Caucasus hunter-gatherer

Anatomically modern human genetic lineage identified in 2015

Caucasus hunter-gathererAlternative names| Satsurblia cluster

|

Geographical range| Native to Caucasus and northern parts of Iran, later in Pontic–Caspian steppe
Period| Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic
Dates| 13,000–6,000 BC

Caucasus hunter-gatherer (CHG), also called Satsurblia cluster,[1] is an anatomically modern human genetic lineage, first identified in a 2015 study,[2][3] based on the population genetics of several modern Western Eurasian (European, Caucasian and Near Eastern) populations.[4][5]

Genetic structure of ancient Europe. Caucasus hunter-gatherers are represented by the Satsurbila and Kotias specimens.

Genetic affinity of modern populations to the ancient Kotias specimen.

Admixture graph of deep Eurasian lineages (Allentoft et al. 2024)

## Formation and development[edit]

The CHG lineage is suggested to have diverged from the ancestor of Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHGs) probably during the Last Glacial Maximum (sometimes between 45,000 to 26,000 years ago).[6] They further separated from the "Anatolian hunter-gatherer (AHG) lineage later, suggested to around 25,000 years ago during the late LGM period.[3][7] The Caucasus hunter-gatherers managed to survive in isolation since the late LGM period as a distinct population, and display high genetic affinities to Mesolithic and Neolithic populations on the Iranian plateau, such as Neolithic specimens found in Ganj Dareh. The CHG display higher genetic affinities to European and Anatolian groups than Iranian hunter-gatherers do, suggesting a possible cline and geneflow into the CHG and less into Mesolithic and Neolithic Iranian groups.[2][8]

The Mesolithic/Neolithic Iranian lineage basal to the Caucasus hunter-gatherers are inferred to derive significant amounts of their ancestry from Basal Eurasian (c. 38–48%), with the remainder ancestry being closer to Ancient North Eurasians or Eastern European Hunter-Gatherer (ANE/EHG; c. 52–62%). The CHG displayed an additional ANE-like component (c. 10%) than the Neolithic Iranians do, suggesting they may have stood in continuous contact with Eastern Hunter-Gatherers to their North. The CHG also carry around 20% additional Paleolithic Caucasus/Anatolian ancestry.[2][9][10] An alternative model without the need of significant amounts of ANE ancestry has been presented by Vallini et al. 2024, suggesting that the initial Iranian hunter-gatherer-like population which is basal to the CHG formed primarily from a deep Ancient West Eurasian lineage ('WEC2', c. 72%), and from varying degrees of Ancient East Eurasian (c. 10%) and Basal Eurasian (c. 18%) components. The Ancient West Eurasian component associated with Iranian hunter-gatherers (WEC2) is inferred to have diverged from the West Eurasian Core lineage (represented by Kostenki-14; WEC), with the WEC2 component staying in the region of the Iranian Plateau, while the proper WEC component expanded into Europe.[11]

At the beginning of the Neolithic, at c. 8000 BC, they were probably distributed across western Iran and the Caucasus,[12] and people similar to northern Caucasus and Iranian plateau hunter-gatherers arrived before 6000 BC in Pakistan and north-west India.[13] A roughly equal merger between the CHG and Eastern Hunter-Gatherers in the Pontic–Caspian steppe resulted in the formation of the Western Steppe Herders (WSHs). The WSHs formed the Yamnaya culture and subsequently expanded massively throughout Europe during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age c. 3000—2000 BC.[14]

Caucasus hunter gatherer/Iranian-like ancestry, was first reported as maximized in hunter-gatherers from the South Caucasus and early herders/farmers in northwestern Iran, particularly the Zagros, hence the label “CHG/Iranian”.[15]

### Further research[edit]

One of the Caucasus hunters was unearthed at Satsurblia cave in Georgia.

See also: Genetic history of the Middle East and Genetic history of Europe

Jones et al. (2015) analyzed genomes from males from western Georgia, in the Caucasus, from the Late Upper Palaeolithic (13,300 years old) and the Mesolithic (9,700 years old). These two males carried Y-DNA haplogroup: J* and J2a, later refined to J1-FT34521, and J2-Y12379*, and mitochondrial haplogroups of K3 and H13c, respectively.[16] Their genomes showed that a continued mixture of the Caucasians with Middle Eastern populations took place up to 25,000 years ago, when the coldest period in the last Ice Age started.[4]

CHG ancestry was also found in an Upper Palaeolithic specimen from Satsurblia cave (dated c. 11000 BC), and in a Mesolithic one from Kotias Klde cave, in western Georgia (dated c. 7700 BC). The Satsurblia individual is closest to modern populations from the South Caucasus.[2]

