Paleolithic to Bronze Age Siberians Reveal Connections with First Americans and across Eurasia.

Modern humans have inhabited the Lake Baikal region since the Upper Paleolithic, though the precise history of its peoples over this long time span is still largely unknown. Here, we report genome-wide data from 19 Upper Paleolithic to Early Bronze Age individuals from this Siberian region. An Upper Paleolithic genome shows a direct link with the First Americans by sharing the admixed ancestry that gave rise to all non-Arctic Native Americans. We also demonstrate the formation of Early Neolithic and Bronze Age Baikal populations as the result of prolonged admixture throughout the eighth to sixth millennium BP. Moreover, we detect genetic interactions with western Eurasian steppe populations and reconstruct Yersinia pestis genomes from two Early Bronze Age individuals without western Eurasian ancestry. Overall, our study demonstrates the most deeply divergent connection between Upper Paleolithic Siberians and the First Americans and reveals human and pathogen mobility across Eurasia during the Bronze Age.

Descent, marriage, and residence practices of a 3,800-year-old pastoral community in Central Eurasia.

Our understanding of prehistoric societal organization at the family level is still limited. Here, we generated genome data from 32 individuals from an approximately 3,800-y-old burial mound attributed to the Bronze Age Srubnaya-Alakul cultural tradition at the site of Nepluyevsky, located in the Southern Ural region of Central Eurasia. We found that life expectancy was generally very low, with adult males living on average 8 y longer than females. A total of 35 first-degree, 40 second-degree, and 48 third-degree biological relationships connected 23 of the studied individuals, allowing us to propose a family tree spanning three generations with six brothers at its center. The oldest of these brothers had eight children with two women and the most children overall, whereas the other relationships were monogamous. Notably, related female children above the age of five were completely absent from the site, and adult females were more genetically diverse than males. These results suggest that biological relationships between male siblings played a structural role in society and that descent group membership was based on patrilineality. Women originated from a larger mating network and moved to join the men, with whom they were buried. Finally, the oldest brother likely held a higher social position, which was expressed in terms of fertility.

Emergence and intensification of dairying in the Caucasus and Eurasian steppes.

Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence points to the Pontic-Caspian steppe zone between the Caucasus and the Black Sea as the crucible from which the earliest steppe pastoralist societies arose and spread, ultimately influencing populations from Europe to Inner Asia. However, little is known about their economic foundations and the factors that may have contributed to their extensive mobility. Here, we investigate dietary proteins within the dental calculus proteomes of 45 individuals spanning the Neolithic to Greco-Roman periods in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe and neighbouring South Caucasus, Oka-Volga-Don and East Urals regions. We find that sheep dairying accompanies the earliest forms of Eneolithic pastoralism in the North Caucasus. During the fourth millennium BC, Maykop and early Yamnaya populations also focused dairying exclusively on sheep while reserving cattle for traction and other purposes. We observe a breakdown in livestock specialization and an economic diversification of dairy herds coinciding with aridification during the subsequent late Yamnaya and North Caucasus Culture phases, followed by severe climate deterioration during the Catacomb and Lola periods. The need for additional pastures to support these herds may have driven the heightened mobility of the Middle and Late Bronze Age periods. Following a hiatus of more than 500 years, the North Caucasian steppe was repopulated by Early Iron Age societies with a broad mobile dairy economy, including a new focus on horse milking.

Ten millennia of hepatitis B virus evolution.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been infecting humans for millennia and remains a global health problem, but its past diversity and dispersal routes are largely unknown. We generated HBV genomic data from 137 Eurasians and Native Americans dated between ~10,500 and ~400 years ago. We date the most recent common ancestor of all HBV lineages to between ~20,000 and 12,000 years ago, with the virus present in European and South American hunter-gatherers during the early Holocene. After the European Neolithic transition, Mesolithic HBV strains were replaced by a lineage likely disseminated by early farmers that prevailed throughout western Eurasia for ~4000 years, declining around the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. The only remnant of this prehistoric HBV diversity is the rare genotype G, which appears to have reemerged during the HIV pandemic.

