Özdemir, Y.C., Gyuris, B., Jakab, K. et al. (2026, preprint).
Ancient human genomes from the Altai region reveal population continuity and shifts in the 4th-12th centuries.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6489 ... 4.713889v1
Traces of Ancient North Eurasian genetic ancestry in the Forest-Steppe Altai and a post-Turkic Khaganate East Asian influx
The 4th-8th c. CE Novosibirsk Upper Ob (Medieval Upper Ob culture) and Forest-Steppe Altai (Odintsovo culture) groups carry some genetic components notably different from their contemporaries in the Mountainous Altai and Inner Asia (Fig. 2, S2-S4). A distinctive feature of these groups is the elevated rates of allele sharing with WSHG_Botai in ADMIXTURE (up to ~40%) (Fig. 2b). On the three-dimensional PCA space, the Upper Ob group and Odintsovo group 1 also plot closely with WSHG_Botai, but not with Altai_HG, suggesting a difference in ANE-related sources of the North Eurasian hunter-gatherer cline (Box 1; Fig. S3). f4/D-statistics verify their shared alleles with WSHG_Botai, instead of Altai_HG or other ancient Siberian groups, showing an exceptional phenomenon of groups as late as the Medieval period expressing this ancestry, the first case in published and available post-BA datasets to our knowledge (Fig. S6.3; Table S5; Text S4). Outgroup- f3 statistics also indicate Northern Eurasian affinities for these groups, especially with the modern Samoyedic Selkups and Yeniseian Kets (Fig. S5; Table S4; Text S4).
In qpAdm, the Upper Ob group can be modeled with 26-42% contribution from WSHG_Botai in 3-way mixture models (p≥0.05), where it still requires 26.3±5.8% of this source when the ANE-rich Early BA Cis-Baikalians are in the sources (Table S6a). The Upper Ob group is the only available candidate to represent the ANE-related ancestry in the 4th-8th c. CE Forest-Steppe Altai in the proximal qpAdm models, since possible IA precursors such as the Kulay culture’s population remain unsampled (Fig. 3, Table S6d). Odintsovo group 1 necessitates the Upper Ob source in qpAdm (64.8±5.1%), a feature present across all feasible models of this group, with additional Bulan-Koby- related ancestry (35.2±5.1%) in the regional model (see Methods, Fig. 3, Table S6d). Contrarily, two-way models for Odintsovo group 2 do not require Upper Ob, but fit with Bulan-Koby-period Mountainous Altaians (84-88%) + the Eastern Steppe sources (12-16%) (Fig. 3, Table S6d). The individuals of Odintsovo group 1 come from the more northern parts of the Forest-Steppe Altai, near the Novosibirsk Ob region, whereas every individual of Odintsovo group 2 originates from the Gorny-10 burial site, located in an intermediate zone between the Forest-Steppe and Mountainous Altai (Fig. 1; Table S1; Text S1b). This reflects notable genetic variability in the Odintsovo culture’s people and coincides with landscape differences (Fig. 2, 3a)
Discussion
Some post-IA groups in the Altai and the Novosibirsk Upper Ob Plateau have additional genetic components, such as the ANE-related ancestry. We show that a population with elevated relations to the Neolithic-Eneolithic ANE-related groups survived in the Siberian mosaic of peoples up until the 9th c. CE in the Forest-Steppe Altai (Fig. 2, 3; Table S5, S6; Text S4). Three newly-presented groups (Novosibirsk_UpperOb, Altai_FS_Odintsovo_1, Altai_FS_Srostki_1) bear significant ANE-related genetic elements, exhibiting a profile closely related to WSHG_Botai, rather than to the Neolithic Altai hunter-gatherers (Altai_HG), who represent the North Eurasian hunter gatherer (NEAHG)-related ancient inhabitants of the Forest-Steppe Altai (10, 12), or than to the BA Okunevo culture’s inhabitants from the Minusinsk Basin in close proximity (7) (Box 1; Fig. S6.3; Table S5; Text S4). To our knowledge, this represents the first post-Bronze Age evidence for elevated ANE-related ancestry in the Northern Asian region. Moreover, the Upper Ob and Odintsovo group 1, and their Early Srostki descendants share the most drift with the modern Samoyedic Selkups and Yeniseian Kets among present-day Siberian populations, who inhabit more northern areas and also have affinities with ANE-related reference groups (8, 58, 59) (Fig. S5; Table S4; Text S4). These findings are consistent with the archaeological links between the Upper Ob and Odintsovo cultures and their connections to the Siberian taiga belt (21–24), and the newly analysed samples provide a missing link between the ancient and modern indigenous Siberian populations. This could be further assessed through sampling of the inhabitants of earlier and contemporaneous archaeological cultures in Western Siberia.
