Social:Yamnaya culture

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The Yamnaya culture (Russian: Ямная культура, romanized: Yamnaya kultura, lit. 'pit culture'), also known as the Yamna culture (Ukrainian: Ямна культура), Pit Grave culture, or Ochre Grave culture, was a late Copper Age to early Bronze Age archaeological culture of the region between the Southern Bug, Dniester, and Ural rivers (the Pontic steppe), dating to 3300–2600 BC.[1] Its name derives from its characteristic burial tradition: kurgans containing a simple pit chamber.

The people of the Yamnaya culture were likely the result of admixture between the descendants of Eastern European hunter-gatherers[lower-alpha 1] and people related to hunter-gatherers from the Caucasus.[2] Their material culture was very similar to the Afanasevo culture.

They are also closely connected to later Final Neolithic cultures, which spread throughout Europe and Central Asia, especially the Corded Ware people, but also the Bell Beaker culture as well as the peoples of the Sintashta, Andronovo, and Srubna cultures. In these groups, several aspects of the Yamnaya culture are present.[lower-alpha 2] Genetic studies have also indicated that these populations derived large parts of their ancestry from the steppes.[3][4][5][6]

The Yamnaya culture is identified with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans, and is the strongest candidate for the urheimat (original homeland) of the Proto-Indo-European language.

Origins

Culture

The Yamnaya culture originated in the Don–Volga area, and is dated 3300–2600 BC.[7][web 1] It was preceded by the middle Volga-based Khvalynsk culture and the Don-based Repin culture (c. 3950–3300 BC),[8][web 1] and late pottery from these two cultures can barely be distinguished from early Yamnaya pottery.[9]

According to Anthony (2007), the early Yamnaya horizon spread quickly across the Pontic–Caspian steppes between c. 3400 and 3200 BC.[10]

The spread of the Yamnaya horizon was the material expression of the spread of late Proto-Indo-European across the Pontic–Caspian steppes.[11]
[...] The Yamnaya horizon is the visible archaeological expression of a social adjustment to high mobility – the invention of the political infrastructure to manage larger herds from mobile homes based in the steppes.[12]

According to Pavel Dolukhanov the emergence of the Pit-Grave culture represents a social development of various local Bronze Age cultures, representing "an expression of social stratification and the emergence of chiefdom-type nomadic social structures", which in turn intensified inter-group contacts between essentially heterogeneous social groups.[13]

In its western range, it was succeeded by the Catacomb culture (2800–2200 BC); in the east, by the Poltavka culture (2700–2100 BC) at the middle Volga. These two cultures were followed by the Srubna culture (18th–12th century BC).

People

According to Jones et al. (2015) and Haak et al. (2015), autosomic tests indicate that the Yamnaya people were the result of admixture between two different hunter-gatherer populations: distinctive "Eastern European hunter-gatherers" with high affinity to the Mal'ta–Buret' culture or other, closely related people from Siberia[3] and a population of "Caucasus hunter-gatherers" who probably arrived from the Caucasus.[14][2] Each of those two populations contributed about half the Yamnaya DNA.[4][2] According to co-author Andrea Manica of the University of Cambridge:

The question of where the Yamnaya come from has been something of a mystery up to now ... we can now answer that, as we've found that their genetic make-up is a mix of Eastern European hunter-gatherers and a population from this pocket of Caucasus hunter-gatherers who weathered much of the last Ice Age in apparent isolation.[2]

Several genetic studies performed since 2015 have given support to the Kurgan theory of Marija Gimbutas regarding the Indo-European Urheimat – that Indo-European languages spread throughout Europe from the Eurasian steppes and that the Yamnaya culture were Proto-Indo-Europeans. According to those studies, haplogroups R1b and R1a, now the most common in Europe (R1a is also common in South Asia), would have expanded from the Pontic–Caspian steppes, along with the Indo-European languages. They also detected an autosomal component present in modern Europeans which was not present in Neolithic Europeans, which would have been introduced with paternal lineages R1b and R1a, as well as Indo-European languages in the Bronze Age.[3][5][15]

Eastern European hunter-gatherers

File:Yamna culture.jpg
Man from Yamnaya culture, sculptural reconstruction (c. 1930s).

According to Haak et al. (2015), "Eastern European hunter-gatherers" who inhabited today's Russia were a distinctive population of hunter-gatherers with high genetic affinity to a c. 24,000-year-old Siberian from Mal'ta–Buret' culture, which in turn resembles phenotypically Mongoloid people of Siberia,[16] such as the Afontova Gora.[3][2] Remains of the "Eastern European hunter-gatherers" have been found in Mesolithic or early Neolithic sites in Karelia and Samara Oblast, Russia, and put under analysis. Three such hunter-gathering individuals of the male sex have had their DNA results published. Each was found to belong to a different Y-DNA haplogroup: R1a, R1b, and J.[4] R1b is also the most common Y-DNA haplogroup found among both the Yamnaya and modern-day Western Europeans.[3][5]

Near East population

The Near East population were most likely hunter-gatherers from the Caucasus (CHG),[14] though one study suggested that farmers dated to the Chalcolithic era from what is now Iran may be a better fit for the Yamanya's Near Eastern descent.[17]

Jones et al. (2015) analyzed genomes from males from western Georgia, in the Caucasus, from the Late Upper Palaeolithic (13,300 years old) and the Mesolithic (9,700 years old). These two males carried Y-DNA haplogroup: J* and J2a. The researchers found that these Caucasus hunters were probably the source of the Near Eastern DNA in the Yamnaya.[2] Their genomes showed that a continued mixture of the Caucasians with Middle Eastern took place up to 25,000 years ago, when the coldest period in the last Ice Age started.[2]

Lazaridis et al. (2016) proposes a different people, likely from Iran, as the source for the Middle Eastern ancestry of the Yamnaya people, finding that "a population related to the people of the Iran Chalcolithic contributed ~43% of the ancestry of early Bronze Age populations of the steppe".[17] That study asserts that these Iranian Chalcolithic people were a mixture of "the Neolithic people of western Iran, the Levant, and Caucasus Hunter Gatherers".[17][18][19] However, a different analysis, carried out by Gallego-Llorente et al. (2016), concludes that Iranian populations are not a likelier source of the 'southern' component in the Yamnaya than Caucasus hunter-gatherers.[20]

Characteristics

Proto-Indo-European

Yamnaya culture grave, Volgograd Oblast

The Yamnaya culture is identified with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE) in the Kurgan hypothesis of Marija Gimbutas. It is the strongest candidate for the Urheimat (original homeland) of the Proto-Indo-European language, along with the preceding Sredny Stog culture, now that archaeological evidence of the culture and its migrations has been closely tied to the evidence from linguistics[21] and genetics.[3][22] Significantly, there were animal grave offerings[lower-alpha 3] a feature associated with Proto-Indo-Europeans.[23] The culture was predominantly nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers and a few hillforts.[24] Characteristic for the culture are the burials in pit graves under kurgans (tumuli). The dead bodies were placed in a supine position with bent knees and covered in ochre. Multiple graves have been found in these kurgans, often as later insertions. The earliest remains in Ukraine of a wheeled cart were found in the "Storozhova mohyla" kurgan[lower-alpha 4] associated with the Yamnaya culture.

Physical characteristics

The genetic basis of a number of physical features of the Yamnaya people were ascertained by the ancient DNA studies conducted by Haak et al. (2015), Wilde et al. (2014) and Mathieson et al. (2015): they were genetically tall (phenotypic height is determined by both genetics and environmental factors), overwhelmingly dark-eyed (brown), dark-haired and had a skin colour that was moderately light, though somewhat darker than that of the average modern European.[25][4] Despite their pastoral lifestyle, there was little evidence of lactase persistence.[3]

Yamnaya-related migrations

Western Europe

Haak et al. (2015) conducted a genome-wide study of 69 ancient skeletons from Europe and Russia. They concluded that Yamnaya autosomal characteristics are very close to the Corded Ware culture people, with an estimated 73 % ancestral contribution from the Yamnaya DNA in the DNA of Corded Ware skeletons from Germany. The same study estimated a (38.8–50.4 %) ancestral contribution of the Yamnaya in the DNA of modern Western, Central, and Northern Europeans, and an 18.5–32.6 % contribution in modern Southern Europeans; this contribution is found to a lesser extent in Sardinians (2.4–7.1 %) and Sicilians (5.9–11.6 %).[26][22][27] Haak et al. also note that their results state that haplogroup R-M269 spread into Europe from the East after 3,000 BC.[28] Studies that analysed ancient human remains in Ireland and Portugal support the thesis that R-M269 was introduced in these places along with autosomal DNA from the Eastern European steppes.[29][30]

Autosomal tests also indicate that the Yamnaya are the most likely vector for "Ancient North Eurasian" admixture into Europe.[3] "Ancient North Eurasian" is the name given in literature to a genetic component that represents descent from the people of the Mal'ta–Buret' culture[3] or a population closely related to them. That genetic component is visible in tests of the Yamnaya people[3] as well as modern-day Europeans, but not of Europeans predating the Bronze Age.[31]

