Mitochondrial DNA studies of the Pazyryk people (4th to 3rd centuries BC) from northwestern Mongolia

Abstract

The discovery and excavations in 2006 by joint Russian-German-Mongolian expeditions of the Pazyryk culture burial sites (4th to 3rd centuries BC, Early Iron Age, the Scythian period) in the Altai mountains of northwestern Mongolia near the Russia border provided new material for studying various aspects of these ancient peoples lives, including human, animal and plant remains. Ice accumulation in the graves preserved the human remains, allowing biological analysis of the samples. We conducted a genetic study based on mitochondrial DNA from remains of three Pazyryk culture representatives to investigate the possible genetic relationships of this Siberian Scythian group with populations of adjacent territories. These data support possible genetic contacts between populations of Altai and other Eurasia regions in the Early Iron Age, and are in good agreement with corresponding archaeological and anthropological data. However, a large-scale study of the Pazyryk population gene pool structure must be performed to further confirm these findings.

Iron Age nomads of southern Siberia in craniofacial perspective

“…Our results have shown these two groups to be outliers when compared to many modern living peoples of Siberia and Central Asia (Figure 5), while maintaining a connection to some peoples from the Iron Ages of southern and western Siberia (Figure 3, Figure 4, Figure 5). These findings are similar to previous research done in ancient DNA studies and physical anthropological studies (Chikisheva, 2000a;Moiseyev, 2006;Chikisheva et al, 2007;Pilipenko et al, 2010).…”

“…The general consensus among these studies is that the mountain belt zone of southern Siberia is where populations began to expand into Eastern and Northern Europe following the Last Glacial Maximum. From the Mesolithic, the region of southern Siberia has witnessed extensive migrations, most notably (Clisson et al, 2002;Keyser Tracqui et al, 2003;LaluezaFox et al, 2004;Ricaut et al, 2004a, b;Chikisheva et al, 2007;Keyser et al, 2009;Pilipenko et al, 2010;Gonzalez-Ruiz et al, 2012). The general consensus among these studies is that the region of southern Siberia and Central Asia is quite diverse.…”

“…The general consensus among these studies is that the region of southern Siberia and Central Asia is quite diverse. However, studies have shown that Pazyryk and Tagar peoples possessed haplogroups that are rare or absent in southern Siberia today, such as mtDNA haplogroups U and U5a1 (Pilipenko et al, 2010). Interestingly, haplogroup U is present in high frequencies in ancient huntergatherers of Europe (Bramanti et al, 2009;Malmstrom et al, 2009) and was also found in a 24000 year old Upper Paleolithic boy from the Lake Baikal region (Mal'ta) of south-central Siberia (Raghavan et al, 2013).…”

“…The genetic diversity of the region suggests extensive contact over the course of the last several millennia (Gonzalez-Ruiz et al, 2012). Recent ancient DNA studies indicate the Scythian peoples to have a mix of both Western and Eastern Eurasian DNA types (Voevoda et al, 2000;Clisson et al, 2002;Ricaut et al, 2004b;Chikisheva et al, 2007;Keyser et al, 2009;Pilipenko et al, 2010). Nevertheless, the history and origins of these people remain relatively obscure.…”

18 Europe and western Asia: genetics and population history

“…Very little genetic support is available for migrations from the Steppes into Europe, and the evidence is mostly restricted to population dynamics within the Steppes themselves (Lalueza-Fox et al 2004;Pilipenko et al 2010). The Hungarians or Magyars are an example of a linguistic isolate in the center of Europe, but genetic analyses consistently place them with their present-day geographic neighbors rather than with their Uralic linguistic relatives (see chapter 21).…”