Caucasus Mountains Region: Complex Interplay Of Genes And Cultures

An international research team is the first to carry out the systematic genetic investigations in the Caucasus region, coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH) and the Eurasia Department of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin.

The study is based on analyses of genome-wide data from 45 individuals in the steppe and mountainous areas of the North Caucasus are published in Nature Communications. The skeletal remains founded are between 6,500 to 3,500 years old and shows that the groups of the region were genetically similar, despite the harsh mountain terrain. But there was a sharp genetic boundary to the adjacent steppe areas in the north.

The Caucasus is an area that today includes the parts of Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey is a crucial intersection for the history of Europe. In past, populations from this region were instrumental in shaping the genetic components of present Europeans. Technological innovations were developed during the Bronze Age and were transported to Europe, such as the first highly effective metal weapons, the wheel and wagon.

Dr. Wolfgang Haak, group leader for molecular anthropology at the MPI-SHH and leader of the study said that in the wake of the Neolithic period, sometime before 5,000 BC when a sedentary lifestyle with domesticated animals and plants was established, populations from the southern Caucasus spread over the mountains to the north where they met with the nomadic populations from the Eurasian steppe.

Cultural contact zone, genetic border region

The skeletal remains that are studied come from different Bronze Age cultures. The Maykop culture is based on its spectacular grave goods was long regarded as a population that was migrated to the North Caucasus from Mesopotamia.

The current paleogenetic study shows that people with a distinct southern Caucasus ancestry were already north of the mountain ridges by the 5th millennium BC. It is likely that these groups formed the basis for the local Early Bronze Age Maykop culture of the 4th millennium BC.

By the 3rd millennium BC, pastoralist groups from the steppe were bringing a fundamental change in the population of Europe. The current study confirms that parallel changes in the Caucasus along the southern border of the steppe zone say Sabine Reinhold, co-director of the archaeological team.

Formation of early Yamnaya groups 

A huge population shifted in the 3rd millennium BC with the expansion of the groups from the steppe that were part of the Yamnaya culture and have long been associated with the transfer from Mesopotamia to Europe of significant technological innovations.

According to recent studies at the Eurasia Department of the German Archaeological Institute shown, that an intensive exchange between Europe, the Caucasus and Mesopotamia began much earlier.

By: Aishwarya Sharma

Content: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190204085933.htm