Supplementary Text S7: Y-chromosomal haplogroup data
In the Odintsovo period Forest-Steppe Altai, the paternal lineages are consistent with the analysis groups. The individuals of Odintsovo group 1 who show a high amount of WSHG_Botai-related component have solely haplogroup R-M478 (R1b1a1a1), namely the sublineages of R-L1432 (R1b1a1a1a) and R-Y20762 (R1b1a1a1b), and the latter is shared with an individual of the Novosibirsk Upper Ob group (Table S1). R-L1432 is shared with a male associated with the Eneolithic Botai culture as well as other Neolithic-Bronze Age individuals from Western Siberia (192), and its subbranch R-L1433 (R1b1a1a1a, TMRCA 356 BCE - 443 CE [95% CI]), the most recent lineage we can trace to, is shared with DA87 and DA93 from Medieval North Kazakhstan (labeled as Kimak in our dataset), who have different ancestries from Odintsovo group 1 (193). R-Y20759 (/R-Y20768 [R1b1a1a1b] and TMRCA 1101 - 33 BCE [95% CI]) is the deepest subclade we can find for R-Y20762 in the Odintsovo period, and is shared with an individual from pre-Medieval North Kazakhstan (194).
R-L1433 is present in an individual of the Odintsovo group 2 as well, yet the rest of the haplogroup pool of group 2 is dominated by R-Z93 (R1a1a1b2) and its subbranch R-YP349 (/R-S23592, R1a1a1b2a2a3~ in ISOGG v15.73, TMRCA 2938 - 1589 BCE [95% CI]) where the latter we found also in the Bulan-Koby individuals (see above) (183). Yet, according to our observations, the individuals of Odintsovo group 2 constantly possess the ancestral allele for the subclades including that observed in the Bulan-Koby group, and since the TMRCA is distant in time, the individuals of Odintsovo group 2 likely belong to a yet-undefined Y-lineage. Notably, one individual in this group has haplogroup N-FGC28492 (/N-B482 [N2]), a deep ancestral lineage discovered in Eneolithic Baikalians and is traced to in another Botai culture male who has N-FT324, a sublineage of N-B482 undefined in ISOGG v15.73 (195).
Y-chromosomal haplogroups of Altai_FS_Srostki_1 and Altai_FS_Srostki_2 show a continuity of the Odintsovo period lineages, with the predominance of the sublineages of R-M478 (R1b1a1a1, discovered in all three unrelated Odintsovo group 1 males) and an occurrence of R-Z93 (R1a1a1b2) (Table S1). However, this pattern should not be interpreted as evidence that the Srostki-period population derived exclusively from the genetic profile of Odintsovo group 1, since unsampled burial sites could uncover additional variability in autosomal component proportions and Y-chromosomal haplogroup composition. Furthermore, we also demonstrate identity-by-descent autosomal haplotype links between both Odintsovo period groups and the Srostki period groups, indicating genetic continuity from a major bulk of the Odintsovo period population regardless of the differences in ancestries (Fig. 4, S11; Text S6). Furthermore, as mentioned above, R-M478 and its subbranches were discovered also in Medieval North Kazakhstan, therefore a more detailed explanation needs more sampling. Nevertheless, individuals from the upper-elite context Srostki burials those analysed in our study, discovered in our analyses to be genetically related, are in genetic group 1, and have the haplogroup R-M478 (Fig. S8; Table S1, S9; Text S1d, S5). The lineages in Altai_FS_Srostki_3 are distinct from the sampled Odintsovo groups and the rest of the Srostki groups, which is in accordance with their non-local ancestries (Fig. S12; Table S1).
ALT054 Upper Ob Culture 400-600 CE Q1b1b~ U2e1b
ALT055 Upper Ob Culture 400-600 CE R1b1a1a1b U5a1a2a
ALT033 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 1) 550-750 CE U5a1b
ALT036 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 1) 500-750 CE R1b1a1a1a C4d
ALT037 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 1) 500-750 CE A+152+16362+16189
ALT040 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 1) 500-750 CE A+152+16362+16189
ALT042 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 1) 500-750 CE C4e
ALT043 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 1) 500-750 CE R1b1a1a1a D4c2b
ALT045 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 1) 500-750 CE R1b1a1a1a D4c2b
ALT048 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 1) 550-650 CE R1b1a1a1b J2b1a2a
ALT049 Odintsovo Culture (outlier E) 350-500 CE Q1a2a1a~ A+152+16362
ALT052 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 1) 300-500 CE C4e
ALT001 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 2) 550-750 CE R1a1a1b2a2a3~ C4a1a+195
ALT002 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 2) 550-750 CE R1a1a1b2a2a3~ G2a2a
ALT003 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 2) 550-750 CE R1a1a1b2a~ A8a1
ALT004 Odintsovo Culture (outlier W) 550-750 CE T2b4h
ALT007 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 2) 550-750 CE N2a~ W3a1
ALT009 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 2) 550-750 CE R1a1a1b2a2a3~ U4d2
ALT011 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 2) 550-750 CE R1a1a1b~ D4j11
ALT014 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 2) 550-750 CE R1a1a1b2a2a3~ D4j6
ALT018 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 2) 550-750 CE R1a1a1b2~ D2c
ALT029 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 2) 550-750 CE H6a1b
ALT030 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 2) 550-750 CE K2a5b
ALT031 Odintsovo Culture (ryhmä 2) 550-750 CE R1b1a1a1a G2a5
Isälinjojen alkuperä tietysti kiinnostaa ja tulee mieleen, että voisivatko R1b- ja Q1b-alkuiset isälinjat olla peräisin jeniseiläisiltä, vaikka siitä ei puhuta mitään itse artikkelin tekstissä. Se olisi ehkä ajallisesti mahdollista, koska Ob-joen yläjuoksun ja Odintsovon kulttuurien näytteet on ajoitettu aikaisintaan 400-luvulle jaa.
