Bronze Age population dynamics and the rise of dairy pastoralism on the eastern Eurasian steppe

Recent paleogenomic studies have shown that migrations of Western steppe herders (WSH) beginning in the Eneolithic (ca. 3300–2700 BCE) profoundly transformed the genes and cultures of Europe and central Asia. Compared with Europe, however, the eastern extent of this WSH expansion is not well defined...

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Published in:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2018-11, Vol.115 (48), p.E11248-E11255
Main Authors:	Jeong, Choongwon, Wilkin, Shevan, Amgalantugs, Tsend, Bouwman, Abigail S., Taylor, William Timothy Treal, Hagan, Richard W., Bromage, Sabri, Tsolmon, Soninkhishig, Trachsel, Christian, Grossmann, Jonas, Littleton, Judith, Makarewicz, Cheryl A., Krigbaum, John, Burri, Marta, Scott, Ashley, Davaasambuu, Ganmaa, Wright, Joshua, Irmer, Franziska, Myagmar, Erdene, Boivin, Nicole, Robbeets, Martine, Rühli, Frank J., Krause, Johannes, Frohlich, Bruno, Hendy, Jessica, Warinner, Christina
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Age Animal Husbandry - history Animals Archaeology Biological Sciences Bronze Age Dairy products Dental calculi Dental calculus DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics Europe Female Genome, Human Genomes Genomics Goat's milk History, Ancient Human Migration - history Humans Hunter-gatherers Lactase Male Mass spectrometry Mass spectroscopy Mongolia Pastoralism PNAS Plus Population Dynamics - history Proteins Proteomics Sheep Social Sciences Stone Age
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Summary:	Recent paleogenomic studies have shown that migrations of Western steppe herders (WSH) beginning in the Eneolithic (ca. 3300–2700 BCE) profoundly transformed the genes and cultures of Europe and central Asia. Compared with Europe, however, the eastern extent of this WSH expansion is not well defined. Here we present genomic and proteomic data from 22 directly dated Late Bronze Age burials putatively associated with early pastoralism in northern Mongolia (ca. 1380–975 BCE). Genome-wide analysis reveals that they are largely descended from a population represented by Early Bronze Age hunter-gatherers in the Baikal region, with only a limited contribution (∼7%) of WSH ancestry. At the same time, however, mass spectrometry analysis of dental calculus provides direct protein evidence of bovine, sheep, and goat milk consumption in seven of nine individuals. No individuals showed molecular evidence of lactase persistence, and only one individual exhibited evidence of >10% WSH ancestry, despite the presence of WSH populations in the nearby Altai-Sayan region for more than a millennium. Unlike the spread of Neolithic farming in Europe and the expansion of Bronze Age pastoralism on the Western steppe, our results indicate that ruminant dairy pastoralism was adopted on the Eastern steppe by local hunter-gatherers through a process of cultural transmission and minimal genetic exchange with outside groups.
ISSN:	0027-8424 1091-6490