Shifts in the Genetic Landscape of the Western Eurasian Steppe Associated with the Beginning and End of the Scythian Dominance

Mari Järve; Lehti Saag; Christiana Lyn Scheib; Ajai K Pathak; Francesco Montinaro; Luca Pagani; Rodrigo Flores; Meriam Guellil; Lauri Saag; Kristiina Tambets; Alena Kushniarevich; Anu Solnik; Liivi Varul; Stanislav Zadnikov; Oleg Petrauskas; Maryana Avramenko; Boris Magomedov; Serghii Didenko; Gennadi Toshev; Igor Bruyako; Denys Grechko; Vitalii Okatenko; Kyrylo Gorbenko; Oleksandr Smyrnov; Anatolii Heiko; Roman Reida; Serheii Sapiehin; Sergey Sirotin; Aleksandr Tairov; Arman Beisenov; Maksim Starodubtsev; Vitali Vasilev; Alexei Nechvaloda; Biyaslan Atabiev; Sergey Litvinov; Natalia Ekomasova; Murat Dzhaubermezov; Sergey Voroniatov; Olga Utevska; Irina Shramko; Elza Khusnutdinova; Mait Metspalu; Nikita Savelev; Aivar Kriiska; Toomas Kivisild; Richard Villems

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.019

Shifts in the Genetic Landscape of the Western Eurasian Steppe Associated with the Beginning and End of the Scythian Dominance

Curr Biol. 2019 Jul 22;29(14):2430-2441.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.019. Epub 2019 Jul 11.

Authors

Mari Järve¹, Lehti Saag², Christiana Lyn Scheib³, Ajai K Pathak², Francesco Montinaro³, Luca Pagani⁴, Rodrigo Flores³, Meriam Guellil³, Lauri Saag³, Kristiina Tambets³, Alena Kushniarevich³, Anu Solnik³, Liivi Varul⁵, Stanislav Zadnikov⁶, Oleg Petrauskas⁷, Maryana Avramenko⁷, Boris Magomedov⁷, Serghii Didenko⁸, Gennadi Toshev⁹, Igor Bruyako¹⁰, Denys Grechko⁷, Vitalii Okatenko¹¹, Kyrylo Gorbenko¹², Oleksandr Smyrnov¹², Anatolii Heiko¹³, Roman Reida⁷, Serheii Sapiehin¹⁴, Sergey Sirotin¹⁵, Aleksandr Tairov¹⁶, Arman Beisenov¹⁷, Maksim Starodubtsev¹⁸, Vitali Vasilev¹⁹, Alexei Nechvaloda²⁰, Biyaslan Atabiev²¹, Sergey Litvinov²², Natalia Ekomasova²³, Murat Dzhaubermezov²³, Sergey Voroniatov²⁴, Olga Utevska²⁵, Irina Shramko⁶, Elza Khusnutdinova²³, Mait Metspalu³, Nikita Savelev²⁰, Aivar Kriiska²⁶, Toomas Kivisild²⁷, Richard Villems²

