretan woman. Archaeological material shows little contact between Iapygians and Greek colonists. The retroactive ascription of a Cretan or Arkadian heritage for the Iapygians was simply constructed for political purposes of the time these sources were written, and can be confidently attributed to mythology.
A genetic study published in 2022 examined DNA extracted from three necropoleis: Ordona, Salapia and San Giovanni Rotondo, in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, which have been linked to the Daunian region during the Iron Age. Most samples from Ordona and Salapia date to the Daunian period and some samples from San Giovanni Rotondo date more broadly to the Iron Age. Paternal haplogroups of seven Iron Age samples were identified. Two paternal lineages of the Iron Age samples belong to J-M241, one of them could be further processed as J-L283+. Two Iron Age samples belonged to R-M269, one further designated as Z2103+ and one to I-M223.
Iron Age Daunians showed the highest autosomal affinity with Early Iron Age Illyrian populations from Croatia and populations that were formed in Italy in the Roman Republican era, which both can be broadly included in a pan-Mediterranean genetic continuum (stretching from Crete to Republican Rome and the Iberian Peninsula). Links to Minoans/Crete and Iron Age Greeks/Arkadia are less likely. A parsimonious explanation of the Daunian's origin favors a genetic continuity between the Daunians and the population that inhabited the area prior to the historical period that was analyzed, although additional influences from Croatia (ancient Illyria) cannot be excluded, as described by the material remains and the available historical sources.