A major ancient DNA study of Etruscans, published in 2021 in the journal Science Advances, analyzed the genomes of 82 Etruscans from 11 sites in Tuscany dating between the ninth century and first century BCE.

The results were complex but suggestive.

The early Etruscans showed a genetic profile largely consistent with the ancestry expected from Bronze Age Italy — derived primarily from the mixture of early European farmers and steppe ancestry (related to the Bronze Age migrations from the Pontic steppe) that characterizes most European Bronze Age populations.

This was not obviously consistent with a large-scale migration from Anatolia or the Aegean.

However, the study also found that the Etruscans showed a genetic component related to Anatolian Bronze Age populations — specifically a component that was elevated relative to contemporary Italic populations.