Hot on the heels of that recent Bouakaze et al. paper on the pigmentation genetics of prehistoric South Siberians, here's another effort based on the same samples and by basically the same team. This paper attempts to further elucidate the origins of these light-pigmented Kurgan nomads, including so called Scytho-Siberians.
Our autosomal, Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA analyses reveal that whereas few specimens seem to be related matrilineally or patrilineally, nearly all subjects belong to haplogroup R1a1-M17 which is thought to mark the eastward migration of the early Indo-Europeans. Our results also confirm that at the Bronze and Iron Ages, south Siberia was a region of overwhelmingly predominant European settlement, suggesting an eastward migration of Kurgan people across the Russo-Kazakh steppe. Finally, our data indicate that at the Bronze and Iron Age timeframe, south Siberians were blue (or green)-eyed, fair-skinned and light-haired people and that they might have played a role in the early development of the Tarim Basin civilization.
Here are the locations of present-day individuals who were found to carry similar Y-chromosome lineages to those of the Kurgan samples. Interestingly, the most strongly represented region is East-Central Europe, which was once the home of the Corded Ware cultural horizon. Please note, three Corded Ware remains from a burial site at Eulau, Eastern Germany, were recently found to belong to R1a, which was most likely R1a1-M17 based on their shared Y-STR haplotype (see here).
Christine Keyser et al., Ancient DNA provides new insights into the history of south Siberian Kurgan people, Human Genetics, Saturday, May 16, 2009, doi: 10.1007/s00439-009-0683-0
http://eurogenes.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/ancient-siberians-carrying-r1a1-had_24.html
Our autosomal, Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA analyses reveal that whereas few specimens seem to be related matrilineally or patrilineally, nearly all subjects belong to haplogroup R1a1-M17 which is thought to mark the eastward migration of the early Indo-Europeans. Our results also confirm that at the Bronze and Iron Ages, south Siberia was a region of overwhelmingly predominant European settlement, suggesting an eastward migration of Kurgan people across the Russo-Kazakh steppe. Finally, our data indicate that at the Bronze and Iron Age timeframe, south Siberians were blue (or green)-eyed, fair-skinned and light-haired people and that they might have played a role in the early development of the Tarim Basin civilization.
Here are the locations of present-day individuals who were found to carry similar Y-chromosome lineages to those of the Kurgan samples. Interestingly, the most strongly represented region is East-Central Europe, which was once the home of the Corded Ware cultural horizon. Please note, three Corded Ware remains from a burial site at Eulau, Eastern Germany, were recently found to belong to R1a, which was most likely R1a1-M17 based on their shared Y-STR haplotype (see here).
Christine Keyser et al., Ancient DNA provides new insights into the history of south Siberian Kurgan people, Human Genetics, Saturday, May 16, 2009, doi: 10.1007/s00439-009-0683-0
http://eurogenes.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/ancient-siberians-carrying-r1a1-had_24.html
