Ancient North Eurasian

Distribution and expansion patterns

By c. 32kya, populations carrying ANE-related ancestry were probably widely distributed across northeast Eurasia. They may have expanded as far as Alaska and the Yukon, but were forced to abandon high latitude regions following the onset of harsher climatic conditions that came with the Last Glacial Maximum. Gene sequencing of another south-central Siberian people (Afontova Gora-2) dating to approximately 17,000 years ago, revealed similar autosomal genetic signatures to that of Mal'ta boy-1, suggesting that the region was continuously occupied by humans throughout the Last Glacial Maximum.

It is suggested that the ANE ancestry found among modern human populations was largely contributed from a population linked to Afontova Gora (AG2/3), rather than Malta (MA1) or Yana.

ANE-like ancestry was an important genetic contributor to Native Americans, Europeans, Ancient Central Asians, South Asians, and some East Asian groups, in order of significance. Lazaridis et al. (2016:10) note "a cline of ANE ancestry across the east-west extent of Eurasia". A 2016 study found that the global maximum of ANE ancestry occurs in modern-day Kets, Mansi, Native Americans, and Selkups.

A deer tooth pendant impregnated with the genetic material of an ANE woman was found in the Denisova Cave, and dated to circa 24,700 years before present. She is closely related to Mal'ta and Afontova Gora specimens, found further east.

The ancient Tianyuan Man, and by extension modern East/Southeast Asian populations, lacked Upper Paleolithic Western Eurasian or ANE-related admixture, suggesting "resistance of those groups to the incoming UP population movements", or alternatively, a subsequent reexpansion from a genetically East Asian-like population reservoir. A different but geographically close specimen, known as the Salkhit individual (c. 34,000 BP) from Northern Mongolia was found to display a complex relation to the Yana individuals. While the Yana individuals derived around 50% of their ancestry from a Tianyuan-like source, the Salkhit individual derived around 25% ancestry from the Yana lineage, with the remainder 75% being from the Tianyuan lineage.

Groups partially derived from the Ancient North Eurasians

Native American contribution

According to Moreno-Mayar et al. 2018 between 14% and 38% of Native American ancestry may originate from gene flow from the Mal'ta–Buret' (ANE) population. This difference is caused by the penetration of posterior Neo-Siberian migrations into the Americas, with the lowest percentages of ANE ancestry found in Inuit and Alaskan Natives, as these groups are the result of migrations into the Americas roughly 5,000 years ago. Estimates for ANE ancestry among first wave Native Americans show higher percentages, such as 41% (36-45%) for those belonging to the Andean region in South America. The other ancestry component among Native Americans (the remainder of their ancestry) was of East Asian-like origin, specifically from a lineage that diverged from East Asians c. 30,000 years ago.

According to Jennifer Raff, the Ancient North Eurasian population mixed with a daughter population of ancient East Asians, who they encountered around 25,000 years ago, which led to the emergence of ancestral Native American populations. However, the exact location where the admixture took place is unknown, and the migratory movements that united the two populations are a matter of debate. Vallini et al. 2024 notes that the "position of Native Americans suggests a primarily East Asian ancestry, with a smaller contribution from palaeolithic West Eurasian populations".

One theory supposes that Ancient North Eurasians migrated south to East Asia, or Southern Siberia, where they would have encountered and mixed with ancient East Asians. Genetic evidence from Lake Baikal in Mongolia supports this area as the location where the admixture took place.

However, a third theory, the Beringian standstill hypothesis, suggests that East Asians instead migrated north to Northeastern Siberia, where they mixed with ANE, and later diverged in Beringia, where distinct Native American lineages formed. This theory is supported by maternal and nuclear DNA evidence. According to Grebenyuk, after 20,000 BP, a branch of Ancient East Asians migrated to Northeastern Siberia, and mixed with descendants of the ANE, leading to the emergence of APS and Native American populations in Extreme Northeastern Asia. However, the Beringian standstill hypothesis is not supported by paternal DNA evidence, which may reflect different population histories for paternal and maternal lineages in Native Americans, which is not uncommon and has been observed in other populations.

