Mitochondrial DNA studies of the Pazyryk people (4th to 3rd centuries BC) from northwestern Mongolia

Aleksandr S. Pilipenko; Aida G. Romaschenko; Vyacheslav I. Molodin; Hermann Parzinger; Viktor F. Kobzev

doi:10.1007/s12520-010-0042-z

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

December 2010, Volume 2, Issue 4, pp 231–236

Mitochondrial DNA studies of the Pazyryk people (4th to 3rd centuries BC) from northwestern Mongolia

Authors
Authors and affiliations

Aleksandr S. PilipenkoEmail author
Aida G. Romaschenko
Vyacheslav I. Molodin
Hermann Parzinger
Viktor F. Kobzev

Original Paper

First Online:: 01 September 2010

Received:: 08 March 2010
Accepted:: 06 July 2010

12 Citations
307 Downloads

Abstract

The discovery and excavations in 2006 by joint Russian–German–Mongolian expeditions of the Pazyryk culture burial sites (4th to 3rd centuries BC, Early Iron Age, the Scythian period) in the Altai mountains of northwestern Mongolia near the Russia border provided new material for studying various aspects of these ancient peoples lives, including human, animal and plant remains. Ice accumulation in the graves preserved the human remains, allowing biological analysis of the samples. We conducted a genetic study based on mitochondrial DNA from remains of three Pazyryk culture representatives to investigate the possible genetic relationships of this Siberian Scythian group with populations of adjacent territories. These data support possible genetic contacts between populations of Altai and other Eurasia regions in the Early Iron Age, and are in good agreement with corresponding archaeological and anthropological data. However, a large-scale study of the Pazyryk population gene pool structure must be performed to further confirm these findings.

Keywords

Ancient DNA Human mitochondrial DNA Central Asia Scythian Iron age Pazyryk culture

Abbreviations

mtDNA: Mitochondrial DNA
HVR: Hyper-variable region
RFLP: Restriction fragments length polymorphism
GuSCN: Guanidinium thiocyanate
OKG: Olon-Kurin-Gol
PCR: Polymerase chain reaction
rCRS: Revised Cambridge Reference Sequence

Supplementary material

12520_2010_42_MOESM1_ESM.ppt (134 kb)

Supplementary Table 1(PPT 104 kb)

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Authors and Affiliations

Aleksandr S. Pilipenko
- 1
Email author
Aida G. Romaschenko
- 1
Vyacheslav I. Molodin
- 2
Hermann Parzinger
- 3
Viktor F. Kobzev
- 1

1.Institute of Cytology and GeneticsSiberian Branch, Russian Academy of SciencesNovosibirskRussia
2.Institute of Archaeology and EthnographySiberian Branch, Russian Academy of SciencesNovosibirskRussia
3.Prussian Cultural Heritage FoundationBerlinGermany

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Mitochondrial DNA studies of the Pazyryk people (4th to 3rd centuries BC) from northwestern Mongolia

Abstract

Keywords

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Supplementary material

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