Affiliations

¹ Estonian Biocentre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, 23b Riia Street, Tartu 51010, Estonia. Electronic address: mari.jarve@ut.ee.
² Estonian Biocentre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, 23b Riia Street, Tartu 51010, Estonia; Department of Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, 23b Riia Street, Tartu 51010, Estonia.
³ Estonian Biocentre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, 23b Riia Street, Tartu 51010, Estonia.
⁴ Estonian Biocentre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, 23b Riia Street, Tartu 51010, Estonia; Department of Biology, University of Padova, Via U. Bassi 58/B, Padova 35121, Italy.
⁵ School of Humanities, Tallinn University, 29 Narva Street, Tallinn 10120, Estonia.
⁶ Museum of Archaeology, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, 4 Svobody Square, Kharkiv 61022, Ukraine.
⁷ Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 12 Heroyiv Stalinhradu Avenue, Kyiv 04210, Ukraine.
⁸ National Museum of History of Ukraine, 2 Volodymyrs'ka Street, Kyiv 02000, Ukraine.
⁹ Zaporizhzhya National University, 33A Dniprovska Street, Zaporizhzhya 69061, Ukraine.
¹⁰ Odessa Archaeological Museum, 4 Lanzheronivs'ka Street, Odessa 65000, Ukraine.
¹¹ SC SRC "Protective Archeological Service of Ukraine," Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 12 Heroyiv Stalinhradu Avenue, Kyiv 04210, Ukraine.
¹² Mykolaiv V.O. Sukhomlynskyi National University, 24 Nikolska Street, Mykolaiv 54030, Ukraine.
¹³ National Museum of Ukrainian Pottery in Opishne, 102 Partyzanska Street, Opishne 38164, Ukraine.
¹⁴ Anton Makarenko Museum, Poltava Regional Makarenko Scientific Lyceum, 1-2 Makarenko Lane, Kovalivka 38701, Ukraine.
¹⁵ Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 19 Dmitri Ulyanov Street, Moscow 117292, Russia.
¹⁶ South Ural State University, 76 Lenin Avenue, Chelyabinsk 454080, Russia.
¹⁷ A. Kh. Margulan Institute of Archaeology, 44 Dostyk Avenue, Almaty 480100, Kazakhstan.
¹⁸ Sterlitamak Museum of Local History, 100 Karl Marx Street, Sterlitamak 453124, Russia.
¹⁹ LoCom Medien Akademie Europäisches Bildungsinstitut, Bachstraße 4, Bonn 53115, Germany.
²⁰ Institute of History, Language and Literature, Ufa Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 71 October Avenue, Ufa 450054, Russia.
²¹ Institute for Caucasus Archaeology, 30 Katkhanova Street, Nalchik 361401, Russia.
²² Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 71 October Avenue, Ufa 450054, Russia.
²³ Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 71 October Avenue, Ufa 450054, Russia; Department of Genetics and Fundamental Medicine, Bashkir State University, 32 Zaki Validi Street, Ufa 450076, Russia.
²⁴ Department of Archaeology of Eastern Europe and Siberia, State Hermitage Museum, 34 Dvortsovaya Embankment, St. Petersburg 190000, Russia.
²⁵ Department of Genetics and Cytology, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, 4 Svobody Square, Kharkiv 61022, Ukraine.
²⁶ Department of Archaeology, Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu, 2 Jakobi Street, Tartu 51014, Estonia.
²⁷ Estonian Biocentre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, 23b Riia Street, Tartu 51010, Estonia; Department of Human Genetics, KU Leuven, O&N IV Herestraat 49, Leuven 3000, Belgium.

PMID: 31303491
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.019

Abstract

The Early Iron Age nomadic Scythians have been described as a confederation of tribes of different origins, based on ancient DNA evidence [1-3]. It is still unclear how much of the Scythian dominance in the Eurasian Steppe was due to movements of people and how much reflected cultural diffusion and elite dominance. We present new whole-genome sequences of 31 ancient Western and Eastern Steppe individuals, including Scythians as well as samples pre- and postdating them, allowing us to set the Scythians in a temporal context (in the Western, i.e., Ponto-Caspian Steppe). We detect an increase of eastern (Altaian) affinity along with a decrease in eastern hunter-gatherer (EHG) ancestry in the Early Iron Age Ponto-Caspian gene pool at the start of the Scythian dominance. On the other hand, samples of the Chernyakhiv culture postdating the Scythians in Ukraine have a significantly higher proportion of Near Eastern ancestry than other samples of this study. Our results agree with the Gothic source of the Chernyakhiv culture and support the hypothesis that the Scythian dominance did involve a demic component.

Keywords: Chernyakhiv culture; Eurasian Steppe; Iron Age; Sarmatians; Scythians; aDNA.

Publication types

Historical Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Archaeology
DNA, Ancient / analysis*
DNA, Mitochondrial / analysis*
Ethnicity / genetics
Genetic Drift*
Genome, Human
History, Ancient
Human Migration*
Humans
Male
Ukraine

Substances

DNA, Ancient
DNA, Mitochondrial