Archaeogenetic name for an ancestral genetic component
Eastern Hunter-Gatherer
Artifacts and forensic reconstruction of an Eastern Hunter-Gatherer from the site of
Yuzhny Oleny island (dated
c. 8,100 BP), by
M. M. Gerasimov. National Museum of Karelia.[1]
Hunter-gatherers in Europe between 14 ka and 9 ka, with the main area of Eastern Hunter-Gatherers (EHG, ). Individual numbers correspond to calibrated sample dates.[2]
In
archaeogenetics, the term Eastern Hunter-Gatherer (EHG), sometimes East European Hunter-Gatherer, or Eastern European Hunter-Gatherer is the name given to a distinct ancestral component that represents
Mesolithichunter-gatherers of
Eastern Europe.[3]
The Eastern Hunter Gatherer genetic profile is mainly derived from
Ancient North Eurasian (ANE) ancestry, which was introduced from
Siberia,[4] with a secondary and smaller admixture of European
Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHG).[5][6] Still, the relationship between the ANE and EHG ancestral components is not yet well understood due to lack of samples that could bridge the spatiotemporal gap.[5]
Haak et al. (2015) identified the Eastern Hunter-Gatherers (EHG) as a distinct genetic cluster in two males only. The EHG male of
Samara (dated to ca. 5650-5550 BC) carried
Y-haplogroupR1b1a1a* and
mt-haplogroupU5a1d. The other EHG male, buried in
Karelia (dated to ca. 5500-5000 BC) carried Y-haplogroup
R1a1 and mt-haplogoup
C1g. The authors of the study also identified a
Western Hunter-Gatherer (WHG) cluster and a
Scandinavian Hunter-Gatherer (SHG) cluster, intermediate between WHG and EHG.[a] They suggested that EHGs harbored mixed ancestry from
Ancient North Eurasians (ANEs) and WHGs.[13]
Researchers have proposed various admixture proportion models for EHGs from WHGs and ANEs. [15][16] Posth et al. (2023) found that most EHG individuals carried c. 70% ANE ancestry and c. 30% WHG ancestry The WHG-like ancestry was most likely not derived from the Oberkassel and Villabruna clusters directly, but from a related and yet unsampled
Epigravettian population.[2][17] The high contribution from Ancient North Eurasians is also visible in a subtle affinity of the EHG to the 40,000-year-old
Tianyuan man from
Northern China, which can be explained by geneflow from a Tianyuan-related source into the ANE lineage (represented by Malta and Afontova Gora 3), which later substantially contributed to the formation of the EHG.[14] The 'Basal East Asian' (Tianyuan-like) ancestry among EHGs (Sidelkino) has been estimated to be around 12,9–31%.[18][19]
EHGs may have mixed with "an Armenian-like Near Eastern source", which formed the Yamnaya culture, as early as the
Eneolithic (5200-4000 BC).[20] The people of the
Yamnaya culture were found to be a mix of EHG and a "Near Eastern related population". During the 3rd millennium BC, the Yamnaya people embarked on a massive expansion throughout
Europe, which significantly altered the genetic landscape of the continent. The expansion gave rise to cultures such as
Corded Ware, and was possibly the source of the distribution of
Indo-European languages in Europe.[13]
The people of the Mesolithic
Kunda culture and the
Narva culture of the eastern
Baltic were a mix of WHG and EHG, showing the closest affinity with WHG. Samples from the
Ukrainian Mesolithic and
Neolithic were found to cluster tightly together between WHG and EHG, suggesting genetic continuity in the
Dnieper Rapids for a period of 4,000 years. The Ukrainian samples belonged exclusively to the maternal haplogroup
U, which is found in around 80% of all European hunter-gatherer samples.[21]
The people of the
Pit–Comb Ware culture (PCW/CCC) of the eastern Baltic bear 65% EHG ancestry. This is in contrast to earlier hunter-gatherers in the area, who were more closely related to WHG. This was demonstrated using a sample of Y-DNA extracted from a Pit–Comb Ware individual. This belonged to
R1a15-YP172. The four samples of mtDNA extracted constituted two samples of
U5b1d1, one sample of
U5a2d, and one sample of
U4a.[22]
Günther et al. (2018) analyzed 13 SHGs and found all of them to be of EHG ancestry. Generally, SHGs from western and northern Scandinavia had more EHG ancestry (ca 49%) than individuals from eastern Scandinavia (ca. 38%). The authors suggested that the SHGs were a mix of WHGs who had migrated into Scandinavia from the south, and EHGs who had later migrated into Scandinavia from the northeast along the