Margaryan et al. (2017) analysing South Caucasian ancient mitochondrial DNA found a rapid increase of the population at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, about 18,000 years ago. The same study also found continuity in descent in the maternal line for 8,000 years.[17]

According to Narasimhan et al. (2019) Iranian farmer related people arrived before 6000 BCE in Pakistan and north-west India, before the advent of farming in northern India. They suggest the possibility that this "Iranian farmer–related ancestry [...] was [also] characteristic of northern Caucasus and Iranian plateau hunter-gatherers."[13]

## Proto-Indo Europeans[edit]

Main genetic ancestries of Western Steppe Herders (Yamnaya pastoralists): a confluence of Eastern Hunter-Gatherers (EHG) and Caucasus Hunter-Gatherers (CHG). Admixture proportions of Yamnaya populations: they combined as Eastern Hunter Gatherer ( EHG) and Caucasian Hunter-Gatherer ( CHG), and the small proportions of Anatolian Farmer ( Anatolian Neolithic) and Western Hunter Gatherer ( WHG) ancestry.[18]

During the Neolithic and early Eneolithic, likely during the 4th millennium BC, Caucasus hunter-gatherers (CHGs) mixed with Eastern Hunter-gatherers (EHGs) on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, with the resulting population, almost half-EHG and half-CHG, forming the genetic cluster known as Western Steppe Herder (WSH).[18][19][20][21][22] To David W. Anthony, Caucasus hunter-gatherer ancestry of Yamnaya is often with higher than 50%.[22] As well as an overwhelming WSH ancestry, Yamnaya have also with additional admixture from Anatolian and Levantine farmers, and the Western Hunter-gatherers (WHGs).[18][21]

According to co-author Andrea Manica of the University of Cambridge:

> The question of where the Yamnaya come from has been something of a mystery up to now […] we can now answer that, as we've found that their genetic make-up is a mix of Eastern European hunter-gatherers and a population from this pocket of Caucasus hunter-gatherers who weathered much of the last Ice Age in apparent isolation.[4]

While some scholars argue that the archaic PIE ('Indo-Anatolian') language may have originated among a CHG-rich population in Western Asia, based on the lack of EHG ancestry in the probable speakers of Anatolian languages.[23] Others, such as Anthony, suggest that the PIE were spoken by EHGs living in Eastern Europe.[24]

According to Jones et al. (2015), Caucasus hunter-gatherers (CHG) "genomes significantly contributed to the Yamnaya steppe herders who migrated into Europe ~3,000 BCE, supporting a formative Caucasus influence on this important Early Bronze Age culture. CHG left their imprint on modern populations from the Caucasus and also Central and South Asia possibly correlating with the arrival of Indo-Aryan languages."[25] Wang et al. (2018) analysed genetic data of the North Caucasus of fossils dated between the 4th and 1st millennia BC and found correlation with modern groups of the South Caucasus, concluding that "unlike today – the Caucasus acted as a bridge rather than an insurmountable barrier to human movement".[26]

## Ancient Greece and Aegean[edit]

Beyond contributing to the population of mainland Europe through Bronze Age pastoralists of the Yamnaya, CHG also appears to have arrived on its own in the Aegean without Eastern European hunter–gatherer (EHG) ancestry and provided approximately 9–32% of ancestry to the Minoans. The origin of this CHG component might have been Central Anatolia.[27]

