A Dynamic 6,000-Year Genetic History of Eurasia's Eastern Steppe

Choongwon Jeong; Ke Wang; Shevan Wilkin; William Timothy Treal Taylor; Bryan K Miller; Jan H Bemmann; Raphaela Stahl; Chelsea Chiovelli; Florian Knolle; Sodnom Ulziibayar; Dorjpurev Khatanbaatar; Diimaajav Erdenebaatar; Ulambayar Erdenebat; Ayudai Ochir; Ganbold Ankhsanaa; Chuluunkhuu Vanchigdash; Battuga Ochir; Chuluunbat Munkhbayar; Dashzeveg Tumen; Alexey Kovalev; Nikolay Kradin; Bilikto A Bazarov; Denis A Miyagashev; Prokopiy B Konovalov; Elena Zhambaltarova; Alicia Ventresca Miller; Wolfgang Haak; Stephan Schiffels; Johannes Krause; Nicole Boivin; Myagmar Erdene; Jessica Hendy; Christina Warinner

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.015

A Dynamic 6,000-Year Genetic History of Eurasia's Eastern Steppe

Cell. 2020 Nov 12;183(4):890-904.e29. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.015. Epub 2020 Nov 5.

Authors

Choongwon Jeong¹, Ke Wang², Shevan Wilkin³, William Timothy Treal Taylor⁴, Bryan K Miller⁵, Jan H Bemmann⁶, Raphaela Stahl², Chelsea Chiovelli², Florian Knolle², Sodnom Ulziibayar⁷, Dorjpurev Khatanbaatar⁸, Diimaajav Erdenebaatar⁹, Ulambayar Erdenebat¹⁰, Ayudai Ochir¹¹, Ganbold Ankhsanaa¹², Chuluunkhuu Vanchigdash⁸, Battuga Ochir¹³, Chuluunbat Munkhbayar¹⁴, Dashzeveg Tumen¹⁰, Alexey Kovalev¹⁵, Nikolay Kradin¹⁶, Bilikto A Bazarov¹⁷, Denis A Miyagashev¹⁷, Prokopiy B Konovalov¹⁷, Elena Zhambaltarova¹⁸, Alicia Ventresca Miller¹⁹, Wolfgang Haak², Stephan Schiffels², Johannes Krause²⁰, Nicole Boivin³, Myagmar Erdene¹⁰, Jessica Hendy²¹, Christina Warinner²²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany; School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: cwjeong@snu.ac.kr.
² Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany.
³ Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany.
⁴ Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany; Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
⁵ Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany; Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
⁶ Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn 53113, Germany.
⁷ Institute of Archaeology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar 14200, Mongolia.
⁸ Mongolian University of Science and Technology, Ulaanbaatar 14191, Mongolia.
⁹ Department of Archaeology, Ulaanbaatar State University, Bayanzurkh district, Ulaanbaatar 13343, Mongolia.
¹⁰ Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar 14201, Mongolia.
¹¹ International Institute for the Study of Nomadic Civilizations, Ulaanbaatar 14200, Mongolia.
¹² National Centre for Cultural Heritage of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar 14200, Mongolia.
¹³ Institute of History and Ethnology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar 14200, Mongolia.
¹⁴ University of Khovd, Khovd province, Khovd 84179, Mongolia.
¹⁵ Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119991, Russia.
¹⁶ Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology, Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok 690001, Russia; Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulan-Ude 670047, Russia.
¹⁷ Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulan-Ude 670047, Russia.
¹⁸ Department of Museology and Heritage, Faculty of Social and Cultural Activities, Heritage, and Tourism, Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education, East Siberian State Institute of Culture, Ulan-Ude 670031, Russia.
¹⁹ Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany; Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
²⁰ Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany; Faculty of Biological Sciences, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena 02134, Germany.
²¹ Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany; BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York YO10 5NG, UK.
²² Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany; Faculty of Biological Sciences, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena 02134, Germany; Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address: warinner@fas.harvard.edu.

Abstract

The Eastern Eurasian Steppe was home to historic empires of nomadic pastoralists, including the Xiongnu and the Mongols. However, little is known about the region's population history. Here, we reveal its dynamic genetic history by analyzing new genome-wide data for 214 ancient individuals spanning 6,000 years. We identify a pastoralist expansion into Mongolia ca. 3000 BCE, and by the Late Bronze Age, Mongolian populations were biogeographically structured into three distinct groups, all practicing dairy pastoralism regardless of ancestry. The Xiongnu emerged from the mixing of these populations and those from surrounding regions. By comparison, the Mongols exhibit much higher eastern Eurasian ancestry, resembling present-day Mongolic-speaking populations. Our results illuminate the complex interplay between genetic, sociopolitical, and cultural changes on the Eastern Steppe.

Keywords: Eastern Steppe; Mongol empire; Mongolia; Xiongnu empire; ancient DNA; human population history; migration; nomadic pastoralists.

Publication types

Historical Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Archaeology
Europe
Female
Gene Frequency / genetics
Gene Pool
Genetic Heterogeneity
Genetics, Population*
Genome, Human
Geography
Grassland*
Haplotypes / genetics
History, Ancient
Humans
Male
Mongolia
Principal Component Analysis
Time Factors