The Yamnaya archaeological complex appeared around 3300 BC across the steppes north of the Black and Caspian Seas, and by 3000 BC it reached its maximal extent, ranging from Hungary in the west to Kazakhstan in the east. To localize Yamnaya origins among the preceding Eneolithic people, we assembled ancient DNA from 435 individuals, demonstrating three genetic clines. A Caucasus–lower Volga (CLV) cline suffused with Caucasus hunter-gatherer1 ancestry extended between a Caucasus Neolithic southern end and a northern end at Berezhnovka along the lower Volga river. Bidirectional gene flow created intermediate populations, such as the north Caucasus Maikop people, and those at Remontnoye on the steppe. The Volga cline was formed as CLV people mixed with upriver populations of Eastern hunter-gatherer2 ancestry, creating hypervariable groups, including one at Khvalynsk. The Dnipro cline was formed when CLV people moved west, mixing with people with Ukraine Neolithic hunter-gatherer ancestry3 along the Dnipro and Don rivers to establish Serednii Stih groups, from whom Yamnaya ancestors formed around 4000 BC and grew rapidly after 3750–3350 BC. The CLV people contributed around four-fifths of the ancestry of the Yamnaya and, entering Anatolia, probably from the east, at least one-tenth of the ancestry of Bronze Age central Anatolians, who spoke Hittite4,5. We therefore propose that the final unity of the speakers of ‘proto-Indo-Anatolian’, the language ancestral to both Anatolian and Indo-European people, occurred in CLV people some time between 4400 BC and 4000 BC.”
I don't have institutional access to Nature anymore. This is one paper I'd like to read.
Thanks Varda. Wow, $199 a year, not be cheap! I wonder if the local library (it’s been ages since I visited) has courtesy access...
Right and an only slightly later and little further east group, the Sintashta, (a semi-pastoral horse culture) refinded horse herding and horse management.
They invented the spoked wheel. The wheel had already been around but was a large wooden disc, so large and heavy that a cart had to be pulled by oxen and was very slow.
The Sintashta also invented the chariot which was light and very fast because of the spoked wheel. It was a real giant step for migration and warfare. These people are VERY interesting. Only part of the year they lived in settlements which were circular, with all dwellings joined, and acessible from the side walls. Each dwelling had its own well and forge.
MUST SEE... https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxCgJKr9MigLtBhimMxNMrG6X5Q2rsq65L