Tooth Enamel Tells All: Genetic Testing and Why It’s Rewriting Our Understanding of Early Medieval Migration

Europe's borders in the Middle Ages were created by one man, and he wasn't even born in the Middle Ages, nor was he Christian. It was Emperor Diocletian, who ruled Rome from 284 to 305. His reforms that chained tenant farmers to land created the blueprint for feudalism. He split the empire, which established the East-West divide. Lastly, his shift from static Roman legions to mobile armies set the stage for the warrior kingdoms that would dominate the early Middle Ages. Today, new genetic analysis of skeletal and tooth remains is revolutionizing how we understand this transformation—a high-status woman buried around 550 in Britain was born in Norway according to her childhood tooth enamel, proving the "barbarian invasions" were actually century-long migrations averaging just three miles per day. Today's guest is John Haywood, author of The Making of the Middle Ages: An Atlas of Europe . We discuss how Europe from 500-700 was ruled by warrior kingdoms with mobile courts that constantly traveled—only shifting to fixed courts and proper imperial administration after Charlemagne established counties, libraries, copyists, and the emporia trading centers where workshops and markets flourished. Haywood also explains how Ravenna's independence from Byzantium portended the rise of papal power, why towns collapsed from Roman populations of thousands to mere hundreds unless a bishop resided there, and how the density of churches and monasteries north of the Alps exploded between 600 and 1200 as the Catholic Church consolidated power across formerly pagan Germanic territories.

You can listen to Tooth Enamel Tells All: Genetic Testing and Why It’s Rewriting Our Understanding of Early Medieval Migration online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Tooth Enamel Tells All: Genetic Testing and Why It’s Rewriting Our Understanding of Early Medieval Migration is an episode from History Unplugged Podcast | American History, World History, World War 2, U.S. Presidents, Civil War by Support.

This episode is 53:15 long.

This episode was published on Apr 28, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from History Unplugged Podcast | American History, World History, World War 2, U.S. Presidents, Civil War when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.