title: Ancestry and demography and descendants of Iron Age nomads of the Eurasian Steppe.
abstract: During the 1stmillennium before the Common Era (BCE), nomadic tribes associated with the Iron Age Scythian culture spread over the Eurasian Steppe, covering a territory of more than 3,500 km in breadth. To understand the demographic processes behind the spread of the Scythian culture, we analysed genomic data from eight individuals and a mitochondrial dataset of 96 individuals originating in eastern and western parts of the Eurasian Steppe. Genomic inference reveals that Scythians in the east and the west of the steppe zone can best be described as a mixture of Yamnaya-related ancestry and an East Asian component. Demographic modelling suggests independent origins for eastern and western groups with ongoing gene-flow between them, plausibly explaining the striking uniformity of their material culture. We also find evidence that significant gene-flow from east to west Eurasia must have occurred early during the Iron Age.
authors.affiliation: Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Unterländer
authors.affiliation: CNRS UMR 7206 Eco-anthropologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 75016 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Friso
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Palstra
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.
authors.forename: Iosif
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lazaridis
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Science, Akademika Lavrentieva 10, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.|Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Science, Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.|Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova str. 2, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.
authors.forename: Aleksandr
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pilipenko
authors.affiliation: Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Zuzana
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hofmanová
authors.affiliation: Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Groß
authors.affiliation: Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sell
authors.affiliation: Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blöcher
authors.affiliation: Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Karola
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kirsanow
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Nadin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rohland
authors.affiliation: Molecular Genetics and Genome Analysis Group, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rieger
authors.affiliation: Department of History and Cultural Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kaiser
authors.affiliation: Department of History and Cultural Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfram
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schier
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Science, Akademika Lavrentieva 10, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.
authors.forename: Dimitri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pozdniakov
authors.affiliation: Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education, Samara 443099, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Aleksandr
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khokhlov
authors.affiliation: CNRS UMR 7206 Eco-anthropologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 75016 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Georges
authors.affiliation: Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wilde
authors.affiliation: Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.|Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.affiliation: CNRS UMR 7206 Eco-anthropologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 75016 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Heyer
authors.affiliation: Dépt. de Génétique &Evolution, Unité d'anthropologie, Université de Genève, 1205 Genève, Suisse.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Currat
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.|Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reich
authors.affiliation: Branch of Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan.
authors.forename: Zainolla
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Samashev
authors.affiliation: Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, 10785 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Parzinger
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Science, Akademika Lavrentieva 10, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.|Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Science, Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.
authors.forename: Vyacheslav I
authors.initials: VI
authors.lastname: Molodin
authors.affiliation: Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burger
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D066264:Datasets as Topic; D051456:Gene Flow; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics; D065948:Grassland; D049690:History, Ancient; D063426:Human Migration / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D007623:Kazakhstan; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012426:Russia; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000266:history; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial