Dairy pastoralism sustained eastern Eurasian steppe populations for 5,000 years

Abstract

Dairy pastoralism is integral to contemporary and past lifeways on the eastern Eurasian steppe, facilitating survival in agriculturally challenging environments. While previous research has indicated that ruminant dairy pastoralism was practiced in the region by c. 1300 BC, the origin, extent and diversity of this custom remains poorly understood. Here we analyze ancient proteins from human dental calculus recovered from geographically diverse locations across Mongolia and spanning 5,000 years in time. We present the earliest evidence for dairy consumption on the eastern Eurasian steppe by c. 3000 BC, and the later emergence of horse milking at c. 1200 BC, concurrent with the first evidence for horse riding. We argue that ruminant dairying contributed to the demographic success of Bronze Age Mongolian populations, and that the origins of traditional horse dairy products in eastern Eurasia are closely tied to the regional emergence of mounted herding societies during the late second millennium BC.

A dynamic 6,000-year genetic history of Eurasia’s Eastern Steppe

“…Pastoralism in Mongolia is often assumed to have been introduced by the eastward expansion of Western Steppe cultures (e.g., Afanasievo) via either the Upper Yenisei and Sayan mountain region to the northwest of Mongolia or through the Altai mountains in the west (Janz et al, 2017). Although the vast majority of Afanasievo burials found to date are located in the Altai mountains and Upper Yenisei regions outside of Mongolia (Honeychurch, 2017), an Early Bronze Age (EBA) site in the southern Khangai Mountains of central Mongolia has yielded Afanasievo-style graves with proteomic evidence of ruminant milk consumption (Wilkin et al, 2019). Analyzing two of these individuals (Afanasievo_Mongolia, 3112-2917 cal.…”

“…The succeeding EBA Chemurchek culture (2750-1900 BCE), a ruminant dairying society (Wilkin et al, 2019) whose mortuary features include stone slabs and anthropomorphic stelae, has also been purportedly linked to WSH migrations (Kovalev and Erdenebaatar, 2009). Chemurchek graves are found throughout the Altai and in the Dzungar Basin in Xinjiang, China (Jia and Betts, 2010).…”

“…During the Bronze Age, the multi-phased introduction of pastoralism drastically changed lifeways and subsistence on the Eastern Steppe (Honeychurch, 2015; Kindstedt and Ser-Od, 2019). A recent large-scale paleoproteomic study has confirmed milk consumption in Mongolia prior to 2500 BC by individuals affiliated with the Afanasievo (3000 BCE) and Chemurchek (2750-1900 BCE) cultures (Wilkin et al, 2019). Although Afanasievo groups in the Upper Yenisei region have been genetically linked to the Yamnaya culture of the Pontic-Caspian steppe (ca.…”

“…3300-2200 BCE) (Allentoft et al, 2015; Morgunova and Khokhlova, 2013), the origins of the Chemurchek have been controversial (Kovalev, 2014). Once introduced, ruminant dairying became widespread by the Middle/Late Bronze Age (MLBA, here defined as 1900-900 BCE), being practiced in the west and north at sites associated with Deer Stone-Khirigsuur Complex (DSKC) and in the east in association with the Ulaanzuukh culture (Jeong et al, 2018; Wilkin et al, 2019). The relationships between DSKC and Ulaanzuukh groups are poorly understood, and little is known about other MLBA burial traditions in Mongolia, such as the Mönkhkhairkhan and Baitag (See supplementary materials).…”

The Genomic Formation of Human Populations in East Asia

“…This is the first known case of an individual buried with Afanasievo cultural traditions who is not overwhelmingly Yamnaya-related, and he also shows genetic continuity with an individual buried at the same site Kurgak govi 2 in a square barrow (individual I6361, skeletal code AT_635, direct radiocarbon date 2618-2487 BCE). We label this second individuals as having an Ulgii cultural association, although a different archaeological assessment associates this individual to the Afanasievo or Chemurchek cultures 25 , so it is possible that this provides a second example of Afanasievo material culture being adopted by individuals without any Yamnaya ancestry. The legacy of the Yamnaya-era spread into Mongolia continued in two individuals from the Chemurchek culture whose ancestry can be only modeled by using Afanasievo as one of the sources (49.0%±2.6%, Online Table 5).…”