Mitochondrial genomes reveal an east to west cline of steppe ancestry in Corded Ware populations

Anna Juras,Pavel Fojtík,Mattias Jakobsson,Jolanta Bagińska,Edvard Ehler,Stanisław Wilk,Danuta Żurkiewicz,Maciej Chyleński,Jaroslav Peška,Viktor I Klochko,Miroslawa Dabert,Piotr Włodarczak,Miroslav Králík,Krzysztof Tunia,Aleksander Kośko,Helena Malmström,Jerzy Libera

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-29914-5

Abstract

From around 4,000 to 2,000 BC the forest-steppe north-western Pontic region was occupied by people who shared a nomadic lifestyle, pastoral economy and barrow burial rituals. It has been shown that these groups, especially those associated with the Yamnaya culture, played an important role in shaping the gene pool of Bronze Age Europeans, which extends into present-day patterns of genetic variation in Europe. Although the genetic impact of these migrations from the forest-steppe Pontic region into central Europe have previously been addressed in several studies, the contribution of mitochondrial lineages to the people associated with the Corded Ware culture in the eastern part of the North European Plain remains contentious. In this study, we present mitochondrial genomes from 23 Late Eneolithic and Bronze Age individuals, including representatives of the north-western Pontic region and the Corded Ware culture from the eastern part of the North European Plain. We identified, for the first time in ancient populations, the rare mitochondrial haplogroup X4 in two Bronze Age Catacomb culture-associated individuals. Genetic similarity analyses show close maternal genetic affinities between populations associated with both eastern and Baltic Corded Ware culture, and the Yamnaya horizon, in contrast to larger genetic differentiation between populations associated with western Corded Ware culture and the Yamnaya horizon. This indicates that females with steppe ancestry contributed to the formation of populations associated with the eastern Corded Ware culture while more local people, likely of Neolithic farmer ancestry, contributed to the formation of populations associated with western Corded Ware culture.

Highlights

From around 4,000 to 2,000 BC the forest-steppe north-western Pontic region was occupied by people who shared a nomadic lifestyle, pastoral economy and barrow burial rituals
Some of the rounded burial mounds founded by Eneolithic people were reused by the succeeding cultural entities of the Early Bronze Age[1], while other kurgans shared a mix of characteristics from both the Late Eneolithic and the Early Bronze Age funeral rites[1,4]
Genomes, belonging to individuals associated with the Corded Ware culture (N = 11), and with the Late Eneolithic (N = 3) and Bronze Age (N = 9) from western Pontic region (Table 1 and Supplementary Table S1)

Summary

Introduction

From around 4,000 to 2,000 BC the forest-steppe north-western Pontic region was occupied by people who shared a nomadic lifestyle, pastoral economy and barrow burial rituals. The genetic impact of these migrations from the forest-steppe Pontic region into central Europe have previously been addressed in several studies, the contribution of mitochondrial lineages to the people associated with the Corded Ware culture in the eastern part of the North European Plain remains contentious. Adoption of a herding economy based on mobility through the use of wagons and horses, was proposed as a common trait associated with both the Yamnaya and Corded Ware cultures[12] These observations led some researchers to suggest a possible Yamnaya migration toward the Baltic drainage basin[15] or a massive westward expansion of the steppe pastoralist people, representing the “barrow culture”, into the North European Plain[12,16]. Specific burial customs of the Yamnaya people, such as the scarcity of grave goods, the presence of ochre, and the building of specific wooden roof or floor structures, generated opposing arguments emphasizing the significant differences between the Corded Ware and steppe cultures[2]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion