CC-0. https://picryl.com/media/elbrus-region-mountains-the-caucasus-nature-landscapes-dffb55
CC-0. https://picryl.com/media/elbrus-region-mountains-the-caucasus-nature-landscapes-dffb55

Ancient DNA suggests early Caucasians split into 2 distinct groups, with 1 becoming some of the first farmers

Embargoed until: Publicly released:
Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

International scientists, including an Australian, say ancient human DNA suggests two genetically distinct populations of people arose north and south of the Caucasus mountains - on the border between Europe and Asia - around the 7th millennium BC (the Mesolithic). They say the northern population remained as hunter-gatherers, but the southern population went on to become some of the world's first pastoralists around the 4th millennium BC. Exactly what spurred the lifestyle change remains mysterious, but farmers from Anatolia (now Türkiye) may have introduced farming to the locals. The team looked at DNA from 131 people from across the Caucasus region between the Mesolithic (7th millennium BC) and the Late Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC), noting that the populations north and south of the Caucasus mountains became genetically distinct during the Mesolithic, suggesting they were isolated from each other by the mountains. The northern population had hunter-gatherer DNA linked to people from the east, while the southern population had a mix of Caucasian hunter-gatherer DNA and DNA from people from Anatolia.

Journal/conference: Nature

Research: Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Adelaide, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany

Funder: This research was financed by the Max Planck Society, the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement numbers 771234-PALEoRIDER, W.H.; 834616-ARCHCAUCASUS, S.H.) and the ERA.Net RUS Plus initiative (S&T-277-BIOARCCAUCASUS, S.H. and A.P.B.).

Media release

From: Springer Nature

The origins of Bronze Age livestock farmers in West Eurasia

Insights into the genetic history of Bronze Age populations from the Caucasus and surrounding area are presented in a paper published in Nature. The findings, based on genomic data from 131 individuals, suggests two population groups north and south of the Caucasus existed during the Mesolithic, and gave rise to two distinct ancestries.

The Caucasus region lies on the border between Europe and Asia and its mountain range served as a semi-permeable barrier through which ideas, languages, technologies and people moved. The region was crucial in the Bronze Age and gave rise to the earliest steppe pastoralist societies in the 4th millennium BC. However, how these groups emerged from local hunter-gatherer groups, as well as their connection to early farming communities from the Fertile Crescent, are unclear.

Wolfgang Haak and colleagues used genomic data from 131 individuals from 38 sites across the Caucasus region, spanning 6,000 years from the Mesolithic (7th millennium BC) to the Late Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC). They found that during the Mesolithic there was a strong genetic difference between populations north and south of the Caucasus mountains. In the north they observed Eastern hunter-gatherer ancestry, whereas in the south there was a distinct Caucasus hunter-gatherer ancestry with increasing East Anatolian farmer admixture. During the subsequent Eneolithic period (4th–5th millennia BC) they noted the emergence of West Eurasian steppe ancestry and pastoralist societies. They suggest this was due to the increasing interaction between mountain and steppe regions as a result of technological developments.

Additionally, the authors indicate that the Early and Middle Bronze Age had relatively stable genetics, but the Late Bronze Age saw increasing genetic diversity from multiple groups, which coincided with a decline of steppe cultures and suggests that these ancestries may have been absorbed into Caucasus populations.

Attachments:

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public

  •  Research
    Springer Nature
    Web page
    The URL will go live after the embargo ends

News for:

Australia
International
SA

Media contact details for this story are only visible to registered journalists.