## See also[edit]

* Prehistoric Caucasus

## References[edit]

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2. ^ a b c d Jones et al. 2015.
3. ^ a b Fu et al. 2016.
4. ^ a b c "Europe's fourth ancestral 'tribe' uncovered". BBC. 16 November 2015.
5. ^ Dutchen, Stephanie (2 May 2016). "History on Ice". Harvard Medical School. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
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16. ^ "YFull | NextGen Sequence Interpretation".
17. ^ Margaryan, Ashot; Derenko, Miroslava; Hovhannisyan, Hrant; Malyarchuk, Boris; Heller, Rasmus; Khachatryan, Zaruhi; Avetisyan, Pavel; Badalyan, Ruben; Bobokhyan, Arsen; Melikyan, Varduhi; Sargsyan, Gagik; Piliposyan, Ashot; Simonyan, Hakob; Mkrtchyan, Ruzan; Denisova, Galina; Yepiskoposyan, Levon; Willerslev, Eske; Allentoft, Morten E. (July 2017). "Eight Millennia of Matrilineal Genetic Continuity in the South Caucasus". Current Biology. 27 (13): 2023–2028.e7. Bibcode:2017CBio...27E2023M. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.087. PMID 28669760.
18. ^ a b c Wang, Chuan-Chao; Reinhold, Sabine; Kalmykov, Alexey (4 February 2019). "Ancient human genome-wide data from a 3000-year interval in the Caucasus corresponds with eco-geographic regions". Nature Communications. 10 (1): 590. Bibcode:2019NatCo..10..590W. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-08220-8. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 6360191. PMID 30713341.
19. ^ Hanel, Andrea; Carlberg, Carsten (3 July 2020). "Skin colour and vitamin D: An update". Experimental Dermatology. 29 (9): 864–875. doi:10.1111/exd.14142. PMID 32621306.
20. ^ Haak, Wolfgang; Lazaridis, Iosif; Patterson, Nick; Rohland, Nadin; Mallick, Swapan; Llamas, Bastien; Brandt, Guido; Nordenfelt, Susanne; Harney, Eadaoin; Stewardson, Kristin; Fu, Qiaomei (1 June 2015). "Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe". Nature. 522 (7555): 207–211. arXiv:1502.02783. Bibcode:2015Natur.522..207H. doi:10.1038/nature14317. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 5048219. PMID 25731166.
21. ^ a b Lazaridis, Iosif; Alpaslan-Roodenberg, Songül; Acar, Ayşe; Açıkkol, Ayşen; Agelarakis, Anagnostis; Aghikyan, Levon; Akyüz, Uğur; Andreeva, Desislava; Andrijašević, Gojko; Antonović, Dragana; Armit, Ian; Atmaca, Alper; Avetisyan, Pavel; Aytek, Ahmet İhsan; Bacvarov, Krum (26 August 2022). "The genetic history of the Southern Arc: A bridge between West Asia and Europe". Science. 377 (6609): eabm4247. doi:10.1126/science.abm4247. ISSN 0036-8075. PMC 10064553. PMID 36007055. S2CID 251843620.
22. ^ a b David Anthony (2019), "Archaeology, Genetics, and Language in the Steppes: A Comment on Bomhard", Journal of Indo-European Studies, Volume 47, Number 1 & 2, Spring/Summer 2019.
23. ^ Lazaridis, Iosif; Alpaslan-Roodenberg, Songül; Acar, Ayşe; Açıkkol, Ayşen; Agelarakis, Anagnostis; Aghikyan, Levon; Akyüz, Uğur; Andreeva, Desislava; Andrijašević, Gojko; Antonović, Dragana; Armit, Ian; Atmaca, Alper; Avetisyan, Pavel; Aytek, Ahmet İhsan; Bacvarov, Krum (26 August 2022). "The genetic history of the Southern Arc: A bridge between West Asia and Europe". Science. 377 (6609): eabm4247. doi:10.1126/science.abm4247. ISSN 0036-8075. PMC 10064553. PMID 36007055.
24. ^ Anthony, David (1 January 2019). "Archaeology, Genetics, and Language in the Steppes: A Comment on Bomhard". Journal of Indo-European Studies.
25. ^ Jones et al. 2015: "Caucasus hunter-gatherers (CHG) belong to a distinct ancient clade that split from western hunter-gatherers ~45 kya, shortly after the expansion of anatomically modern humans into Europe and from the ancestors of Neolithic farmers ~25 kya, around the Last Glacial Maximum."
26. ^ Wang et al. 2018.
27. ^ Lazaridis, Iosif; Mittnik, Alissa; Patterson, Nick; Mallick, Swapan; Rohland, Nadin; Pfrengle, Saskia; Furtwängler, Anja; Peltzer, Alexander; Posth, Cosimo; Vasilakis, Andonis; McGeorge, P. J. P.; Konsolaki-Yannopoulou, Eleni; Korres, George; Martlew, Holley; Michalodimitrakis, Manolis; Özsait, Mehmet; Özsait, Nesrin; Papathanasiou, Anastasia; Richards, Michael; Roodenberg, Songül Alpaslan; Tzedakis, Yannis; Arnott, Robert; Fernandes, Daniel M.; Hughey, Jeffery R.; Lotakis, Dimitra M.; Navas, Patrick A.; Maniatis, Yannis; Stamatoyannopoulos, John A.; Stewardson, Kristin; Stockhammer, Philipp; Pinhasi, Ron; Reich, David; Krause, Johannes; Stamatoyannopoulos, George (2017). "Genetic origins of the Minoans and Mycenaeans". Nature. 548 (7666): 214–218. Bibcode:2017Natur.548..214L. doi:10.1038/nature23310. PMC 5565772. PMID 28783727.

## Sources[edit]

* Anthony, David (2009b), "Ancient DNA, Mating Networks, and the Anatolian Split", in Serangeli, Matilde; Olander, Thomas (eds.), Dispersals and Diversification: Linguistic and Archaeological Perspectives on the Early Stages of Indo-European, BRILL
* Fu, Q.; Posth, C.; Hajdinjak, M.; Petr, Martin; et al. (2016). "The genetic history of Ice Age Europe". Nature. 534 (7606): 200–205. Bibcode:2016Natur.534..200F. doi:10.1038/nature17993. hdl:10211.3/198594. PMC 4943878. PMID 27135931.
* Haak, Wolfgang (2015), "Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe", Nature, 522 (7555): 207–211, arXiv:1502.02783, Bibcode:2015Natur.522..207H, doi:10.1038/nature14317, PMC 5048219, PMID 25731166
* Jeong, Choongwon; Balanovsky, Oleg; Lukianova, Elena; Kahbatkyzy, Nurzhibek; Flegontov, Pavel; Zaporozhchenko, Valery; Immel, Alexander; Wang, Chuan-Chao; Ixan, Olzhas; Khussainova, Elmira; Bekmanov, Bakhytzhan; Zaibert, Victor; Lavryashina, Maria; Pocheshkhova, Elvira; Yusupov, Yuldash; Agdzhoyan, Anastasiya; Koshel, Sergey; Bukin, Andrei; Nymadawa, Pagbajabyn; Turdikulova, Shahlo; Dalimova, Dilbar; Churnosov, Mikhail; Skhalyakho, Roza; Daragan, Denis; Bogunov, Yuri; Bogunova, Anna; Shtrunov, Alexandr; Dubova, Nadezhda; Zhabagin, Maxat; Yepiskoposyan, Levon; Churakov, Vladimir; Pislegin, Nikolay; Damba, Larissa; Saroyants, Ludmila; Dibirova, Khadizhat; Atramentova, Lubov; Utevska, Olga; Idrisov, Eldar; Kamenshchikova, Evgeniya; Evseeva, Irina; Metspalu, Mait; Outram, Alan K.; Robbeets, Martine; Djansugurova, Leyla; Balanovska, Elena; Schiffels, Stephan; Haak, Wolfgang; Reich, David; Krause, Johannes (29 April 2019). "The genetic history of admixture across inner Eurasia". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 3 (6): 966–976. Bibcode:2019NatEE...3..966J. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-0878-2. PMC 6542712. PMID 31036896.
* Jones, E.; Gonzalez-Fortes, G.; Connell, S.; Siska, V.; et al. (2015). "Upper Palaeolithic genomes reveal deep roots of modern Eurasians". Nature Communications. 6 (8912): 8912. Bibcode:2015NatCo...6.8912J. doi:10.1038/ncomms9912. PMC 4660371. PMID 26567969.
* Lazaridis, I.; Nadel, D.; Rollefson, G.; Merrett, D.; et al. (2016). "Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East". Nature. 536 (7617): 419–424. Bibcode:2016Natur.536..419L. doi:10.1038/nature19310. PMC 5003663. PMID 27459054.
* Mathieson, Iain (23 November 2015). "Genome-wide patterns of selection in 230 ancient Eurasians". Nature. 528 (7583). Nature Research: 499–503. Bibcode:2015Natur.528..499M. doi:10.1038/nature16152. PMC 4918750. PMID 26595274.
* Narasimhan, Vagheesh M.; Patterson, N.J.; Moorjani, Priya; Rohland, Nadin; et al. (2019), "The Formation of Human Populations in South and Central Asia", Science, 365 (6457): eaat7487, doi:10.1126/science.aat7487, PMC 6822619, PMID 31488661
* Wang, C.; Reinhold, S.; Kalmykov, A.; Wissgott, A.; et al. (16 May 2018). "The genetic prehistory of the Greater Caucasus". bioRxiv 10.1101/322347.

## Further reading[edit]

* Anthony, David (Spring–Summer 2019). "Archaeology, Genetics, and Language in the Steppes: A Comment on Bomhard". Journal of Indo-European Studies. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
* Anthony, David W. (2019). "Ancient DNA, Mating Networks, and the Anatolian Split". In Serangeli, Matilde; Olander, Thomas (eds.). Dispersals and Diversification: Linguistic and Archaeological Perspectives on the Early Stages of Indo-European. BRILL. pp. 21–54. ISBN 978-9004416192.

## External links[edit]

* Caucasus Hunter-Gatherer ancestry and Indo-Hittite Archived 25 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine

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