Eastern Europe and Finland

In the Baltic, Jones et al. (2017) found that the Neolithic transition – the passage from a hunter-gatherer economy to a farming-based economy – coincided with the arrival en masse of individuals with Yamnaya-like ancestry. This is different from what happened in Western and Southern Europe, where the Neolithic transition was caused by a population that came from the Near East, with Pontic steppe ancestry being detected from only the late Neolithic onward.[32]

Per Haak et al. (2015), the Yamnaya contribution in the modern populations of Eastern Europe ranges from 46.8 % among Russians to 42.8 % in Ukrainians. Finland has one of the highest Yamnaya contributions in all of Europe (50.4 %).[33][lower-alpha 5]

Central and South Asia

Studies also point to the strong presence of Yamnaya descent in the current nations of South Asia, especially in groups that speak Indo-European languages.[34] Lazaridis et al. (2016) notes "The demographic impact of steppe related populations on South Asia was substantial, as the Mala, a south Indian Dalit population with minimal Ancestral North Indian (ANI) along the 'Indian Cline' of such ancestry is inferred to have ~ 18 % steppe-related ancestry, while the Kalash of Pakistan are inferred to have ~ 50 % steppe-related ancestry."[35] Lazaridis et al.'s 2016 study estimated (6.5–50.2 %) steppe related admixture in South Asians.[36][lower-alpha 6]

Lazaridis et al. (2016) further notes that "A useful direction of future research is a more comprehensive sampling of ancient DNA from steppe populations, as well as populations of central Asia (east of Iran and south of the steppe), which may reveal more proximate sources of the ANI than the ones considered here, and of South Asia to determine the trajectory of population change in the area directly."[37]

According to Unterländer et al. (2017), Iron Age Scythians from the southern Ural region, East Kazakhstan and Tuva can best be described as a mixture of Yamnaya-related ancestry and an East Asian component, the latter occurring at only trace levels – if at all – among earlier steppe inhabitants.[38]

Artifacts

  • From the Hermitage Museum collections

  • Corded ware pot

  • Corded ware pot

  • Yamna03.jpg
  • Yamna04.jpg
  • Yamna05.jpg
  • Yamna06.jpg

See also


Footnotes

  1. ↑ The Eastern European hunter-gatherers were themselves mostly descended from ancient North Eurasians, related to the palaeolithic Mal'ta–Buret' culture.
  2. ↑ Yamnayan cultural aspects, for example, were horse-riding, burial styles, and to some extent the pastoralist economy.
  3. ↑ The animal grave offerings made were cattle, sheep, goats and horses.
  4. ↑ The "Storozhova mohyla" site is near Dnipro, Ukraine, and was excavated by A.I. Trenozhkin.
  5. ↑ Per (Haak Lazaridis), adding a north-Siberian people as a fourth reference population improves residuals for northeastern European populations. This accounts for the higher than expected Yamnaya contribution and brings it down to expected levels (67.8–50.4 % in Finns, 64.9–46.8 % in Russians).
  6. ↑ Lazaridis et al. (2016) Supplementary Information, Table S9.1: "Kalash – 50.2 %, Tiwari Brahmins – 44.1 %, Gujarati (four samples) – 46.1 % to 27.5 %, Pathan – 44.6 %, Burusho – 42.5 %, Sindhi – 37.7 %, Punjabi – 32.6 %, Balochi – 32.4 %, Brahui – 30.2 %, Lodhi – 29.3 %, Bengali – 24.6 %, Vishwabhramin – 20.4 %, Makrani – 19.2 %, Mala – 18.4 %, Kusunda – 8.9 %, Kharia – 6.5 %."
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nina Morgunova, Olga Khokhlova (2013), Chronology and Periodization of the Pit-Grave Culture in the Area Between the Volga and Ural Rivers Based on 14C Dating and Paleopedological Research

References

  1. ↑ Morgunova & Khokhlova 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "Europe's fourth ancestral 'tribe' uncovered". BBC. 16 November 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34832781. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Haak et al. 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Mathieson 2015.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Allentoft, Morten E. (2015). "Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia". Nature 522 (7555): 167–172. doi:10.1038/nature14507. PMID 26062507. Bibcode: 2015Natur.522..167A. https://depot.ceon.pl/handle/123456789/13155. 
  6. ↑ "Nomadic herders left strong genetic mark Europeans and Asians". Science (AAAS). http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/06/nomadic-herders-left-strong-genetic-mark-europeans-and-asians. 
  7. ↑ Anthony 2007, p. 300.
  8. ↑ Anthony 2007, p. 275.
  9. ↑ Anthony 2007, p. 274–277, 317–320.
  10. ↑ Anthony 2007, p. 321.
  11. ↑ Anthony 2007, pp. 301–302.
  12. ↑ Anthony 2007, p. 303.
  13. ↑ Dolukhanov 1996, p. 94.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Jones et al. 2015.
  15. ↑ Mathieson; et al. (2015). "Eight thousand years of natural selection in Europe". bioRxiv 016477 Check |biorxiv= value (help).
  16. ↑ Dolukhanov, Pavel M. (2003). "Archaeology and Languages in Prehistoric Northern Eurasia". Japan Review 15. http://shinku.nichibun.ac.jp/jpub/pdf/jr/IJ1507.pdf. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Lazaridis et al. 2016, p. 8.
  18. ↑ Lazaridis. "The genetic structure of the world's first farmers". http://eurogenes.blogspot.nl/2016/06/the-genetic-structure-of-worlds-first.html. 
  19. ↑ Lazaridis. "The genetic structure of the world's first farmers". http://www.anthrogenica.com/showthread.php?7489-Lazaridis-et-al-The-genetic-structure-of-the-world-s-first-farmers-(pre-print). 
  20. ↑ Gallego-Llorente, M.; Connell, S.; Jones, E. R.; Merrett, D. C.; Jeon, Y.; Eriksson, A.; Siska, V.; Gamba, C. et al. (2016). "The genetics of an early Neolithic pastoralist from the Zagros, Iran". Scientific Reports 6: 31326. doi:10.1038/srep31326. Bibcode: 2016NatSR...631326G. 
  21. ↑ Anthony 2007.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Zimmer 2015.
  23. ↑ Fortson 2004, p. 43.
  24. ↑ Mallory 1997.
  25. ↑ Wilde, Sandra (2014). "Direct evidence for positive selection of skin, hair, and eye pigmentation in Europeans during the last 5,000 y". PNAS 111 (13): 4832–4837. doi:10.1073/pnas.1316513111. PMID 24616518. Bibcode: 2014PNAS..111.4832W. 
  26. ↑ Haak et al. 2015, pp. 121–124.
  27. ↑ Gibbons, Ann (10 June 2015). "Nomadic herders left a strong genetic mark on Europeans and Asians". Science (AAAS). http://news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2015/06/nomadic-herders-left-strong-genetic-mark-europeans-and-asians. 
  28. ↑ Haak et al. 2015, p. 5.
  29. ↑ Cassidy, Lara M. (2016). "Neolithic and Bronze Age migration to Ireland and establishment of the insular Atlantic genome". PNAS 113 (2): 368–373. doi:10.1073/pnas.1518445113. PMID 26712024. Bibcode: 2016PNAS..113..368C. 
  30. ↑ Martiniano, Rui (2017). "The population genomics of archaeological transition in west Iberia: Investigation of ancient substructure using imputation and haplotype-based methods". PLoS Genet 13 (7): e1006852. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1006852. PMID 28749934. 
  31. ↑ Lazaridis et al. 2014.
  32. ↑ Jones, Eppie R. (2017). "The Neolithic transition in the Baltic was not driven by admixture with early European farmers". Current Biology 27 (4): 576–582. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.12.060. PMID 28162894. 
  33. ↑ Haak et al. 2015, pp. 121–122.
  34. ↑ Narasimhan, Vagheesh M.; Patterson, Nick J.; Moorjani, Priya; Lazaridis, Iosif; Mark, Lipson; Mallick, Swapan et al. (2018). The Genomic Formation of South and Central Asia. doi:10.1101/292581. 
  35. ↑ Lazaridis et al. (2016), pp. 123.
  36. ↑ Lazaridis, Iosif; Nadel, Dani; Rollefson, Gary; Merrett, Deborah C.; Rohland, Nadin; Mallick, Swapan et al. (16 June 2016). "The genetic structure of the world's first farmers". Nature. Supplementary Information 536 (7617): 419–424. doi:10.1038/nature19310. PMID 27459054. PMC 5003663. Bibcode: 2016Natur.536..419L. http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/suppl/2016/06/16/059311.DC1/059311-1.pdf. 
  37. ↑ Lazaridis, Iosif; Nadel, Dani; Rollefson, Gary; Merrett, Deborah C.; Rohland, Nadin; Mallick, Swapan; et al. (2016). "The genetic structure of the world's first farmers". bioRxiv 059311 Check |biorxiv= value (help).
  38. ↑ Unterländer, Martina; Palstra, Friso; Lazaridis, Iosif; Pilipenko, Aleksandr; Hofmanová, Zuzana; Groß, Melanie et al. (2017). "Ancestry and demography and descendants of Iron Age nomads of the Eurasian Steppe". Nature Communications 8: 14615. doi:10.1038/ncomms14615. ISSN 2041-1723. PMID 28256537. Bibcode: 2017NatCo...814615U. 

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