The descendants of admixture between ANE and ancient East Asians include Ancient Beringian/Ancestral Native American, which are specific archaeogenetic lineages, based on the genome of an infant found at the Upward Sun River site (dubbed USR1), dated to 11,500 years ago. The AB and the Ancestral Native American (ANA) lineage formed about 25,000 years ago, and subsequently diverged from each other, with the AB staying in the Beringian region, while the Ancestral Native Americans populated the Americas. The ANE genetic contribution to late-Paeolithic Ancestral Native Americans (USR1 specimen, dated to 11,500 BP in Alaska, and Clovis specimen, dated to 12,600 BP in Montana) is estimated at 36.8%. There are also the APS, populations represented by the Late Upper Paeolithic Lake Baikal Ust'Kyakhta-3 (UKY) 14,050-13,770 BP. They carried 30% ANE ancestry and 70% East Asian ancestry. Despite extensive admixture with East Asian-related groups, APS ancestry persists in Siberian groups such as Yeniseian and Uralic-speaking groups.

Jōmon people

The Jōmon people, the pre-Neolithic population of Japan, primarily descend from an ancient East Asian lineage but have marginally relevant affinities with the Yana Rhinoceros Horn Site specimen, associated with Ancient North Eurasians (or Ancient North Siberians). This indicates gene flow between Ancient North Siberians and the ancestral Jōmon lineage prior to the Jōmon's isolation from other East Eurasians. This gene flow is also associated with the introduction of microblade technology to northern Japan. According to Bennett et al. (2024), the Basal Asian-like ancestors of the Jōmon interacted with groups that entered Siberia through a northern migration route, thus explaining the Jōmon's affinities with Ancient North Siberians. Other studies, however, suggest no evidence for direct ANE-related gene flow into the Jōmon, indicating non-demic diffusion. However, the possibility of small non-East Eurasian input is not ruled out. Other studies found no evidence for ANE-related gene flow. According to Yang et al. (2025), whilst the Jōmon have the lowest Denisovan ancestry among East Asians like West Eurasians, it is not attributed to either West Eurasian or Hoabinhian admixture, which are not found in the Jōmon. However, the Jōmon most likely inherited their Denisovan ancestry from the same ancestral populations that ANE-related and Tianyuan-related populations inherited their Denisovan ancestry from. Other studies suggest that Yana-related admixture is mostly found in Hokkaido Jōmon but clarify that "absolute differences in Yana-related drift among Jōmon and other EASs are modest". They might also reflect admixture with northern populations.

Siberian and Asian Holocene populations

Altai hunter-gatherer (Altai_HG) is the name given to Middle Holocene Siberian hunter-gatherers within the Altai-Sayan region in Southern Siberia. They were a mixture of APS-related ancestries (53.7–66.3%) and ANE-related ancestries (33.7–46.3%) and show increased affinity towards Native Americans due to the role of the former. Bronze Age groups from North and Inner Asia with significant ANE ancestry (e.g. Lake Baikal hunter-gatherers, Okunevo pastoralists) can be successfully modeled with Altai hunter-gatherers as a proximal ANE-derived ancestry source.

West Siberian Hunter-Gatherer (WSHG) is a specific archaeogenetic lineage that was first reported by Narasimhan et al. (2019). It can be modeled as 20% EHG, 73% ANE and 6% Ancient Northeast Asian. Although only represented by three sampled hunter-gatherer individuals from Tyumen Oblast in the Russian Forest Zone east of the Urals dated ca. 5,000 BCE, high-levels of WSHG-like ancestry can be detected in various populations of Central Asia until the Bronze Age. The population of the Botai culture, while probably not directly descended from WSHG, displays a high affinity with the WSHG lineage. The European-Siberian cline defined by Eastern hunter-gatherer-like ancestry stretched from Central Europe to Western Siberia and was already established 10,000 years ago.