Ankylosing spondylitis: antiquity and differential diagnosis - a case study of a Bronze Age skeleton from Norabak, southeastern Armenia.

An excavation of a burial mound at Norabak site (Southeast Armenia) unearthed four burial chambers, the central one contained a single skeleton radiocarbon dated to about 1400-1200 BCE. The skeleton was observed to have a polyarticular erosive arthropathy, primarily affecting the spine, with diagnostic features of ankylosing spondylitis. The antiquity of ankylosing spondylitis is questioned in the literature, because there are few reliable and descriptive reports from prehistoric sites. Excellent preservation of the skeleton from Norabak made it possible to perform a detailed analysis of the pathologic changes and to support the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis in this 3000-years-old individual. Apart from the main pathology, the skeleton had a dens axis fracture of the C2 vertebra a few days before death, as well as a likely associated fracture of the C1 vertebra. This type of fracture has a high risk of displacement into the vertebral canal with severe neurological consequences. Thus, we were presented with an opportunity to reconstruct a possibly fatal event in the life of this individual. The described case provides further evidence that ankylosing spondylitis is a disease of fairly great antiquity.

Restudying variations of axial skeleton patterning in Eskimo groups with new data from ancient Chukotka (Ekven archaeological site)

This study continues a series of studies by Stewart and Merbs on vertebral column variations in Eskimo groups. The focus is on so called cranio-caudal shifts in spine patterning. The study is performed on a skeletal sample of ancient Eskimos from Siberia (Ekven site, Chukotka) and comparative samples representing population groups of European and African ancestry. In addition to these, literature data are used for comparative analysis to assess the pattern of cranio-caudal border shifts on intra-specific level. The result confirms the presence of significantly increased predisposition of the Eskimos to caudal shifts in spine patterning, expressed both as increased frequencies of complete caudal shifts of thoraco-lumbar and lumbo-sacral borders, as well as minor variations in vertebrae morphology, including variation in the type of articular processes (thoracic/lumbar types) and the position of costo-central articulation at T9 level. Hypotheses explaining this specific character of the Eskimo/Inuit groups are proposed and explored, including gene drift, influence of environmental factors and association with morphological characteristics adaptive to survival in the Arctic. One of the explanations may be the association with characteristic form and size of the thoracic cage that distinguishes the Arctic groups such as Eskimos and Chukchi from groups leaving in more southern areas. This needs to be tested on other groups, living in similar conditions

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Costal facet variations on the eighth, ninth and tenth thoracic vertebrae: association with sex and shifts in the cranio-caudal pattern of the human axial skeleton

Different variants of the ninth and tenth thoracic vertebrae are described in the literature with little information on their prevalence in human populations. To review this question, 5 osteological samples from different geographical areas were studied for the presence of costal facets on the eighth (T8), ninth (T9) and tenth (T10) thoracic vertebrae. We found that inferior costal facets on vertebral centrum were absent bilaterally in 1.5% of T8 and in 46% of T9; costal facets on both T10 transverse processes were absent in 39% of cases. Absence of inferior costal facets on the T8 and T9 centrum and costal facets on the T10 transverse processes was positively associated with cranial shifts at regional borders of the spine. However, additional analysis revealed that the position of the costo-central articulation at the level of T8 and T9 as well as the position of the most inferior "typical" thoracic vertebra significantly depended on sex (p<0.001). Sex differences were most pronounced at the level of T9 where females showed very frequent absence of inferior costal facets (76% of cases compared to 47% in males). This suggests a difference in an average 10th rib position in relation to the spine in females. Significant sex differences in the position of the most inferior "typical" thoracic vertebra may be partially explained by the fact that females in general are more likely to develop some forms of cranial shifts. However, according to the literature, the female axial skeleton possesses a complex of morphological features that is seen as an adaptation to pregnancy. In this view, the different position of the female 10th rib may be one component of the complex

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