Notable Matches · Iconic discoveries
The Romans of Viminacium
The Romans of Viminacium (1st-6th century CE · Kostolac, Serbia): what the published ancient DNA shows, 10 sequenced genomes, and how close your own Global25 coordinates come. Free with every Ancestry Map.
The dossier

- Catalog tier
- Iconic discoveries
- Period
- 1st-6th century CE
- Found
- Kostolac, Serbia
- Sequenced genomes
- 10 (VIM5, VVG2756, VVG2697, VVG2726, VVG2712, VVG2774, VVG2780, VVG2706, VIM7, VIM6)
Who they were
Viminacium was the great legionary capital of Roman Moesia, a city of forty thousand on the Danube frontier with an amphitheatre, aqueducts and its own mint. Genomes from its cemeteries reveal the empire in miniature: soldiers and settlers from Anatolia, Africa and every corner of the Roman world dying far from home on the Balkan frontier.
The genome-wide data behind this entry was published in A genetic history of the Balkans from Roman frontier to Slavic migrations.
How your distance is measured
Every Ancestry Map includes the free Notable Matches lens: your coordinates are compared to every sequenced member of every catalog entry, and the distance to the closest member is reported, a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional space the Distance lens uses. Because these are a small group of real individuals, not a population average, distances naturally run larger than population distances. That is expected, not a poor result. And one thing is never claimed: a small distance means similar ancestry composition, not that the Romans of Viminacium are your ancestor. See how it looks in the live demo or read about Ancestry Map, the full Global25 report.
Questions
Who were the Romans of Viminacium?
The Romans of Viminacium (1st-6th century CE, Kostolac, Serbia) are one of the Iconic discoveries entries in our Notable Matches catalog, represented by 10 sequenced ancient genomes published in the study "A genetic history of the Balkans from Roman frontier to Slavic migrations".
What does "matching" the Romans of Viminacium mean?
Your Global25 coordinates are compared to the entry's sequenced members and the distance to the closest one is reported, a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional reference space the Distance lens uses. A notable entry is one person or one small burial group, not a population average, so distances naturally run larger than population distances.
Are they my ancestor?
No, and no DNA test can show that. A small distance means your genome sits near theirs in a shared reference space: similar ancestry composition, not descent. Ancestrify never claims a notable individual is your ancestor or relative.
How do I see my own distance to the Romans of Viminacium?
Notable Matches is a free lens on every Ancestry Map, never sold separately. Order Ancestry Map, our Global25 analysis (29.99 EUR), and your report ranks your coordinates against the full catalog, with a portrait, dossier and map for every entry. The public demo shows the lens with example data.
More from the catalog
The catalog holds every published entry across three tiers. Browse the full Notable Matches directory. Nearby entries:
The People of Imperial Romec. 100-300 CE
The Sky Caves of Mustangc. 400 BCE-700 CE
The Romans of Docleac. 100-400 CE
The Sarmatians of the Lower Danubec. 100-400 CE
The Goths of the Vistulac. 100-400 CE
The Sarmatians of the Great Hungarian Plain1st-4th century CE
The Log-Coffin People of Pang Maphac. 150-400 CE
The Hellenistic and Roman Lebanesec. 350 BCE-640 CE
The Greeks of Histria2nd-6th century CE
The Kangjuc. 200-400 CE
The Victims of Pompeii79 CE
The People of Roman Sitifis1st-2nd century CE