Among later Siberian populations, the Neolithic to Early Bronze Age period, Baikal Eneolithic (Baikal_EN) and Baikal Early Bronze Age (Baikal_EBA) derived 6.4% to 20.1% ancestry from ANE, while the rest of their ancestry was derived from Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) sources. Fofonovo_EN near Lake Baikal were mixture of 12-17% ANE ancestry and 83-87% ANA ancestry. When Altai_HG is used as a proxy, ANE-related input is present at 20% and 25% for Baikal_EN and Baikal_EBA respectively. The latter figure is produced when Baikal_EBA is modeled as a mixture of Altai_HG and Baikal_EN ancestries.

Present Siberian ancestry found across Eurasia and North America can also be traced to a single gene pool from Middle Holocene Siberians that is best represented by Middle Neolithic Yakutia populations. These populations can be modeled as a mixture of Dzhylinda-1 (71%), which is a mixture of Ancient North Eurasian, Ancient Northern East Asian and Native American, and Early Neolithic West Baikal ancestries (29%), which is Ancient Northern East Asian-rich.

Tarim mummies

A genomic study published in 2021 found that the early Bronze Age Tarim mummies (dating from 2,135 to 1,623 BCE) were primarily descended from a population represented by the Afontova Gora 3 specimen (AG3), genetically displaying "high affinity" with it. The genetic profile of the Afontova Gora 3 individual represented about 72% of the ancestry of the Tarim mummies, while the remaining 28% of their ancestry was derived from a population represented by the Baikal EBA (Early Bronze Age Northeast Asian Baikal populations).

The Tarim mummies are thus one of the rare Holocene populations who derive most of their ancestry from the Ancient North Eurasians (ANE, specifically the Mal'ta and Afontova Gora populations), despite their distance in time (around 14,000 years). Having survived in a type of genetic bottleneck in the Tarim basin where they preserved and perpetuated their ANE ancestry, the Tarim mummies, more than any other ancient populations, can be considered "the best representatives" of the Ancient North Eurasians among all sampled known Bronze Age populations. The so-called "Western features" of the Tarim Mummies are probably due to their Ancient North Eurasian ancestry.

West Asian populations

Mesolithic and Neolithic Iranian populations derived a significant amount of their ancestry from an ANE-like geneflow. ANE ancestry is present among Neolithic Iranians as well as the distantly related Caucasus hunter-gatherers, with the remainder ancestry being largely derived from local or nearby West Eurasian and Basal Eurasian sources.

An early Neolithic specimen (Tutkaul1) from Tajikistan was found to be primarily derived from Ancient North Eurasians with some additional Neolithic Iranian-related inputs. The sample is closely related to Afontova Gora 3 (AG3) and Mal'ta 1, as well as to the West Siberian hunter-gatherers (Tyumen and Sosnoviy). While the sample also displays affinity for Eastern hunter-gatherers (EHGs), AG3 was found to be closer to EHGs than Tutkaul1, who instead may be a good proxy for ANE-related ancestry among ancient populations from the Iran and the Turan region.

European populations

Genomic studies also indicate that the ANE component was brought to Western Europe by people related to the Yamnaya culture, long after the Paleolithic. Lazaridis et al. (2014) detected ANE ancestry among modern European populations in proportions up to 20%. In ancient European populations, the ANE genetic component is visible in tests of the Yamnaya people but not of Western or Central Europeans predating the Corded Ware culture: ANE ancestry was introduced in the European gene pool with the Eastern hunter-gatherer (EHG) lineage which derived significant ancestry from the ANE, c. 70%, with the remaining ancestry from a group more closely related to, but distinct from, Western hunter-gatherers (WHGs). It is represented by multiple individuals, such as from Yuzhny Oleny in Karelia, one of Y-haplogroup R1a-M417, dated c. 8.4 kya, the other of Y-haplogroup J, dated c. 7.2 kya; and one individual from Samara, of Y-haplogroup R1b-P297, dated c. 7.6 kya, as well as individuals from Sidelkino and Popovo. After the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, the EHG and WHG lineages merged in Eastern Europe, accounting for early presence of ANE-derived ancestry in Mesolithic Europe. Evidence suggests that as Ancient North Eurasians migrated westward from Eastern Siberia, they absorbed Western Hunter-Gatherers and other West Eurasian populations as well.

