Anthropological Features of the Population of the Pazyryk Culture (based on materials from the Berel burial mound)

The article presents paleoanthropological materials from the early period of the functioning of the Berel burial mound Pazyryk culture. The monument is located in Altai (Republic of Kazakhstan). The author presents craniological, odontological data and evidence of post-mortem manipulations with the bones of individuals from large mounds that belonged to people of high social status. The physical characteristics of the population represented in the burial mound find analogies both in the Pazyryk culture and among the population of the Saka cultures of Central Asia. The presence of a female skull with a Mongoloid appearance in mound 16 confirms already existing ideas about the participation of individuals with an eastern, Mongoloid appearance in the full life of the Pazyryk community. Post-mortem manipulations with bodies, traces of which are recorded on the skeletal remains of persons of high social status at the Berel burial mound, significantly complement the database for understanding the nuances of burial traditions associated with the artificial mummification of bodies. Farewell ceremonies in a nomadic lifestyle are not always possible in a short time. It can be assumed that the mummification of bodies was a preparatory stage for a complex and lengthy process of farewell traditions before the burial of the body in an arid climate

Stone Age Yersinia pestis genomes shed light on the early evolution, diversity, and ecology of plague

[Significance] The bacterium Yersinia pestis has caused numerous historically documented outbreaks of plague and research using ancient DNA could demonstrate that it already affected human populations during the Neolithic. However, the pathogen’s genetic diversity, geographic spread, and transmission dynamics during this early period of Y. pestis evolution are largely unexplored. Here, we describe a set of ancient plague genomes up to 5,000 y old from across Eurasia. Our data demonstrate that two genetically distinct forms of Y. pestis evolved in parallel and were both distributed across vast geographic distances, potentially occupying different ecological niches. Interpreted within the archeological context, our results suggest that the spread of plague during this period was linked to increased human mobility and intensification of animal husbandry.The bacterial pathogen Yersinia pestis gave rise to devastating outbreaks throughout human history, and ancient DNA evidence has shown it afflicted human populations as far back as the Neolithic. Y. pestis genomes recovered from the Eurasian Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age (LNBA) period have uncovered key evolutionary steps that led to its emergence from a Yersinia pseudotuberculosis-like progenitor; however, the number of reconstructed LNBA genomes are too few to explore its diversity during this critical period of development. Here, we present 17 Y. pestis genomes dating to 5,000 to 2,500 y BP from a wide geographic expanse across Eurasia. This increased dataset enabled us to explore correlations between temporal, geographical, and genetic distance. Our results suggest a nonflea-adapted and potentially extinct single lineage that persisted over millennia without significant parallel diversification, accompanied by rapid dispersal across continents throughout this period, a trend not observed in other pathogens for which ancient genomes are available. A stepwise pattern of gene loss provides further clues on its early evolution and potential adaptation. We also discover the presence of the flea-adapted form of Y. pestis in Bronze Age Iberia, previously only identified in in the Caucasus and the Volga regions, suggesting a much wider geographic spread of this form of Y. pestis. Together, these data reveal the dynamic nature of plague’s formative years in terms of its early evolution and ecology.This study was funded by the Max Planck Society, Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement 771234 – PALEoRIDER (to W.H.), 856453 – HistoGenes (to J.K.), and 834616 – ARCHCAUCASUS (to S.H.). The Heidelberg Academy of Science financed the genetic and archeological research on human individuals from the Augsburg region within the project WIN Kolleg: “Times of Upheaval: Changes of Society and Landscape at the Beginning of the Bronze Age. M.E. was supported by the award “Praemium Academiae” of the Czech Academy of Sciences. M.D. was supported by the project RVO 67985912 of the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague. I.O. was supported by the Ramón y Cajal grant from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spanish Government (RYC2019-027909-I). A. H€ubner was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under Germany’s Excellence Strategy (EXC 2051 – Project-ID 390713860). J.F.-E. and J.A.M.-A. were supported by the Diputación Foral de Alava, IT 1223-19, Gobierno Vasco. A. Buzhilova was supported by the Center of Information Technologies and Systems (CITIS), Moscow, Russia 121041500329-0. L. M., L.B.D., and E. Khussainova were supported by the Grant AP08856654, Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. A. Beisenov was supported by the Grant AP08857177, Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.Peer reviewe

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

Technological parameters of the process for natural gas effective absorption drying from moisture using diethylene glykol

Актуальность. Добыча природного газа и попутных нефтяных газов сопровождается необходимой подготовкой газа для поставки потребителю для коммерческого использования. В частности, на месторождениях газа и нефти применяется отделение всех побочных гомологов метана, влаги и других неуглеводородных соединений, входящих в состав попутных нефтяных газов, ухудшающих условия эксплуатации оборудования и понижающих качество исходного сырья. При постоянно растущей степени обводненности газовых и нефтяных месторождений необходимо поступательное развитие технологических методов подготовки газа, в том числе одного из наиболее распространенных в РФ - абсорбционного метода осушки природного и попутных нефтяных газов от примесей воды. Цель: обосновать применение диэтиленгликоля как наиболее эффективного абсорбента в условиях Крайнего Севера при подготовке природного газа. Объект: установка комплексной подготовки природного газа. Метод. Расчет модели установки комплексной подготовки газа произведен в программном комплексе UniSim Design R470. Результаты. Исследовано влияние основных технологических параметров: температуры, давления процесса абсорбционной осушки природного газа на абсорбенте диэтиленгликоль на установке подготовки газа для удаления примесей воды. Определены оптимальные условия по давлению и температуре для эффективного удаления влаги из природного газа методом абсорбции воды диэтиленгликолем при высоком давлении входного сырья. Показано, что применение абсорбента диэтиленгликоля наиболее эффективно в условиях Крайнего Севера. При использовании диэтиленгликоля в качестве абсорбента для осушки природного газа от воды при низких температурах значительно уменьшаются энергозатраты на компримирование газа, его охлаждение перед абсорбером и расход осушителя по сравнению с другими абсорбентами. Определены наиболее эффективные технологические параметры работы абсорбционной установки по осушке природного газа при концентрации диэтиленгликоля 98 % мас. и расходе сырого природного газа 385 тыс. м³/ч. Диэтиленгликоль уже при температуре контакта 19 °С осушает газ до регламентируемых показателей температуры точки росы минус 20 °С и давлении в установке подготовки газа не менее 4 МПа и выше. Напротив, превышение температуры контакта газ-диэтиленгликоль выше 20 °С и снижение давления менее 4 МПа приводит к значительному повышению энергозатрат, уносу абсорбента диэтиленгликоля и ухудшению экономических показателей процесса осушки природного газа от примесей воды.Relevance. The extraction of natural and associated petroleum gases is accompanied by the necessary gas preparation for delivery to the consumer for commercial use. In particular, in gas and oil fields, the separation of all side homologues of methane, moisture and other non-hydrocarbon compounds that are part of associated petroleum gases, which worsen the operating conditions of equipment and lower the quality of the feedstock, are used. With the ever-increasing degree of water cut in gas and oil fields, it is necessary to progressively develop technological methods for gas treatment, including one of the most common in the Russian Federation - the absorption method of drying natural and associated petroleum gases from water impurities. Purpose: to substantiate the use of diethylene glycol in preparation of natural gas, as the most effective absorbent in the Far North. Object: complex natural gas treatment unit. Method. The calculation of the model of the complex gas treatment unit was carried out in the UniSim Design R470 software package. Results. The influence of the main technological parameters: temperature, pressure of absorption drying of natural gas on the absorbent diethylene glycol at the gas treatment plant for the removal of water impurities is investigated. The optimal pressure and temperature conditions for effective removal of moisture from natural gas by the method of water absorption by diethylene glycol at high pressure of the input raw material are determined. It is shown that the use of diethylene glycol absorbent is most effective in the conditions of the Far North. When diethylene glycol is used as an absorbent for drying natural gas from water at low temperatures, the energy consumption for gas compression, its cooling in front of the absorber, and the consumption of the dryer are significantly reduced compared to other absorbents. The most effective technological parameters of the operation of an absorption plant for drying natural gas at a diethylene glykol concentration of 98 % wt. and raw natural gas consumption of 385 thousand m³/h were determined. Diethylene glykol already at a contact temperature of 19 °C dries the gas to the regulated dew point temperature of minus 20 °C and pressure in the gas treatment unit of at least 4 MPa and above. On the contrary, exceeding the gas-diethylene glykol contact temperature above 20 °С and lowering the pressure below 4 MPa lead to a significant increase in energy consumption, the entrainment of the diethylene glycol absorbent and the deterioration of the economic indicators of the natural gas drying from water impurities

Dairying enabled Early Bronze Age Yamnaya steppe expansions

During the Early Bronze Age, populations of the western Eurasian steppe expanded across an immense area of northern Eurasia. Combined archaeological and genetic evidence supports widespread Early Bronze Age population movements out of the Pontic-Caspian steppe that resulted in gene flow across vast distances, linking populations of Yamnaya pastoralists in Scandinavia with pastoral populations (known as the Afanasievo) far to the east in the Altai Mountains(1,2) and Mongolia(3). Although some models hold that this expansion was the outcome of a newly mobile pastoral economy characterized by horse traction, bulk wagon transport(4-6) and regular dietary dependence on meat and milk(5), hard evidence for these economic features has not been found. Here we draw on proteomic analysis of dental calculus from individuals from the western Eurasian steppe to demonstrate a major transition in dairying at the start of the Bronze Age. The rapid onset of ubiquitous dairying at a point in time when steppe populations are known to have begun dispersing offers critical insight into a key catalyst of steppe mobility. The identification of horse milk proteins also indicates horse domestication by the Early Bronze Age, which provides support for its role in steppe dispersals. Our results point to a potential epicentre for horse domestication in the Pontic-Caspian steppe by the third millennium bc, and offer strong support for the notion that the novel exploitation of secondary animal products was a key driver of the expansions of Eurasian steppe pastoralists by the Early Bronze Age.ISSN:0028-0836ISSN:1476-468

Ancient genomic time transect from the Central Asian Steppe unravels the history of the Scythians

The Scythians were a multitude of horse-warrior nomad cultures dwelling in the Eurasian steppe during the first millennium BCE. Because of the lack of first-hand written records, little is known about the origins and relations among the different cultures. To address these questions, we produced genome-wide data for 111 ancient individuals retrieved from 39 archaeological sites from the first millennia BCE and CE across the Central Asian Steppe. We uncovered major admixture events in the Late Bronze Age forming the genetic substratum for two main Iron Age gene-pools emerging around the Altai and the Urals respectively. Their demise was mirrored by new genetic turnovers, linked to the spread of the eastern nomad empires in the first centuries CE. Compared to the high genetic heterogeneity of the past, the homogenization of the present-day Kazakhs gene pool is notable, likely a result of 400 years of strict exogamous social rules.N

137 ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes.

For thousands of years the Eurasian steppes have been a centre of human migrations and cultural change. Here we sequence the genomes of 137 ancient humans (about 1× average coverage), covering a period of 4,000 years, to understand the population history of the Eurasian steppes after the Bronze Age migrations. We find that the genetics of the Scythian groups that dominated the Eurasian steppes throughout the Iron Age were highly structured, with diverse origins comprising Late Bronze Age herders, European farmers and southern Siberian hunter-gatherers. Later, Scythians admixed with the eastern steppe nomads who formed the Xiongnu confederations, and moved westward in about the second or third century BC, forming the Hun traditions in the fourth-fifth century AD, and carrying with them plague that was basal to the Justinian plague. These nomads were further admixed with East Asian groups during several short-term khanates in the Medieval period. These historical events transformed the Eurasian steppes from being inhabited by Indo-European speakers of largely West Eurasian ancestry to the mostly Turkic-speaking groups of the present day, who are primarily of East Asian ancestry