Norwegian coast. SHGs displayed higher frequences of genetic variants that cause light skin (
SLC45A2 and
SLC24A5), and
light eyes (
OCA/Herc2), than WHGs and EHGs.[23]
Members of the Kunda culture and Narva culture were also found to be more closely related with WHG, while the Pit–Comb Ware culture was more closely related to EHG. Northern and eastern areas of the eastern Baltic were found to be more closely related to EHG than southern areas. The study noted that EHGs, like SHGs and Baltic hunter-gatherers, carried high frequencies of the derived
alleles for SLC24A5 and SLC45A2, which are codings for
light skin.[25]
Mathieson et al. (2018) analyzed the genetics of a large number of skeletons of prehistoric Eastern Europe. Thirty-seven samples were from Mesolithic and Neolithic Ukraine (9500-6000 BC). These were classified as intermediate between EHG and SHG. The males belonged exclusively to
R haplotypes (particularly subclades of
R1b1 and
R1a) and
I haplotypes (particularly subclades of
I2). Mitochondrial DNA belonged almost exclusively to
U (particularly subclades of
U5 and
U4).[20]
A large number of individuals from the
Zvejnieki burial ground, which mostly belonged to the Kunda culture and Narva culture in the eastern Baltic, were analyzed. These individuals were mostly of WHG descent in the earlier phases, but over time EHG ancestry became predominant. The Y-DNA of this site belonged almost exclusively to haplotypes of
haplogroup R1b1a1a and
I2a1. The mtDNA belonged exclusively to
haplogroup U (particularly subclades of
U2,
U4 and
U5).[20]
Forty individuals from three sites of the
Iron Gates Mesolithic in the
Balkans were estimated to be of 85% WHG and 15% EHG descent. The males at these sites carried exclusively
R1b1a and
I (mostly subclades of
I2a) haplotypes.
mtDNA belonged mostly to
U (particularly subclades of
U5 and
U4).[20]
People of the
Cucuteni–Trypillia culture were found to harbor about 20% hunter-gatherer ancestry, which was intermediate between EHG and WHG.[20]
Narasimshan et al. (2019) coined a new ancestral component,
West Siberian Hunter-Gatherer (WSHG). WSHGs contained about 20% EHG ancestry, 73% ANE ancestry, and 6% East Asian ancestry.[26]
Others have suggested that the Indo-European language family may have originated not in Eastern Europe, but among CHG-rich West Asian populations South of the Caucasus which later absorbed EHG-rich groups North of the Caucasus. It was noted that haplogroups may not correlate with autosomal ancestry components and historical language dispersals.[29]
Physical appearance
The EHGs are suggested to have had mostly
brown eyes and light skin,[23][31] with "intermediate frequencies of the blue-eye variants" and "high frequencies of the light-skin variants."[32] An EHG from Karelia was determined by
Günther (2018) to have high probabilities of being brown-eyed and dark haired, with a predicted intermediate skin tone.[33] Another EHG from Samara was predicted to be light skinned, and was determined to have a high probability of being blue-eyed with a light hair shade, with a 75% calculated probability of being blond-haired.[34][32]
The rs12821256
allele of the
KITLG gene that controls
melanocyte development and
melanin synthesis,[35] which is associated with
blond hair and first found in
an individual from Siberia dated to around 17,000 BP, is found in three Eastern Hunter-Gatherers from Samara, Motala and Ukraine
c. 10,000 BP, suggesting that this allele originated in the Ancient North Eurasian population, before spreading to western Eurasia.[36]
Many remains of East Hunter-Gatherers dated to circa 8,100 BP (6,100 BCE) have also been excavated at
Yuzhny Oleny island in
Lake Onega.[37] The
Ancient North Eurasian (ANE) ancestry is by far the main component of the Yuzhny Oleny group, and is among the highest within the rest of the Eastern Hunter-Gatherers (EHG).[4]
Reconstruction of burial No. 132 of the Oleneostrovsky burial ground (Yuzhni Oleny island, Lake Onega). Exhibit of the National Museum of the Republic of Karelia.[38]
Artifacts and reconstruction of Eastern Hunter-Gatherers from
Yuzhny Oleny island by Gerasimov.[38]
Karelian Petroglyph depicting 5 skiers and a reindeer. These petroglyphs date to 7,000~6,000 years BP.