Villalba-Mouco et al. 2023 confirmed the strong affinity between the Eastern European hunter-gatherers (EHG) to the Ancient North Eurasians, and also found a low affinity to the Tianyuan man, explained by them having received significant amounts of ANE ancestry.

Scandinavian hunter-gatherer (SHG) is represented by several individuals buried at Motala, Sweden ca. 6000 BC. They were descended from Western hunter-gatherers who initially settled Scandinavia from the south, and received later admixture from EHG who entered Scandinavia from the north through the coast of Norway.

Western Hunter-Gatherers of the Villabruna cluster also carried the Y-haplogroup R1b, derived from the Ancient North Eurasian haplogroup R*, indicating "an early link between Europe and the western edge of the Steppe Belt of Eurasia." In terms of genome-wide structure the Ancient Western Hunter-Gatherers appear roughly intermediate between EHG and Upper Paleolithic Bichon from Switzerland.

Western Steppe Herders (WSH) is the name given to a distinct ancestral component that represents descent closely related to the Yamnaya culture of the Pontic–Caspian steppe. This ancestry is often referred to as Yamnaya ancestry or Steppe ancestry, and was formed from EHG and CHG (Caucasus hunter-gatherer) in about equal proportions. The ancient Bronze-age-steppe Yamnaya and Afanasevo cultures were found to have a significant ANE-like component at c. 25–50% via their EHG and CHG ancestry.

East Asian populations

ANE ancestry in ancient Northern Chinese populations is mediated through APS-related sources. Early Neolithic Sitaimengguying (STM_EN) populations from the north of the Yan Mountains can be modeled as a mixture of AR14K-related and Early Neolithic West Baikal-related ancestry, which has affinities with APS, with 59.3% ± 5.3% contribution from the latter. Yumin and Middle Neolithic Haminmangha (HMMH_MN) individuals can likewise be modeled as a mixture of Early Neolithic Shandongers and West Baikal-related populations. STM_EN-related populations later contributed to several Yellow River populations, including Middle Neolithic Miaozigou populations from the Nei Mongol region, Late Neolithic Shimao populations from the Shaanxi region and Qijia Culture-related populations from the Upper Yellow River region. They also contributed to West Liao River populations starting from the Hongshan period.

Ancient individuals from the Northern Mongolian Plateau likewise have high affinities with APS populations, with the oldest analyzed individual being modeled as a mixture of Early Holocene Southeastern Mongolian Plateau ancestry (29.9%), who have more Yumin affinities, Amur River ancestry (47.6%) and APS ancestry (22.5%). About 5,700 years ago, populations from the Southeastern Mongolian Plateau mixed with their northern neighbors. Populations from Northern China also received input from Northern Mongolian Plateau-related populations. For example, HMMH_MN can be modeled as a mixture of Early Holocene Southeastern Mongolian Plateau ancestry (65.8%) and Northern Mongolian Plateau-like ancestry (34.2%). Early Neolithic Amur populations from ~7,400 years ago can also be modeled as a mixture of Amur River ancestry (28.7%) and Northern Mongolian Plateau-related (71.3%) ancestry.

According to a 2019 genetic study, the affinities modern East Asians have with ANE correlate with their affinities to Nganasans.

Phenotype prediction

Genomic studies by Raghavan et al. (2014) and Fu et al. (2016) suggested that Mal'ta boy may have had brown eyes, and relatively dark hair and dark skin, while cautioning that this analysis was based on an extremely low coverage of DNA that might not give an accurate prediction of pigmentation. Mathieson, et al. (2018) could not determine if Mal'ta 1 boy had the derived allele associated with blond hair in ANE descendants, as they could obtain no coverage for this SNP.

