Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
CNRS UMR 7206 Eco-anthropologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 75016 Paris, France.
Nat Commun. 2017 Mar 3;8:14615. doi: 10.1038/ncomms14615.
During the 1 millennium before the Common Era (BCE), nomadic tribes associated with the Iron Age Scythian culture spread over the Eurasian Steppe, covering a territory of more than 3,500 km in breadth. To understand the demographic processes behind the spread of the Scythian culture, we analysed genomic data from eight individuals and a mitochondrial dataset of 96 individuals originating in eastern and western parts of the Eurasian Steppe. Genomic inference reveals that Scythians in the east and the west of the steppe zone can best be described as a mixture of Yamnaya-related ancestry and an East Asian component. Demographic modelling suggests independent origins for eastern and western groups with ongoing gene-flow between them, plausibly explaining the striking uniformity of their material culture. We also find evidence that significant gene-flow from east to west Eurasia must have occurred early during the Iron Age.
在公元前 1000 年以前的一千年中，与铁器时代斯基泰文化相关的游牧部落遍布欧亚草原，其领土宽度超过 3500 公里。为了了解斯基泰文化传播背后的人口过程，我们分析了来自欧亚草原东部和西部的 8 个人的基因组数据和 96 个人的线粒体数据集。基因组推断表明，草原东部和西部的斯基泰人可以最好地被描述为与雅利安人相关的祖先和东亚成分的混合体。人口统计学模型表明，东部和西部群体具有独立的起源，它们之间存在持续的基因流动，这合理地解释了它们物质文化的惊人一致性。我们还发现证据表明，在铁器时代早期，来自欧亚大陆东部到西部的大量基因流动肯定发生了。
