Genetic ancestry changes in Stone to Bronze Age transition in the East European plain

Abstract

The transition from Stone to Bronze Age in Central and Western Europe was a period of major population movements originating from the Ponto-Caspian Steppe. Here, we report new genome-wide sequence data from 30 individuals north of this area, from the understudied western part of present-day Russia, including 3 Stone Age hunter-gatherers (10,800 to 4250 cal BCE) and 26 Bronze Age farmers from the Corded Ware complex Fatyanovo Culture (2900 to 2050 cal BCE). We show that Eastern hunter-gatherer ancestry was present in northwestern Russia already from around 10,000 BCE. Furthermore, we see a change in ancestry with the arrival of farming—Fatyanovo Culture individuals were genetically similar to other Corded Ware cultures, carrying a mixture of Steppe and European early farmer ancestry. Thus, they likely originate from a fast migration toward the northeast from somewhere near modern-day Ukraine—the closest area where these ancestries coexisted from around 3000 BCE.

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

“…In addition, those groups also carry affinity to ANF suggesting more complex genetic processes behind their demographic history 16 . Moreover, two of the oldest published groups from western Russia belonging to the Sidelkino cluster—Peschanitsa (13 ka) 43 and the newly reported Minino individuals (11 ka)—showed extra affinity to the Oberkassel cluster, possibly owing to variability in this ancestry proportion during the initial formation phase of the Sidelkino-ancestry profile. Using DATES software, we estimated the admixture between Villabruna/Oberkassel and ANE ancestries in these old Sidelkino-cluster-related individuals to around 15–13 ka (Extended Data Fig.…”

The genetic history of the Southern Arc: A bridge between West Asia and Europe

“…We observe that, on the steppe, R-M12149 Y chromosomes (within haplogroup R1b) at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE, associated with the Yamnaya, were replaced by the beginning of the next millennium by R-Z93 Y chromosomes (within haplogroup R1a), associated with Corded Ware/Fatianovo ( 35 ) steppe descendants such as those of the Sintashta culture ( 34 ). Genetic data cannot distinguish whether this Y-chromosome replacement was the result of competition between patrilineal groups from the steppe, one of which may have had cultural adaptations such as usage of an improved variety of domesticated horse ( 37 ), or whether one group simply filled an ecological niche vacated by earlier groups.…”

“…By the Late Bronze Age (late 2nd millennium BCE) and later, no high-steppe ancestry individuals are observed, but steppe-associated Y chromosomes persist, including R-Z2106, a lineage that links North Macedonia (Ulanci-Veles), Albania (Çinamak), the steppe, and Armenia. The population of Southeastern Europe contrasts strongly with those of the Central/Northern Europe and Eurasian steppe archaeological cultures of ~3000 to 2000 BCE that were strongly associated with particular Y-chromosome lineages: Afanasievo ( 4 , 34 ) with the same R-Z2103 as the Yamnaya, Corded Ware/Fatyanovo/Sintashta ( 4 , 8 , 34 , 35 ) with R-M417, and Beaker ( 36 ) with R-L51. In Southeastern Europe during the Bronze Age, we detect 32/30/21/11 Y chromosomes belonging to haplogroups R/J/I/G linking it with Central/Northern Europe and the steppe/West Asia/local hunter-gatherers/Anatolian-European Neolithic farmers, respectively.…”

Dynamic changes in genomic and social structures in third millennium BCE central Europe

“…The CW represents a major cultural shift in central, northern, and northeastern Europe, bringing changes in economy, ideology, and mortuary practices ( 14 – 22 ). CW individuals were shown to be genetically distinct from culturally pre-CW people, having ~75% of their ancestry similar to Yamnaya individuals from the Pontic-Caspian steppe ( 3 , 4 , 23 – 27 ). This Yamnaya-like “steppe” ancestry then spread rapidly throughout Europe, reaching Britain, Ireland, the Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, and Sicily before the end of the third millennium BCE ( 5 , 28 – 32 ).…”