Anthropologic research

Kozintsev (2020, 2022) argues that the historical Southern Siberian Okunevo population, and other Paleo-Siberians, which derive high amounts of their ancestry from Ancient North Eurasians, as possessing a distinct craniometric phenotype, which he dubbed "Americanoid", which represents the variation of the first humans in Siberia and should not be associated solely with ancient Caucasoids. The Ancient North Eurasians themselves represent a "Boreal" variation of early humans. Craniometric data on ANE-rich remains (such as from Botai), show them to cluster most closely with remains from the Pit-Comb Ware culture in Eastern Europe, and to take up a more "Western" position.

Zhang et al. (2021) proposed that the "Western" like features of the earlier Tarim mummies could be attributed to their Ancient North Eurasian ancestry. Previous craniometric analyses on the early Tarim mummies found that they formed their own cluster, and clustered with neither European-related Steppe pastoralists of the Andronovo and Afanasievo cultures, nor with inhabitants of the Western Asian BMAC culture, nor with East Asian populations further east, but displayed an affinity for two specimens from the Harappan site of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

Evolution of blond hair

Blond hair is associated with a single nucleotide polymorphism, the mutated allele rs12821256 of the KITLG gene. The earliest known individual with this allele is a female south-central Siberian ANE individual from the Afontova Gora 3 site, which is dated to c. 17,000 before present (the earlier ANE Mal'ta boy lacks the sequence coverage to make this determination). The allele then appears later in ANE-derived Eastern Hunter-Gatherer (EHG) populations at Samara, Motala and Ukraine, circa 10,000 BP, and then in populations with Steppe ancestry. Mathieson, et al. (2018) thus argued that this allele originated in the Ancient North Eurasian population, before spreading to western Eurasia.

Geneticist David Reich said that the KITLG gene for blond hair probably entered continental Europe in a population migration wave from the Eurasian steppe, by a population carrying substantial Ancient North Eurasian ancestry. The gene was also found among the Tarim mummies.

Comparative mythology

Since the term Ancient North Eurasian refers to a genetic bridge of connected mating networks, scholars of comparative mythology have argued that they probably shared myths and beliefs that could be reconstructed via the comparison of stories attested within cultures that were not in contact for millennia and stretched from the Pontic–Caspian steppe to the American continent.

The mytheme of the dog guarding the Otherworld possibly stems from an older Ancient North Eurasian belief, as suggested by similar motifs found in Indo-European, Native American and Siberian mythology. In many Native American religions, a fierce guard dog was located in the Milky Way, perceived as the path of souls in the afterlife, and getting past it was a test. The Siberian Chukchi and Tungusic peoples believed in a guardian-of-the-afterlife dog and a spirit dog that would absorb the dead man's soul and act as a guide in the afterlife. In Indo-European myths, the figure of the dog is embodied by Cerberus, Sarvarā, and Garmr. In Zoroastrianism, two four-eyed dogs guard the bridge to the afterlife called Chinvat Bridge. Anthony and Brown note that it might be one of the oldest mythemes recoverable through comparative mythology.

A second canid-related series of beliefs, myths and rituals connected dogs with healing rather than death. For instance, Ancient Near Eastern and Turkic-Kipchaq myths are prone to associate dogs with healing and generally categorised dogs as impure. A similar myth-pattern is assumed for the Eneolithic site of Botai in Kazakhstan, dated to 3500 BC, which might represent the dog as absorber of illness and guardian of the household against disease and evil. In Mesopotamia, the goddess Nintinugga, associated with healing, was accompanied or symbolized by dogs. Similar absorbent-puppy healing and sacrifice rituals were practiced in Greece and Italy, among the Hittites, again possibly influenced by Near Eastern traditions.