Material culture
As hunter-gatherers, the EHGs initially relied on stone tools and artifacts derived from ivory, horns or antlers. From circa 5,900 BC, they started to adopt pottery in the area of the northern
Caspian Sea, or possibly from beyond the Ural. In barely three or four centuries, pottery spread over a distance of about 3,000 kilometers, reaching as far as the
Baltic sea. This technological spread was much faster than the spread of agriculture itself, and mainly occurred through technology transfer between hunter-gatherer groups, rather than through the demic diffusion of agriculturalist.[40]
^Lazaridis et al. (2016) found SHGs to be a mix of EHGs and WHGs: "Eastern Hunter Gatherers (EHG) derive 3/4 of their ancestry from the ANE... Scandinavian hunter-gatherers (SHG) are a mix of EHG and WHG; and WHG are a mix of EHG and the Upper Paleolithic Bichon from Switzerland."[12]
^Haak, Wolfgang; Lazaridis, Iosif; Patterson, Nick; Rohland, Nadin; Mallick, Swapan; Llamas, Bastien; Brandt, Guido; Nordenfelt, Susanne; Harney, Eadaoin; Stewardson, Kristin; Fu, Qiaomei (June 1, 2015). "Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe". Nature. 522 (7555): 207–211. doi:10.1038/nature14317. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 5048219. PMID 25731166.
^
abKozintsev, A. G. (January 4, 2022).
"Patterns in the Population History of Northern Eurasia from the Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age, Based on Craniometry and Genetics". Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 49 (4): 141.
doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2021.49.4.140-151. ANE makes up the principal share of the EHG (Eastern Hunter-Gatherer) autosomal component, whose content is especially high in the genomes of Mesolithic and Early Neolithic inhabitants of northeastern Europe buried at Yuzhny Oleny Ostrov, Popovo, Sidelkino, Lebyazhinka IV, etc. (Haak et al., 2015; Damgaard et al., 2018). They passed EHG on to the Yamnaya people, from whom it was inherited by several filial populations, including Afanasyevans. As early as the Mesolithic, EHG was introduced from northern Russia to Scandinavia, as evidenced by genomes of the Motala people in southern Sweden. Their ancestors had migrated there from the east along the coast of Norway, because the share of EHG in more southern populations, such as the earlier Kunda people of the eastern Baltic, is lower (Haak et al., 2015; Mittnik et al., 2018).
^
abFeldman, Michal; Gnecchi-Ruscone, Guido A.; Lamnidis, Thiseas C.; Posth, Cosimo (2021). "Where Asia meets Europe – recent insights from ancient human genomics". Annals of Human Biology. 48 (3): 191–202.
doi:
10.1080/03014460.2021.1949039.
PMID34459345.
S2CID237348859.
^Nägele, Kathrin; Rivollat, Maite; Yu, He; Wang, Ke (2022). "Ancient genomic research - From broad strokes to nuanced reconstructions of the past". Journal of Anthropological Sciences. 100 (100): 193–230.
doi:
10.4436/jass.10017.
PMID36576953.
^Kashuba 2019: "Earlier aDNA studies suggest the presence of three genetic groups in early postglacial Europe: Western hunter–gatherers (WHG), Eastern hunter–gatherers (EHG), and Scandinavian hunter–gatherers (SHG)4. The SHG have been modelled as a mixture of WHG and EHG."
^
abVillalba-Mouco, Vanessa; van de Loosdrecht, Marieke S.; Rohrlach, Adam B.; Fewlass, Helen; Talamo, Sahra; Yu, He; Aron, Franziska; Lalueza-Fox, Carles; Cabello, Lidia; Cantalejo Duarte, Pedro; Ramos-Muñoz, José; Posth, Cosimo; Krause, Johannes; Weniger, Gerd-Christian; Haak, Wolfgang (April 2023).
"A 23,000-year-old southern Iberian individual links human groups that lived in Western Europe before and after the Last Glacial Maximum". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 7 (4): 597–609.
Bibcode:
2023NatEE...7..597V.
doi:
10.1038/s41559-023-01987-0.
ISSN2397-334X.
PMC10089921.
PMID36859553. Currently, the strongest affinity to Tianyuan in Holocene European HGs was reported for Eastern European HGs (EHG). This is because the ancestry found in Mal'ta and Afontova Gora individuals (Ancient North Eurasian ancestry) received ancestry from UP East Asian/Southeast Asian populations54, who then contributed substantially to EHG55.
^Hanel, Andrea; Carlberg, Carsten (2020).
"Skin Colour and Vitamin D: An update". Experimental Dermatology. 29 (9): 864–875.
doi:10.1111/exd.14142.
PMID32621306.
S2CID220335539. "Interestingly, eastern and Scandinavian hunter-gatherers had light skin,[48] in contrast to Baltic hunter-gatherers who kept their dark skin only until 3800 years ago when farming was introduced in this region by the Bronze Age expansion of people of Russian steppe origin.[56, 57]"
^
abPopulation genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia: Investigating early postglacial migration routes and high-latitude adaptation S8 Text. Functional variation in ancient samples.,
doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2003703.s013
^Günther 2018, p. 4/28: From Supplementary document S8: "The Karelian individual presents high probabilities of being brown-eyed (0.99), and having a dark hair (0.96). Without speculating about the genetic architecture of skin pigmentation, we suggest an intermediate skin-pigmentation phenotype for the Karelia individual, as it carried the ancestral allele at rs16891982 and the derived allele at rs1426654 (S1 Table). The presence of the rs1426654 light-skin allele, in addition to five additional C11-associated alleles at haplotype defining SNPs (S1 Table) suggests that the Karelian individual carried the C11 light-skin haplotype."
^Günther 2018, p. 4/28: From Supplementary document S8: "The Samaran individual exhibits high probabilities of being blue-eyed (0.88), light hair shade (0.99); most likely being blond (0.75)."
^Mathieson et al. 2018 "Supplementary Information page 52: "The derived allele of the KITLG SNP rs12821256 that is associated with – and likely causal for blond hair in Europeans is present in one hunter-gatherer from each of Samara, Motala and Ukraine (I0124, I0014 and I1763), as well as several later individuals with Steppe ancestry. Since the allele is found in populations with EHG but not WHG ancestry, it suggests that its origin is in the Ancient North Eurasian (ANE) population. Consistent with this, we observe that the earliest known individual with the derived allele (supported by two reads) is the ANE individual Afontova Gora 3, which is directly dated to 16130-15749 cal BCE (14710±60 BP, MAMS-27186: a previously unpublished date that we newly report here). We cannot determine the status of rs12821256 in Afontova Gora 2 and MA-1 due to lack of sequence coverage at this SNP."
^
abKozintsev, Alexander (January 1, 2021).
"Patterns in the population history of Northern Eurasia from the Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age". Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia. 49 (4): 140–151.
doi:
10.17746/1563-0110.2021.49.4.140-151. ANE makes up the principal share of the EHG (Eastern Hunter-Gatherer) autosomal component, whose content is especially high in the genomes of Mesolithic and Early Neolithic inhabitants of northeastern Europe buried at Yuzhny Oleny Ostrov, Popovo, Sidelkino, Lebyazhinka IV, etc. (Haak et al., 2015; Damgaard et al., 2018).", "Mesolithic, northern Russian Plain, Yuzhny Oleny Ostrov (Alekseyev, Gokhman, 1984)