By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra–West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe.

We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq), Cyprus, and the Northwestern Zagros, along with the first data from Neolithic Armenia. We show that these and neighboring populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers, forming a Neolithic continuum of ancestry mirroring the geography of West Asia. By analyzing Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic populations of Anatolia, we show that the former were derived from admixture between Mesopotamian-related and local Epipaleolithic-related sources, but the latter experienced additional Levantine-related gene flow, thus documenting at least two pulses of migration from the Fertile Crescent heartland to the early farmers of Anatolia.

Die Autoren untersuchen im Beitrag Grubengräber unter Grabhügeln (Kurgane) von der gesamten Unteren Donau auf ihre Bestattungssitte, Grabausstattung, Stratigraphie undLes sépultures à fosses ou à puits sous tumulus (kourgane) de la culture Yamna dans la vallée inférieure du Danube font l’objet de notre article. Nous nous penchons sur les questions concernant les rites funéraires, le mobilier des sépultures, la stratigraphie et les datations radiocarbone. Ces dernières comprennent 17 dates AMS récemment obtenues en Munténie du nord, la plupart inédites. On peut distinguer deux groups de sépultures. Un premier groupe consiste en sépultures à fosses plus ovales que rectangulaires; les corps sont fléchis sur le côté, il y a peu d’ocre et les récipients (en céramique de production apparemment locale) sont rares. Les sépultures de ce groupe sont pour la plupart les sépultures primaires à l’intérieur des tumuli. En utilisant des datations radiocarbone obtenues récemment pour les sépultures 3B et 5 B à Ariceşti IV (et en partie celles de la sépulture 2/3 de Păuleşti II), comté Prahova, nous démontrons que the groupe date d’avant environ 3050/3000 cal BC, probablement recouvrant tout le dernier tiers du IVe millénaire BC. Le second groupe présente toutes les caractéristiques de la culture classique ‘Yamna’: sépultures primaires et secondaires, fosses surtout rectangulaires et couvertes de poutres, corps en décubitus avec jambes fléchies, taches ou morceaux d’ocre, mobilier rare où on remarque quelques anneaux de chevelure en métal précieux. La céramique est à nouveau rare, mais quand elle est présente il s’agit souvent de gobelets décorés au cordon, très semblables aux gobelets de la culture de la céramique cordée de l’Europe du centre et du nord. Les datations radiocarbone de ces sépultures de ce groupe datent d’après environ 3050/3000 cal BC, et il est peut-être même possible de les subdiviser le long des parties plates et raides de la courbe de calibration, c’est-à-dire allant d’environ 3050/3000 à 2880 cal BC, et ensuite depuis environ 2880 à 2580 cal BC. Ceci pourra en fin de compte nous permettre de distinguer uns phase ‘Yamna’ ancienne d’une phase plus récente. En bref, et après avoir examiné plus de 500 datations radiocarbone et/ou dendrochronologiques provenant d’une zone allant de l’Oural à la Tisza, le phénomène des sépultures à puits ou fosses couvre une période allant d’environ 3500 cal BC à 2400 cal BC. En incluant les sépultures plus anciennes de Suvorovo-Novodanilovka (Ve millénaire BC.) et certaines sépultures (ou kourganes) de la culture des steppes attribuées à Cernavoda I et cultures associées (première moitié du IVe millénaire BC), il devient évident qu’un courant d’échange existait de façon continue durant 2000 ans entre le nord-est, le nord et l’ouest du Pont-Euxin. Quoique nous supposons que la culture ‘Yamna’ a surtout vu une vague intense de migrants venants de l’est au sein d’un milieu social, économique et idéologique nouveau, il reste à établir si les premières sépultures à fosses sous tumulus du Danube inférieur datant d’à partir de 3300 cal BC étaient un apport de peuples des steppes apparentés à des peuplades du nord du Pont-Euxin avec traditions funéraires de type Nizhne-Mikhailovka et Kvityana, ou s’il s’agit plutôt de rites appartenant à une population locale qui aurait intégré de nouvelles coutumes ‘orientales’ dans ses propres rites funéraires. Il est fort probable que nous avons affaire à une combinaison des deux possibilités.The Pit-Graves under burial mounds (Kurgans) of the Lower Danube region are being assessed in terms of their burial customs, funeral equipment, stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates. The latter comprise 17 recently performed AMS dates from Northern Muntenia, most of them yet unpublished. Two distinct burial groups can be separated: A first consists of graves with more oval than rectangular grave-pits, predominantly side-crouched body positions of the deceased, few ochre, and rare but seemingly local pots. Graves of this group are mostly the primary graves in their mounds. By using some already published and the newly obtained

The origins of horseback riding remain elusive. Scientific studies show that horses were kept for their milk ~3500 to 3000 BCE, widely accepted as indicating domestication. However, this does not confirm them to be ridden. Equipment used by early riders is rarely preserved, and the reliability of equine dental and mandibular pathologies remains contested. However, horsemanship has two interacting components: the horse as mount and the human as rider. Alterations associated with riding in human skeletons therefore possibly provide the best source of information. Here, we report five Yamnaya individuals well-dated to 3021 to 2501 calibrated BCE from kurgans in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, displaying changes in bone morphology and distinct pathologies associated with horseback riding. These are the oldest humans identified as riders so far.

This paper aims to provide an overview of the current understanding in Yamnaya burials from north of the Lower Danube, particularly focussing on their relationship with supposed local archaeological cultures/ societies. Departing from a decades-long research history and latest archaeological finds from Romania, it addresses key research basics on the funerary archaeology of their kurgans and burials ; their material culture and chronology ; on steppe predecessors and Katakombnaya successors ; and links with neighbouring regions as well as the wider southeast European context. Taking into account some reflections from latest ancient DNA revelations, there can be no doubt a substantial migration has taken place around 3000 BC, with Yamnaya populations originating from the Caspian-Pontic steppe pushing westwards. However already the question if such accounts for the term of ’ Mass Migrations’ cannot be satisfactorily answered, as we are only about to begin to understand the demographics in this process. A further complication is trying to assess who is a newcomer and who is a local in an interaction scenario that lasts for c. 500 years. Identities are not fixed, may indeed transform, as previous newcomers soon turn into locals, while others are just visitors. Nevertheless, this well-researched region of geographical transition from lowland eastern Europe to the hillier parts of temperate Europe provides an ideal starting point to address such questions, being currently also at the heart of the intense discussion about what is identity in the context of the emerging relationship of Archaeology and Genetics.