Ancient genomic time transect from the Central Asian Steppe unravels the history of the Scythians: Genetic history of Scythia

Science Advances ^ | 26 Mar 2021 Vol. 7, No. 13 | Tatiana V. Andreeva et al (see below)

[SunkenCiv]

Abstract: The Scythians were a multitude of horse-warrior nomad cultures dwelling in the Eurasian steppe during the first millennium BCE. Because of the lack of first-hand written records, little is known about the origins and relations among the different cultures. To address these questions, we produced genome-wide data for 111 ancient individuals retrieved from 39 archaeological sites from the first millennia BCE and CE across the Central Asian Steppe. We uncovered major admixture events in the Late Bronze Age forming the genetic substratum for two main Iron Age gene-pools emerging around the Altai and the Urals respectively. Their demise was mirrored by new genetic turnovers, linked to the spread of the eastern nomad empires in the first centuries CE. Compared to the high genetic heterogeneity of the past, the homogenization of the present-day Kazakhs gene pool is notable, likely a result of 400 years of strict exogamous social rules.

[SunkenCiv]

Authors: Tatiana V. Andreeva, Anna D. Soshkina, Fedor E. Gusev, Alexandra B. Malyarchuk, Gleb S. Dotsenko, Natalia A. Dudko, Maria Yu. Plotnikova, Svetlana S. Kunizheva, Andrey D. Manakhov, Tatiana V. Ustkachkintseva, Maria S. Protasova, Semyon A. Volodin, Alexandra P. Buzhilova, Yuriy D. Razuvaev, Natalia Ya. Berezina, Yakov B. Berezin, Anatoly R. Kantorovich, Vladimir E. Maslov, Dmitry G. Barinov, Maria V. Dobrovolskaya, and Evgeny I. Rogaev

[SunkenCiv]

The rest of the scythia/n/s keywords, sorted:

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• Kazakhstan: the tomb of the Scythian Prince [51:49] [06/19/2025]
• World's Oldest Rug Ever Found Unveils Secrets of Ancient Pazyryk Culture [12/18/2024]
• Mystery of The Ancient Greek City Bizarrely Located in Afghanistan [8:05] [10/19/2024]
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• New study finds: Ancient Mycenaean civilization might have collapsed due to uprising or invasion [04/15/2018]
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• Yurts Through the Ages: From Nomadic Tribes to Modern Glampers [02/16/2016]
• 2,500-year-old Female Siberian Warrior Is Beheaded By Excavator [10/31/2015]
• Does Celtic art have links with Asia? [10/15/2015]
• Soviet Bombers and Scythian Mummies: The Archaeology Uncovered By Climate Change [09/04/2015]
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[SunkenCiv]

[rod5591]

huh?

[kinsman redeemer]

Evidence of an "illegal alien"?

With the exception of one outlier falling in the Tasmola/Pazyryk cloud, the individuals associated with the Sarmatian culture are highly homogeneous despite being spread over a wide geographic area and time period

[ckilmer]

I’ve only learned in the last years that the scythians were the last of the caucasian tribes that raided south/west from above the black sea. The earlier Yamnaya related culures from the same area dated from 4th-2nd millenium were much more successful at raiding and settling from England to India.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I learned a new word today!

exogamous adj pertaining to or characterized by the custom of marrying only outside the limits of a clan or tribe

[SunkenCiv]

It’ll be fun to use it in a sentence, uh, someday. I was over the Moon the first time I had my first opportunity to use “imprimatur” in a sentence.

[Valpal1]

They stopped marrying their cousins and got wives from outside the family/tribe.

[SunkenCiv]

The Yamnaya keyword, sorted:

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• World's 1st horseback riders swept across Europe roughly 5,000 years ago [03/11/2023]
• 4000-year-old sword found in Finland [3700 years] [10/12/2021]
• Plague in humans 'twice as old' but didn't begin as flea-borne, ancient DNA reveals [07/28/2019]
• How Europeans Evolved White Skin [02/15/2018]
• How Asian Nomadic Herders Built New Bronze Age Cultures [11/30/2017]
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• Why did ancient Europeans just disappear 14,500 Years Ago? [03/03/2016]
• 'Fourth strand' of European ancestry originated with hunter-gatherers isolated by Ice Age [11/16/2015]
• Plague Infected Humans Much Earlier Than Previously Thought [10/24/2015]
• DNA Deciphers Roots of Modern Europeans [06/10/2015]
• European languages linked to migration from the east [02/13/2015]
• Water's edge ancestors: Human evolution's tide may have turned on lake and sea shores [08/02/2011]
• Did first humans come out of Middle East and not Africa?... [12/27/2010]
• Archaeologists find 'mini-Pompeii' [ Norway, 3500 BC ] [10/04/2010]
• Europe's oldest stone hand axes emerge in Spain [900,000 years B.P.] [09/27/2009]
• Ancient Wheat Suggests Early China, Middle east Trade [12/07/2007]
• On The Presence Of Non-Chinese At Anyang [08/16/2006]
• Stranger In A New Land (Archaeology) [11/01/2003]
• Sand-Covered Huns City Unearthed [10/10/2002]

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

Thanks, SunkenCiv.

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure!