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.Introduction Results - The IA transition in the Kazakh Steppe - Admixture modeling of IA steppe populations - Post-IA genetic turnovers in the Kazakh Steppe - Dating ancient admixture - Present-day Kazakhs Discussion Material and methods - Radiocarbon dating - DNA extraction, library preparations, and sequencing - Modern DNA genotyping and quality controls - Ancient DNA data processing -- Raw data -- Authentication and contamination estimate -- Genotyping -- Sex determination -- Genetic relatedness estimation - Uniparental haplogroup assignment - Population structure analyses - Individual labeling and population grouping criteria - F-statistics and ancestry modeling - Admixture dating - CHROMOPAINTER and fineSTRUCTURE analyse

Культурное наследие саков и великих тюрков в восточном Казахстане: Вопросы комплексного изучения, сохранения и музеефикации

В мае – августе 2019 года экспедицией продолжены широкомасштабные и комплексные работы на памятнике Елеке сазы (расположенного в горах Тарбагатая, на высоте от 1442 до 1550 м над уровнем моря), по теме: «Алтай - Тарбагатай от эпохи бронзы до средневековья» в рамках реализации задач второго этапа «Программы развития научно-исследовательских работ в сфере археологии в ВКО на 2019-2021 годы» Акимата Восточно-Казахстанской области Республики Казахстан (руководитель программы Д. К. Ахметов, темы – Самашев З.). Кроме археологических раскопок разновременных и разнотипных памятников археологии, проводились мероприятия по изучению и консервации элементов ряда погребально-поминальных объектов Елеке сазы для последующей их музеефикации

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 similar to 10,500 and similar to 400 years ago. We date the most recent common ancestor of all HBV lineages to between similar to 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 similar to 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.Molecular Technology and Informatics for Personalised Medicine and Healt

The Investigation of Ancient Sanctuaries of the Aral and Caspian Steppes: some Results and Perspectives

In the frame of an European INTAS (International Association for the Promotion of Cooperation with Scientists from the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union) Project RFBR 95-336 sponsored by the Institute of Archaeology of Academy of Sciences of Russia with the title Research of the ancient Sanctuaries of the Aral-Caspian region: Reconstruction of the ethno-cultural and sociopolitical History of the Steppe Nomads, 1st millennium BC, the author together with his partners is dealing with special burial finds of the Schythian period and in particular with burial stone with human figurative representation of Scythian period