Postglacial genomes from foragers across Northern Eurasia reveal prehistoric mobility associated with the spread of the Uralic and Yeniseian languages
Authors: Zeng Tian Chen , Vyazov Leonid A. , Kim Alexander , Flegontov Pavel , Sirak Kendra , Maier Robert , Lazaridis Iosif , Akbari Ali , Frachetti Michael , Tishkin Alexey A. , Ryabogina Natalia E. , Agapov Sergey A. , Agapov Danila S. , Alekseev Anatoliy N. , Boeskorov Gennady G. , Derevianko Anatoly P. , Dyakonov Viktor M. , Enshin Dmitry N. , Fribus Alexey V. , Frolov Yaroslav V. , Grushin Sergey P. , Khokhlov Alexander A. , Kiryushin Kirill Yu , Kiryushin Yurii F. , Kitov Egor P. , Kosintsev Pavel , Kovtun Igor V. , Makarov Nikolai P. , Morozov Viktor V. , Nikolaev Egor N. , Rykun Marina P. , Savenkova Tatyana M. , Shchelchkova Marina V. , Shirokov Vladimir , Skochina Svetlana N. , Sherstobitova Olga S. , Slepchenko Sergey M. , Solodovnikov Konstantin N. , Solovyova Elena N. , Stepanov Aleksandr D. , Timoshchenko Aleksei A. , Vdovin Aleksandr S. , Vybornov Anton V. , Balanovska Elena V. , Dryomov Stanislav , Hellenthal Garrett , Kidd Kenneth , Krause Johannes , Starikovskaya Elena , Sukenik Rem , Tatarinova Tatiana , Thomas Mark G. , Zhabagin Maxat , Callan Kim , Cheronet Olivia , Fernandes Daniel , Keating Denise , Francesca Candilio , Iliev Lora , Kearns Aisling , Özdoğan Kadir Toykan , Mah Matthew , Micco Adam , Michel Megan , Olalde Iñigo , Zalzala Fatma , Mallick Swapan , Rohland Nadin , Pinhasi Ron , Narasimhan Vagheesh , Reich David 
Published: October 2023

The North Eurasian forest and forest-steppe zones have sustained millennia of sociocultural connections among northern peoples. We present genome-wide ancient DNA data for 181 individuals from this region spanning the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age. We find that Early to Mid-Holocene hunter-gatherer populations from across the southern forest and forest-steppes of Northern Eurasia can be characterized by a continuous gradient of ancestry that remained stable for millennia, ranging from fully West Eurasian in the Baltic region to fully East Asian in the Transbaikal region. In contrast, cotemporaneous groups in far Northeast Siberia were genetically distinct, retaining high levels of continuity from a population that was the primary source of ancestry for Native Americans. By the mid-Holocene, admixture between this early Northeastern Siberian population and groups from Inland East Asia and the Amur River Basin produced two distinctive populations in eastern Siberia that played an important role in the genetic formation of later people. Ancestry from the first population, Cis-Baikal Late Neolithic–Bronze Age (Cisbaikal_LNBA), is found substantially only among Yeniseian-speaking groups and those known to have admixed with them. Ancestry from the second, Yakutian Late Neolithic–Bronze Age (Yakutia_LNBA), is strongly associated with present-day Uralic speakers. We show how Yakutia_LNBA ancestry spread from an east Siberian origin ∼4.5kya, along with subclades of Y-chromosome haplogroup N occurring at high frequencies among present-day Uralic speakers, into Western and Central Siberia in communities associated with Seima-Turbino metallurgy: a suite of advanced bronze casting techniques that spread explosively across an enormous region of Northern Eurasia ∼4.0kya. However, the ancestry of the 16 Seima-Turbino-period individuals—the first reported from sites with this metallurgy—was otherwise extraordinarily diverse, with partial descent from Indo-Iranian-speaking pastoralists and multiple hunter-gatherer populations from widely separated regions of Eurasia. Our results provide support for theories suggesting that early Uralic speakers at the beginning of their westward dispersal where involved in the expansion of Seima-Turbino metallurgical traditions, and suggests that both cultural transmission and migration were important in the spread of Seima-Turbino material culture.