title: Diverse origin of mitochondrial lineages in Iron Age Black Sea Scythians.
abstract: Scythians were nomadic and semi-nomadic people that ruled the Eurasian steppe during much of the first millennium BCE. While having been extensively studied by archaeology, very little is known about their genetic identity. To fill this gap, we analyzed ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from Scythians of the North Pontic Region (NPR) and successfully retrieved 19 whole mtDNA genomes. We have identified three potential mtDNA lineage ancestries of the NPR Scythians tracing back to hunter-gatherer and nomadic populations of east and west Eurasia as well as the Neolithic farming expansion into Europe. One third of all mt lineages in our dataset belonged to subdivisions of mt haplogroup U5. A comparison of NPR Scythian mtDNA linages with other contemporaneous Scythian groups, the Saka and the Pazyryks, reveals a common mtDNA package comprised of haplogroups H/H5, U5a, A, D/D4, and F1/F2. Of these, west Eurasian lineages show a downward cline in the west-east direction while east Eurasian haplogroups display the opposite trajectory. An overall similarity in mtDNA lineages of the NPR Scythians was found with the late Bronze Age Srubnaya population of the Northern Black Sea region which supports the archaeological hypothesis suggesting Srubnaya people as ancestors of the NPR Scythians.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Juras
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University Wallenberglaboratoriet, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krzewińska
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Grand Valley State University, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, Michigan 49401, United States of America.
authors.forename: Alexey G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Nikitin
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznan, Poland.|Department of Biology and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Education, Charles University in Prague, Magdalény Rettigové 4, 116 39, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Edvard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ehler
authors.affiliation: Institute of Archaeology, Faculty of History, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Umultowska 89D, 61-614 Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chyleński
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Sylwia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Łukasik
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krenz-Niedbała
authors.affiliation: Taras Shevchenko University in Tiraspol, Taras Shevchenko University in Tiraspol, October Street 25, 33-00 Tiraspol, Moldova.
authors.forename: Vitaly
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sinika
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Janusz
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piontek
authors.affiliation: Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Lanzheronivska Street, 65026, Odessa, Ukraine.
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ivanova
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Techniques Laboratory, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Miroslawa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dabert
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University Wallenberglaboratoriet, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Götherström
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia; D059038:Black Sea; D000072441:DNA, Ancient / Q000737:chemistry*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005060:Europe; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D058974:Phylogeography; D044469:Racial Groups; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D000072441:DNA, Ancient; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial