The rise and transformation of Bronze Age pastoralists in the Caucasus

The Caucasus and surrounding areas, with their rich metal resources, became a crucible of the Bronze Age and the birthplace of the earliest steppe pastoralist societies. This study presents new genome-wide data for 131 individuals from 38 archaeological sites spanning 6,000 years, revealing strong genetic differentiation between north and south Caucasus populations during the Mesolithic. The Eneolithic period saw the formation of West Eurasian steppe ancestry and increased mountain-steppe interaction. The Early and Middle Bronze Age showed long-term genetic stability in pastoralists, while the Late Bronze Age featured gene flow and a decline of steppe cultures, followed by steppe ancestry absorption into highland populations.

Ayshin Ghalichi, Sabine Reinhold, Adam B. Rohrlach, Alexey A. Kalmykov, Ainash Childebayeva, He Yu, Franziska Aron, Lena Semerau, Katrin Bastert-Lamprichs, Andrey B. Belinskiy, Natalia Y. Berezina, Yakov B. Berezin, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Alexandra P. Buzhilova, Vladimir R. Erlikh, Lars Fehren-Schmitz, Irina Gambashidze, Anatoliy R. Kantorovich, Konstantin B. Kolesnichenko, David Lordkipanidze, Rabadan G. Magomedov, Katharina Malek-Custodis, Dirk Mariaschk, Vladimir E. Maslov, Levon Mkrtchyan, Anatoli Nagler, Hassan Fazeli Nashli, Maria Ochir, Yuri Y. Piotrovskiy, Mariam Saribekyan, Aleksandr G. Sheremetev, Thomas Stöllner, Judith Thomalsky, Benik Vardanyan, Cosimo Posth, Johannes Krause, Christina Warinner, Svend Hansen, Wolfgang Haak