The Materials for Craniology of the Northern Samodians

A small sample of paleoanthropological materials from the burial grounds Buchta Nakhodka 2 and Yumadoto 1 in the Yamal Peninsula (Yamal district of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Tyumen Region) has been studied in order to specify the nature of intra-group and inter-population variability. The morphological features of the skulls indicate their belonging to the eastern Mongoloid anthropological formation, but in terms of the nasal bridge structure, they at the same time tend to the western Caucasoid population. According to the results of multidimensional statistics, despite a high individual variability typical of the modern species of Homo sapiens, the range of variability observed in the materials from the burial grounds Buchta Nakhodka 2 and Yumadoto 1 is not beyond the scope of the inter-group variability typical of the Northern Samodians. A more representative sample of this ethnic group has been formed on this basis, which is taxonomically included in the Yamalo-Enisey group of populations of the West Siberian anthropological formation. Authors’ contribution: A.N. Bagashev and S.M. Slepchenko have made measurements of skulls, analyzed the obtained data and have written the paper; O.V. Kardash has carried out archaeological excavations of the burial ground Bukhta Nakhodka 2 and has co-written the paper

Genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern human from western Siberia

We present the high-quality genome sequence of a ∼45,000-year-old modern human male from Siberia. This individual derives from a population that lived before-or simultaneously with-the separation of the populations in western and eastern Eurasia and carries a similar amount of Neanderthal ancestry as present-day Eurasians. However, the genomic segments of Neanderthal ancestry are substantially longer than those observed in present-day individuals, indicating that Neanderthal gene flow into the ancestors of this individual occurred 7,000-13,000 years before he lived. We estimate an autosomal mutation rate of 0.4 × 10(-9) to 0.6 × 10(-9) per site per year, a Y chromosomal mutation rate of 0.7 × 10(-9) to 0.9 × 10(-9) per site per year based on the additional substitutions that have occurred in present-day non-Africans compared to this genome, and a mitochondrial mutation rate of 1.8 × 10(-8) to 3.2 × 10(-8) per site per year based on the age of the bone

The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia

By sequencing 523 ancient humans, we show that the primary source of ancestry in modern South Asians is a prehistoric genetic gradient between people related to early hunter-gatherers of Iran and Southeast Asia. After the Indus Valley Civilization's decline, its people mixed with individuals in the southeast to form one of the two main ancestral populations of South Asia, whose direct descendants live in southern India. Simultaneously, they mixed with descendants of Steppe pastoralists who, starting around 4000 years ago, spread via Central Asia to form the other main ancestral population. The Steppe ancestry in South Asia has the same profile as that in Bronze Age Eastern Europe, tracking a movement of people that affected both regions and that likely spread the distinctive features shared between Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic languages.N.P. carried out this work while a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. P.M. was supported by a Burroughs Wellcome Fund CASI award. N.N. is supported by a NIGMS (GM007753) fellowship. T.C. and A.D. were supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project 14-50-00036). T.M.S. was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 18-09-00779) “Anthropological and archaeological aspects of ethnogenesis of the population of the southern part of Western and Central Siberia in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.” D.P., S.S., and D.L. were supported by European Research Council ERC-2011-AdG 295733 grant (Langelin). O.M. was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Education and Sciences of the Russian Federation No. 33.1907, 2017/Π4 “Traditional and innovational models of a development of ancient Volga population”. A.E. was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Education and Sciences of the Russian Federation No. 33.5494, 2017/BP “Borderlands of cultural worlds (Southern Urals from Antiquity to Early Modern period).” Radiocarbon dating work supported by the NSF Archaeometry program BCS-1460369 to D.Ken. and B.J.C. and by the NSF Archaeology program BCS-1725067 to D.Ken. K.Th. was supported by NCP fund (MLP0117) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India, New Delhi. N.Bo., A.N., and M.Z. were supported by the Max Planck Society. D.Re. is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and his ancient DNA laboratory work was supported by National Science Foundation HOMINID grant BCS-1032255, by National Institutes of Health grant GM100233, by an Allen Discovery Center grant, and by grant 61220 from the John Templeton Foundation