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Ancient human genome-wide data from a 3000-year interval in the Caucasus corresponds with eco-geographic regions

Author

Listed:
  • Chuan-Chao Wang

    (Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
    Xiamen University)

  • Sabine Reinhold

    (German Archaeological Institute, Eurasia Department)

  • Alexey Kalmykov

    (’Nasledie’ Cultural Heritage Unit)

  • Antje Wissgott

    (Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History)

  • Guido Brandt

    (Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History)

  • Choongwon Jeong

    (Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History)

  • Olivia Cheronet

    (Earth Institute, University College Dublin
    University of Vienna
    University College Dublin)

  • Matthew Ferry

    (Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Eadaoin Harney

    (Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School
    Harvard University)

  • Denise Keating

    (Earth Institute, University College Dublin
    University College Dublin)

  • Swapan Mallick

    (Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School
    Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT)

  • Nadin Rohland

    (Harvard Medical School
    Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT)

  • Kristin Stewardson

    (Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Anatoly R. Kantorovich

    (Lomonosov Moscow State University)

  • Vladimir E. Maslov

    (Institute of Archaeology RAS)

  • Vladimira G. Petrenko

    (Institute of Archaeology RAS)

  • Vladimir R. Erlikh

    (State Museum of Oriental Art)

  • Biaslan Ch. Atabiev

    (Ltd. Institute for Caucasus Archaeology)

  • Rabadan G. Magomedov

    (Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography DNC RAS)

  • Philipp L. Kohl

    (Department of Anthropology, Wellesley College)

  • Kurt W. Alt

    (Danube Private University
    University of Basel
    University of Basel)

  • Sandra L. Pichler

    (University of Basel)

  • Claudia Gerling

    (University of Basel)

  • Harald Meller

    (State Heritage Museum, Saxony-Anhalt)

  • Benik Vardanyan

    (Martin-Luther-Universität
    Shirak Center for Armenological Studies of National Academy of Science RA)

  • Larisa Yeganyan

    (Shirak Center for Armenological Studies of National Academy of Science RA)

  • Alexey D. Rezepkin

    (Russian Academy of Sciences)

  • Dirk Mariaschk

    (German Archaeological Institute, Eurasia Department)

  • Natalia Berezina

    (Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University)

  • Julia Gresky

    (German Archaeological Institute, Department of Natural Sciences)

  • Katharina Fuchs

    (CRC 1266 “Scales of Transformation”, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Christian-Albrechts-Universität)

  • Corina Knipper

    (Curt Engelhorn Center for Archaeometry gGmbH)

  • Stephan Schiffels

    (Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History)

  • Elena Balanovska

    (Research Centre for Medical Genetics
    Biobank of North Eurasia)

  • Oleg Balanovsky

    (Research Centre for Medical Genetics
    Biobank of North Eurasia
    Vavilov Institute for General Genetics)

  • Iain Mathieson

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Thomas Higham

    (RLAHA, University of Oxford)

  • Yakov B. Berezin

    (Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University)

  • Alexandra Buzhilova

    (Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University)

  • Viktor Trifonov

    (Russian Academy of Sciences)

  • Ron Pinhasi

    (University of Vienna)

  • Andrej B. Belinskij

    (’Nasledie’ Cultural Heritage Unit)

  • David Reich

    (Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School
    Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT
    Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean)

  • Svend Hansen

    (German Archaeological Institute, Eurasia Department)

  • Johannes Krause

    (Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
    Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean)

  • Wolfgang Haak

    (Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
    The University of Adelaide)

Abstract

Archaeogenetic studies have described the formation of Eurasian ‘steppe ancestry’ as a mixture of Eastern and Caucasus hunter-gatherers. However, it remains unclear when and where this ancestry arose and whether it was related to a horizon of cultural innovations in the 4th millennium BCE that subsequently facilitated the advance of pastoral societies in Eurasia. Here we generated genome-wide SNP data from 45 prehistoric individuals along a 3000-year temporal transect in the North Caucasus. We observe a genetic separation between the groups of the Caucasus and those of the adjacent steppe. The northern Caucasus groups are genetically similar to contemporaneous populations south of it, suggesting human movement across the mountain range during the Bronze Age. The steppe groups from Yamnaya and subsequent pastoralist cultures show evidence for previously undetected farmer-related ancestry from different contact zones, while Steppe Maykop individuals harbour additional Upper Palaeolithic Siberian and Native American related ancestry.

Suggested Citation

  • Chuan-Chao Wang & Sabine Reinhold & Alexey Kalmykov & Antje Wissgott & Guido Brandt & Choongwon Jeong & Olivia Cheronet & Matthew Ferry & Eadaoin Harney & Denise Keating & Swapan Mallick & Nadin Rohla, 2019. "Ancient human genome-wide data from a 3000-year interval in the Caucasus corresponds with eco-geographic regions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-08220-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-08220-8
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