The rise and transformation of Bronze Age pastoralists in the Caucasus.

ABSTRACT: The Caucasus and surrounding areas, with their rich metal resources, became a crucible of the Bronze Age¹ and the birthplace of the earliest steppe pastoralist societies². Yet, despite this region having a large influence on the subsequent development of Europe and Asia, questions remain regarding its hunter-gatherer past and its formation of expansionist mobile steppe societies^3-5. Here we present new genome-wide data for 131 individuals from 38 archaeological sites spanning 6,000 years. We find a strong genetic differentiation between populations north and south of the Caucasus mountains during the Mesolithic, with Eastern hunter-gatherer ancestry^4,6 in the north, and a distinct Caucasus hunter-gatherer ancestry⁷ with increasing East

SUBMITTER: Ghalichi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11602729 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature