{{short description|Archaeological culture in the Pontic steppe circa 3300 BCE}} {{redirect-distinguish-text|Yamna culture|the [[Yamna language]] of Papua, Indonesia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025|cs1-dates=ly}} {{Infobox archaeological culture |name = Yamnaya culture |map = Yamnaya culture.jpg |mapalt = |altnames = {{Plainlist| * Pit Grave culture * Yamna culture * Ochre Grave culture * Yamnaya Horizon }} |horizon = |region = [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]] in [[Europe]] |period = [[Chalcolithic Europe|Copper Age]], [[Bronze Age Europe|Bronze Age]] |dates = {{circa|3300}}–2600 BC |typesite = |majorsites = |extra = |precededby = [[Sredny Stog culture]], [[Samara culture]], [[Khvalynsk culture]], [[Dnieper–Donets culture]], [[Repin culture]], [[Maykop culture]], [[Cucuteni–Trypillia culture]], [[Cernavodă culture]], [[Usatove culture]], [[Novosvobodnaya culture]], [[Mykhailivka culture]] (3600–3000 BCE) |followedby = {{plainlist| *North: [[Corded Ware culture]]{{Sfn|Allentoft|Sikora|Sjögren|Rasmussen|2015|pp=167–168}} *West: [[Catacomb culture]], [[Vučedol culture]] *East: [[Poltavka culture]]}} |definedby = [[Vasily Gorodtsov]] }}
The '''Yamnaya''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|j|æ|m|n|aɪ|ə}} {{respell|YAM|ny|ə}}), or '''Yamna''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|j|æ|m|n|ə}} {{respell|YAM|nə}}),{{efn|{{langx|ru|Ямная культура|Yámnaya kul'túra}}, {{IPA|ru|ˈjamnəjə kʊlʲˈturə|pron}}; {{langx|uk|Ямна культура|Yámna kul'túra}}, {{IPA|uk|ˈjɑmnɐ kʊlʲˈturɐ|pron}}; {{abbr|lit.|literally}} {{gloss|culture of pits}}, from {{lang|ru|[[wikt:яма|яма]]}} {{gloss|pit, hole}}.}} culture, also known as the '''Pit Grave culture''' or '''Ochre Grave culture''', is a late [[Copper Age]] to early [[Bronze Age]] [[archaeological culture]] of the region between the [[Southern Bug]], [[Dniester]], and [[Ural (river)|Ural]] rivers (the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]]), dating to 3300–2600 [[Before Christ|BC]].{{sfn|Morgunova|Khokhlova|2013}} It was discovered by [[Vasily Gorodtsov]] following his archaeological excavations near the [[Donets]] River in 1901–1903. Its name derives from its characteristic burial tradition: {{transliteration|ru|yamnaya}} ({{lang|ru|ямная}}) is a Russian adjective that means {{gloss|related to pits}} ({{langx|ru|[[wikt:яма|яма]]|yama|label=none}}),<!-- NOTE: the noun yama 'pit' is correct here; don't change this to 'yamna'--> as these people buried their dead in tumuli ([[kurgan]]s) containing simple pit chambers. Research in recent years has found that [[Mikhaylovka culture|Mykhailivka]], on the lower [[Dnieper River]] in Ukraine, formed the core Yamnaya culture (c. 3600–3400 BC).{{sfn|Nikitin|Lazaridis|Patterson|Ivanova|2025|p=124}}{{sfn|Lazaridis|Patterson|Anthony|Vyazov|2025|pp=132–142}}{{sfn|Saag|Metspalu|2025|p=47}}
The Yamnaya culture is of particular interest to archaeologists and linguists, as the widely accepted [[Kurgan hypothesis]] posits that the people who produced the Yamnaya culture spoke a stage of the [[Proto-Indo-European language]]. The speakers of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language embarked on the [[Indo-European migrations]], which gave rise to today's widely dispersed [[Indo-European]] languages.
The Yamnaya economy was based upon [[animal husbandry]], [[fishing]] and [[foraging]] and the manufacture of [[ceramics]], [[tools]] and [[weapons]].{{sfn|Shishlina|2023}} The people of the Yamnaya culture were nomads or semi-nomads, who were organised in a chiefdom system and relied on riding horses to manage large herds, as well as on wheeled carts and wagons for long-distance travel.{{sfn|Anthony|2023}} They are also closely connected to Final Neolithic cultures, which later spread throughout [[Europe]] and [[Central Asia]], especially the [[Corded Ware]] people and the [[Beaker culture|Bell Beaker culture]],{{sfn|Anthony|2023}} as well as the peoples of the [[Sintashta culture|Sintashta]], [[Andronovo culture|Andronovo]] and [[Srubnaya culture|Srubnaya]] cultures. Back migration from Corded Ware also contributed to [[Sintashta culture|Sintashta]] and [[Andronovo culture|Andronovo]].{{sfn|Novembre|2015 |ps=, "evidence to support theories of a back-migration from Corded Ware-related populations that contributed to the origins of the Sintashta culture in the Urals and their descendants, the Andronovo."}}
Other groups exist with several aspects in common with the Yamnaya culture.<ref group=lower-alpha>Yamnayan cultural aspects included horse-riding, burial styles and to some extent the [[pastoralism|pastoralist]] economy.</ref> Yamnaya material culture was very similar to the [[Afanasievo culture]] of southern Siberia, and both cultures' populations are genetically indistinguishable.{{sfn|Allentoft|Sikora|Sjögren|Rasmussen|2015|p=169}} This suggests that the Afanasievo culture may have originated from the migration of Yamnaya groups to the Altai region or, alternatively, that both cultures developed from an earlier shared cultural source.{{sfn|Hermes|Tishkin|Kosintsev|Stepanova|2020|pp=1–2}}
Genetic studies have suggested that the people of the Yamnaya culture can be modelled as a [[genetic admixture]] between a population related to [[Eastern European Hunter-Gatherer]]s (EHG)<ref group=lower-alpha>The Eastern European hunter-gatherers were themselves descended mostly from ancient North Eurasians, who were related to the palaeolithic [[Mal'ta–Buret' culture]].</ref> and people related to [[Caucasian Hunter-Gatherer|hunter-gatherers from the Caucasus]] (CHG) in roughly equal proportions,<ref name="bbcnov16">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34832781 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=16 November 2015 |title=Europe's fourth ancestral 'tribe' uncovered}}</ref> an ancestral component that is often named "[[Western Steppe Herders|Steppe ancestry]]", with additional admixture from Anatolian, Levantine, or [[Early European Farmers|Early European]] farmers.{{sfn|Wang|Reinhold|Kalmykov|Wissgott|2019}}{{sfn|Lazaridis|Alpaslan-Roodenberg|Acar|Açıkkol|2022|p=943}} More recent, higher-resolution genetic modelling (2025) has refined this, identifying the Yamnaya as deriving approximately 80% of their ancestry from a distinct Caucasus-Lower Volga (CLV) population, rather than a simple 50/50 mix.{{sfn|Lazaridis|Patterson|Anthony|Vyazov|2025|pp=132–142}}
Genetic studies also indicate that populations associated with the Corded Ware, [[Bell Beaker culture|Bell Beaker]], Sintashta and Andronovo cultures derived large parts of their ancestry from the Yamnaya or a closely related population.{{sfn|Allentoft|Sikora|Sjögren|Rasmussen|2015|p=169}}{{sfn|Haak|Lazaridis|Patterson|Rohland|2015}}{{sfn|Mathieson, et al.|2015|pp=499–503}}<ref name=Nomads>{{cite news |first=Ann |last=Gibbons |date=10 June 2015 |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/nomadic-herders-left-strong-genetic-mark-europeans-and-asians |title=Nomadic herders left a strong genetic mark on Europeans and Asians |publisher=AAAS |magazine=Science}}</ref> Recent genetic analyses indicate that the Anatolian component in the Yamnaya came from the Caucasus Neolithic population, not from Anatolia-derived European farmers.{{sfn|Nikitin|Lazaridis|Patterson|Ivanova|2025|p=127}}
== Origins == {{See also|Kurgan hypothesis|Marija Gimbutas}} [[File:Ямная культура.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Largest expansion of the Yamnaya culture. Modified from{{Sfn|Nikitin|Ivanova|Kiosak|Badgerow|2017}} {{Circa|3500}} origins of [[Usatovo culture]]; 3300 origins of Yamna; {{Circa|3300–3200|lk=no}} expansion of Yamnaya across the Pontic-Caspian steppe; {{Circa|2700|lk=no}} end of [[Cucuteni-Trypillia]] culture,{{sfn|Nikitin|Potekhina|Rohland|Mallick|2017}} and transformation of Yamnaya into [[Corded Ware]] in the contact zone east of the Carpathian mountains; 3100–2600 Yamnaya expansion into the Danube Valley.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=300–370}}{{sfn|Nordgvist|Heyd|2020}}{{sfn|Mallory|1999}}]] The Yamnaya culture was defined by Vasily Gorodtsov to differentiate it from the [[Catacomb culture|Catacomb]] and [[Srubnaya culture|Srubnaya]] cultures, which existed in the area, but were considered to be of a later period. The time interval to the Yamnaya culture and the reliance on archaeological findings cause debate as to its origin to be ongoing.{{sfn|Mallory|1999|p=215}} In 1996, [[Pavel Dolukhanov]] suggested that the emergence of the Pit-Grave culture represents a social development of various different local Bronze Age cultures and thus represents "an expression of social stratification and the emergence of chiefdom-type nomadic social structures", which in turn intensified intergroup contacts between essentially heterogeneous social groups.{{sfn|Dolukhanov|1996|p=94}}
The origin of the Yamnaya culture continues to be debated, with proposals for its origins pointing to both the [[Khvalynsk culture|Khvalynsk]] and the [[Sredny Stog culture|Sredny Stog]] cultures.{{sfn|Mallory|1999|p=215}} The Khvalynsk culture (4700–3800 BC){{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=182}} (middle Volga) and the Don-based Repin culture ({{Circa|3950}}–3300 BC){{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=275}}, in the eastern Pontic-Caspian steppe, and the closely related Sredny Stog culture ({{Circa|4500|lk=no}}–3500 BC), in the western Pontic-Caspian steppe, preceded the Yamnaya culture (3300–2500 BC).{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=300}}{{sfn|Mallory|1999|pp=210–211}}
[[File:Yamna culture tomb.jpg|thumb|upright|Yamnaya culture grave, [[Volgograd Oblast]]]]
Further efforts to pinpoint the location have come from Anthony (2007), who suggested that the Yamnaya culture (3300–2600 BC) originated in the [[Don River|Don]]–[[Volga River|Volga]] area at {{Circa|3400 BC|lk=no}},{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=321}}{{sfn|Morgunova|Khokhlova|2013}} preceded by the middle Volga-based [[Khvalynsk culture]] and the Don-based [[Repin culture]] ({{circa|3950|lk=no}}–3300 BC),{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=275}}{{sfn|Morgunova|Khokhlova|2013}} and argued that late pottery from both cultures can barely be distinguished from early Yamnaya pottery.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=274–277, 317–320}} Earlier continuity from eneolithic but largely hunter-gatherer [[Samara culture]] and influences from the more agricultural [[Dnieper–Donets culture|Dnieper–Donets II]] are apparent.
He argues that the early Yamnaya horizon spread quickly across the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]]s between {{circa|3400|lk=no}} and 3200 [[Common Era|BC]]:{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=321}}
{{blockquote| The spread of the Yamnaya horizon was the material expression of the spread of late Proto-Indo-European across the Pontic–Caspian steppes.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=301–302}}
[...] The Yamnaya horizon is the visible archaeological expression of a social adjustment to high mobility – the invention of the political infrastructure to manage larger herds from mobile homes based in the steppes.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=303}}}}
Alternatively, Parpola (2015) relates both the Corded ware and the Yamnaya cultures to the late [[Tripolye culture|Trypillia (Tripolye) culture]].{{sfn|Parpola|2015|p=49}} He hypothesises that "the Tripolye culture was taken over by PIE speakers by c. 4000 BC"{{sfn|Parpola|2015|p=45}} and that in its final phase the Trypillian culture expanded to the steppes, morphing into various regional cultures which fused with the late [[Sredny Stog culture|Sredny Stog (Serednii Stih)]] pastoralist cultures, which, he suggests, gave rise to the Yamnaya culture.{{sfn|Parpola|2015|p=47}} Dmytro Telegin viewed Sredny Stog and Yamnaya as one cultural continuum and considered Sredny Stog to be the genetic foundation of the Yamna.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Telegin |first=D. Y. |script-title=uk:Середньостогівська культура епохи міді |title=Serednʹo-stohivsʹka kulʹtura epokhy midi |language=uk |trans-title=Middle Stogov culture of the Copper Age |publisher=Naukova Dumka |year=1973 |location=Kyiv |page=147}}</ref> Telegin's view has recently been confirmed by genetic analyses.{{sfn|Nikitin|Lazaridis|Patterson|Ivanova|2025|pp=124–125}}{{sfn|Lazaridis|Patterson|Anthony|Vyazov|2025}}
The Yamnaya culture was succeeded in its western range by the [[Catacomb culture]] (2800–2200 BC) and in the eastern range by the [[Poltavka culture]] (2700–2100 BC) on the middle Volga. Both cultures were followed by the [[Srubnaya culture]] (18th–12th century BC).
<gallery widths="200" caption="Maps of the origins of Yamnaya culture"> File:Sredny Stog culture.jpg|Sredny Stog culture (c. 4500–3500 BC) File:Usatovo culture.jpg|Usatovo culture (c. 3500–3000 BC) File:Khvalynsk culture.jpg|Khvalynsk culture (c. 4900–3500 BC) File:Early Yamna.jpg|Early Yamnaya culture (3400 BC), according to {{harvp|Anthony|2007}} File:Lower Mikhaylovka culture.jpg|Mykhailivka culture (c. 3600–3400 BC) </gallery>
== Characteristics == [[File:Kurgans in southern Ukraine.png|thumb|Remains of [[kurgan]]s ([[Tumulus|tumuli]]) in southern Ukraine]] The Yamnaya culture was [[nomad]]ic{{sfn|Anthony|2023}} or semi-nomadic, with some [[agriculture]] practiced near rivers and a few fortified sites, the largest of which is [[Mikhaylovka culture|Mikhaylivka]].{{sfn|Mallory|1997|p=212}}
Characteristic of the culture are the [[burial]]s in pit graves surmounted by [[kurgan]]s ([[tumuli]]), often accompanied by animal offerings. Some graves contain large [[Kurgan stelae|anthropomorphic stelae]], with carved human heads, arms, hands, belts and weapons.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=339}} The bodies were placed in a [[supine position]] with bent knees and covered in [[ochre]]. Some kurgans contained "stratified sequences of graves".{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=319}} Kurgan burials may have been rare and perhaps were reserved for special adults, who were predominantly male.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=328–329}} Status and gender are marked by grave goods and position, and in some areas elite individuals are buried with complete wooden wagons.{{sfn|Harrison|Heyd|2007|p=196}} Grave goods are more common in eastern Yamnaya burials, which are also characterized by a higher proportion of male burials and more male-centred rituals than in western areas.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=305}}
The Yamnaya culture used two-wheeled carts and four-wheeled wagons, which are thought to have been oxen-drawn at this time, and there is evidence that the people rode horses.{{sfn|Trautmann|2023}}{{sfn|Mallory|1999|p=213}} For instance, several Yamnaya skeletons exhibit specific characteristics in their bone morphology that may have been caused by long-term horseriding.{{sfn|Trautmann|2023}} The evidence is disputed by the archaeozoologist William T. Taylor, who argues that domestication of the horse long postdates the Yamnaya culture.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Taylor |first=William T. |journal=[[Scientific American]] |title=When Horse became Steed |volume=331 |number=5 |date=December 2024 |pages=24–30 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican122024-7qfHkaSxwWOJpTcwY2J0bg |pmid=39561067 |bibcode=2024SciAm.331e..22T |issn=}}</ref> Recent genetic studies indicate that horse domestication in Eurasia happened after c. 2700 BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Librado |first1=Pablo |last2=Tressières |first2=Gaetan |last3=Chauvey |first3=Lorelei |last4=Fages |first4=Antoine |last5=Khan |first5=Naveed |last6=Schiavinato |first6=Stéphanie |last7=Calvière-Tonasso |first7=Laure |last8=Kusliy |first8=Mariya A. |last9=Gaunitz |first9=Charleen |last10=Liu |first10=Xuexue |last11=Wagner |first11=Stefanie |last12=Der Sarkissian |first12=Clio |last13=Seguin-Orlando |first13=Andaine |last14=Perdereau |first14=Aude |last15=Aury |first15=Jean-Marc |date=July 2024 |title=Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2200 bce in Eurasia |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |language=en |volume=631 |issue=8022 |pages=819–825 |doi=10.1038/s41586-024-07597-5 |pmid=38843826 |pmc=11269178 |bibcode=2024Natur.631..819L |issn=1476-4687 |hdl=10871/136199 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>
Metallurgists and other craftsmen are given a special status in Yamnaya society, and metal objects are sometimes found in large quantities in elite graves. New metalworking technologies and weapon designs are used.{{sfn|Harrison|Heyd|2007|p=196}}
Stable isotope ratios of Yamnaya individuals from the Dnieper Valley suggest the Yamnaya diet was terrestrial-protein-based with insignificant contribution from freshwater or aquatic resources.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gerling |first=Claudia |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110311211/html |title=Prehistoric Mobility and Diet in the West Eurasian Steppes 3500 to 300 BC: An Isotopic Approach |date=1 July 2015 |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |isbn=978-3-11-031121-1 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110311211}}</ref> Anthony speculates that the Yamnaya ate meat, milk, yogurt, cheese, and soups made from seeds and wild vegetables and probably consumed [[mead]].{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=430}}
Mallory and Adams suggest that Yamnaya society may have had a tripartite structure, with three differentiated social classes, but the evidence available does not demonstrate the existence of specific classes, such as priests, warriors and farmers.{{sfn|Mallory|1997|p=653}}
==Gallery== <gallery widths="140" heights="140" perrow="7"> File:KAM56.jpg|Daggers, arrowheads and bone artefacts File:Yamna03.jpg|Yamnaya decorative artifacts File:Керносовский идол.png|The [[Kernosivsky idol]] (late Yamnaya) File:Yamna 1.png|Western Yamnaya artefacts File:Yamnaya artefacts and burials from Taraclia, Moldova.png|Yamnaya burials from [[Moldova]] File:Yamnaya 1.png|Copper alloy artifacts at the [[Hermitage Museum]] File:Yamnaya culture silver and gold jewellery, Bulgaria.png|Silver and gold jewellery from Bulgaria File:Yamnaya pottery of the Azov-Black Sea steppes.png|Yamnaya pottery File:Yamna01.jpg|Corded ware vessel File:Yamna 2.png|[[Ural (river)|Cis-Ural]] Yamnaya artefacts and burials<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/0203/newsbriefs/cudgel.html |title=Cudgel Culture |date=2002 |website=archaeology.org}}</ref> File:Artefacts of the Yamna culture of the steppe Urals.png|Yamnaya artefacts from the steppe-Urals, early (1) and late (2) File:Yamnaya metal artefacts.png|Copper, gold and silver artefacts from western Ukraine </gallery>
== Archaeogenetics == {{Further|Western Steppe Herders}} [[File:Yamnaya pastoralists, main genetic ancestry.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Main genetic ancestry of [[Western Steppe Herders]] (Yamnaya pastoralists): a confluence of [[Eastern Hunter-Gatherers]] (EHG) and [[Caucasus Hunter-Gatherer]]s (CHG)<ref name="exd.14142">{{cite journal |last1=Hanel |first1=Andrea |last2=Carlberg |first2=Carsten |title=Skin colour and vitamin D: An update |journal=Experimental Dermatology |date=3 July 2020 |volume=29 |issue=9 |pages=864–875 |pmid=32621306 |doi=10.1111/exd.14142 |doi-access=free}}</ref>]]
According to Jones et al. (2015) and Haak et al. (2015), [[autosome|autosomal]] tests indicate that the Yamnaya people were the result of a genetic admixture between two different hunter-gatherer populations: distinctive "[[Eastern Hunter-Gatherer]]s" (EHG), from Eastern Europe, with high affinity to the [[Mal'ta–Buret' culture]] or other, [[Afontova Gora|closely related]] people from [[Indigenous peoples of Siberia|Siberia]]{{sfn|Haak|Lazaridis|Patterson|Rohland|2015}} and a population of "[[Caucasus hunter-gatherer]]s" (CHG) who probably arrived from the [[Caucasus]]{{sfn|Jones|Gonzalez-Fortes|Connell|Siska|2015}}<ref name="bbcnov16" /> or Iran.{{sfn|Lazaridis|Nadel|Rollefson|Merrett|2016}} Each of those two populations contributed about half the Yamnaya DNA.{{sfn|Mathieson|Lazaridis|Rohland|Mallick|2015|pp=499–503}}<ref name="bbcnov16" /> This admixture is referred to in archaeogenetics as [[Western Steppe Herder]] (WSH) ancestry.
[[File:Yamnaya burial1.png|thumb|left|Reconstruction of a Yamnaya burial from Prydnistryanske, Ukraine|241x241px]]
Admixture between EHGs and CHGs is believed to have occurred on the eastern Pontic-Caspian steppe starting around 5,000 BC, while admixture with [[Early European Farmer]]s (EEF) happened in the southern parts of the Pontic-Caspian steppe sometime later. More recent genetic studies have found that the Yamnaya were a mixture of EHGs, CHGs, and to a lesser degree Anatolian farmers and Levantine farmers, but not EEFs from Europe due to lack of [[Western Hunter-Gatherer|WHG]] DNA in the Yamnaya. This occurred in two distinct admixture events from [[West Asia]] into the Pontic-Caspian steppe.{{sfn|Lazaridis|Alpaslan-Roodenberg|Acar|Açıkkol|2022|p=943}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chintalapati |first1=Manjusha |last2=Patterson |first2=Nick |last3=Moorjani |first3=Priya |date=30 May 2022 |editor-last=Perry |editor-first=George H |title=The spatiotemporal patterns of major human admixture events during the European Holocene |journal=[[eLife]] |volume=11 |article-number=e77625 |doi=10.7554/eLife.77625 |pmid=35635751 |pmc=9293011 |issn=2050-084X |doi-access=free}}</ref>
[[File:Admixture proportions of Yamnaya populations.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Admixture proportions of Yamnaya populations. They combined [[Eastern Hunter Gatherer]] (<small>{{Colorsample|#00BFFF|0.6}}</small> EHG), [[Caucasian Hunter-Gatherer]] (<small>{{Colorsample|#228B22|0.6}}</small> CHG), [[Anatolian Neolithic]] (<small>{{Colorsample|#FFA500|0.6}}</small>) and [[Western Hunter Gatherer]] (<small>{{Colorsample|#0000FF|0.6}}</small> WHG) ancestry.{{sfn|Wang|Reinhold|Kalmykov|Wissgott|2019|p=590}}]]
[[Haplogroup R1b]], specifically the Z2103 subclade of R1b-L23, is the most common [[Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup|Y-DNA]] haplogroup found among the Yamnaya specimens. This haplogroup is rare in [[Western Europe]] and mainly exists in [[Southeastern Europe]] today.{{sfn|Balanovsky|2017|p=437}} Additionally, a minority are found to belong to haplogroup [[Haplogroup J-M172|J2]] and [[Haplogroup I-M438|I2]].{{sfn|Mathieson, et al.|2015}}{{sfn|Lazaridis|Patterson|Anthony|Vyazov|2025}} They are found to belong to a wider variety of West Eurasian [[mtDNA]] haplogroups, including [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)|U]], [[Haplogroup T (mtDNA)|T]], and haplogroups associated with Caucasus hunter-gatherers and Early European Farmers.{{sfn|Wang|Reinhold|Kalmykov|Wissgott|2019}}{{sfn|Allentoft|Sikora|Sjögren|Rasmussen|2015}} A small but significant number of Yamnaya [[kurgan]] specimens from Northern Ukraine carried the [[East Asia]]n [[Haplogroup C (mtDNA)|mtDNA haplogroup C4]].<ref name="Pilipenko Trapezov Cherdantsev Babenko 2018 p. e0204062">{{cite journal |last1=Pilipenko |first1=Aleksandr S. |last2=Trapezov |first2=Rostislav O. |last3=Cherdantsev |first3=Stepan V. |last4=Babenko |first4=Vladimir N. |last5=Nesterova |first5=Marina S. |last6=Pozdnyakov |first6=Dmitri V. |last7=Molodin |first7=Vyacheslav I. |last8=Polosmak |first8=Natalia V. |title=Maternal genetic features of the Iron Age Tagar population from Southern Siberia (1st millennium BC) |journal=[[PLOS ONE]] |publisher=Public Library of Science (PLoS) |volume=13 |issue=9 |date=20 September 2018 |issn=1932-6203 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0204062 |article-number=e0204062 |doi-access=free |pmid=30235269 |pmc=6147448 |bibcode=2018PLoSO..1304062P}}</ref>{{sfn|Nikitin|Ivanova|Kiosak|Badgerow|2017|loc="In the 12 successfully haplotyped specimens, 75% of mtDNA lineages consisted of west Eurasian haplogroup U and its U4 and U5 sublineages. Furthermore, we identified a subgroup of east Eurasian haplogroup C in two representatives of the Yamna culture in one of the studied kurgans"}}
People of the Yamnaya culture generally had brown eye colour, intermediate skin colour, and dark brown hair colour, with some variation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gibbons |first=A. |date=24 July 2015 |title=Revolution in human evolution |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |language=en |volume=349 |issue=6246 |pages=362–366 |doi=10.1126/science.349.6246.362 |pmid=26206910 |bibcode=2015Sci...349..362G |issn=0036-8075}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hanel|first1=Andrea |last2=Carlberg|first2=Carsten |date=September 2020 |title=Skin colour and vitamin D: An update |journal=Experimental Dermatology |language=en |volume=29 |issue=9 |pages=864–875 |doi=10.1111/exd.14142 |pmid=32621306 |issn=0906-6705 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
Some Yamnaya individuals are believed to have carried a mutation to the KITLG gene associated with blond hair, as several individuals with Steppe ancestry are later found to carry this mutation. The [[Ancient North Eurasian]] [[Afontova Gora]] group, who contributed significant ancestry to [[Western Steppe Herders]], are believed to be the source of this mutation.{{sfn|Mathieson|2018|pp=197–203}} A study in 2015 found that Yamnaya had the highest ever calculated genetic selection for height of any of the ancient populations tested.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heyd |first=Volker |date=April 2017 |title=Kossinna's smile |journal=[[Antiquity (journal)|Antiquity]] |language=en |volume=91 |issue=356 |pages=348–359 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2017.21|issn=0003-598X |hdl=10138/255652 |s2cid=164376362 |url=https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/a1a984f2-9c48-4740-895e-2f685bbda264 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>{{sfn|Mathieson|Lazaridis|Rohland|Mallick|2015|pp=499–503}} It has been hypothesized that an allele associated with [[lactase persistence]] (conferring [[lactose intolerance|lactose tolerance into adulthood]]) was brought to Europe from the steppe by Yamnaya-related migrations.<ref name="Segurel 2020">{{cite journal |last1=Segurel |first1=Laure |title=Why and when was lactase persistence selected for? Insights from Central Asian herders and ancient DNA |journal=[[PLOS Biology]] |date=2020 |volume=18 |issue=6 |article-number=e3000742 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000742 |pmid=32511234 |pmc=7302802 |doi-access=free}} "Furthermore, ancient DNA studies found that the LP mutation was absent or very rare in Europe until the end of the Bronze Age [26–29] and appeared first in individuals with steppe ancestry [19,20]. Thus, it was proposed that the mutation originated in Yamnaya-associated populations and arrived later in Europe by migration of these steppe herders."</ref><ref name="Callaway 2015">{{cite news |last1=Callaway |first1=Ewen |title=DNA data explosion lights up the Bronze Age |url=https://www.nature.com/news/dna-data-explosion-lights-up-the-bronze-age-1.17723 |publisher=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]}} "the 101 sequenced individuals, the Yamnaya were most likely to have the DNA variation responsible for lactose tolerance, hinting that the steppe migrants might have eventually introduced the trait to Europe"</ref><ref name="Furholt 2018">{{cite journal |last1=Furholt |first1=Martin |title=Massive Migrations? The Impact of Recent DNA Studies on our View of Third Millennium Europe |journal=[[European Journal of Archaeology]] |date=2018 |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=159–191 |doi=10.1017/eaa.2017.43 |doi-access=free}} "For example, one lineage could have a biological evolutionary advantage over the other. Allentoft et al. (2015: 171) have found a remarkably high rate of lactose tolerance among individuals connected to Yamnaya and to Corded Ware, as opposed to the majority of Late Neolithic individuals."</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saag |first1=L |title=Human Genetics: Lactase Persistence in a Battlefield |journal=[[Current Biology]] |date=2020 |volume=30 |issue=21 |pages=R1311–R1313 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2020.08.087 |pmid=33142099 |s2cid=226229587 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2020CBio...30R1311S}}</ref>
[[File:Yamnaya wagon - cart burial.png|thumb|left|Yamnaya wagon/cart burial from Novoselytsia, Ukraine|247x247px]]
A 2022 study by Lazaridis et al. found that the typical phenotype among the Yamnaya population was brown eyes, brown hair, and intermediate skin colour. None of their Yamnaya samples were predicted to have either blue eyes or blond hair, in contrast with later Steppe groups in Russia and Central Asia, as well as the [[Bell Beaker culture]] in Europe, who did carry these phenotypes in significant proportions, after admixture with European farmers.{{sfn|Lazaridis|Alpaslan-Roodenberg|Acar|Açıkkol|2022|p=943}}
The geneticist [[David Reich (geneticist)|David Reich]] has argued that the genetic data supports the likelihood that the people of the Yamnaya culture were a "single, genetically coherent group" who were responsible for spreading many Indo-European languages.{{sfn|Reich|2018|p=121}} Reich's group recently suggested that the source of Anatolian and Indo-European subfamilies of the Proto-Indo-European ([[Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]]) language may have been in west Asia and the Yamnaya were responsible for the dissemination of the latter.{{sfn|Lazaridis|Patterson|Anthony|Vyazov|2025|p=8}} Reich also argues that the genetic evidence shows that Yamnaya society was an oligarchy dominated by a small number of elite males.{{sfn|Reich|2018|p=239}} Recent (2024 and 2025) publications confirmed the tight clustering of most of Yamnaya genetic profiles, but shifted the origins of PIE towards the Caucasus-Lower Volga (CLV) region.{{sfn|Nikitin|Lazaridis|Patterson|Ivanova|2025|pp=124–131}}{{sfn|Lazaridis|Patterson|Anthony|Vyazov|2025|pp=2–3}}
The genetic evidence for the extent of the role of the Yamnaya culture in the spread of Indo-European languages has been questioned by Russian archaeologist [[Leo Klejn]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Klejn |first1=Leo |title=The Steppe Hypothesis of Indo-European Origins Remains to be Proven |journal=Acta Archaeologica |date=2017 |volume=88 |issue=1 |pages=193–204 |doi=10.1111/j.1600-0390.2017.12184.x}}</ref> and Balanovsky et al.,<ref>{{harvnb|Balanovsky|2017|pp=437–450}}: "The ancient Yamnaya samples are located on the "eastern" R-GG400 branch of haplogroup R1b-L23, showing that the paternal descendants of the Yamnaya still live in the Pontic steppe and that the ancient Yamnaya population was not an important source of paternal lineages in present-day West Europeans."</ref> who note a lack of [[Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup|male haplogroup]] continuity between the people of the Yamnaya culture and the contemporary populations of Europe. Klejn has also suggested that the autosomal evidence does not support a Yamnaya migration, arguing that Western Steppe Herder ancestry in both contemporary and Bronze Age samples is lowest around the Danube in Hungary, near the western limits of the Yamnaya culture, and highest in Northern Europe, which Klejn argues is the opposite of what would be expected if the geneticists' hypothesis is correct.<ref>{{harvnb|Klejn|2017|p=201|ps=: "In the tables presented in the article by Reichs' team (Haak et al. 2015) the genetic pool connecting the Yamnaya culture with the Corded Ware people is shown to be more intense in Northern Europe (Norway and Sweden) and decreases gradually from the North to the South (Fig. 6). It is weakest around the Danube, in Hungary, i. e. areas neighbouring the western branch of the Yamnaya culture! This is the reverse image to what the proposed hypothesis by the geneticists would lead us to expect. It is true that this gradient is traced back from the contemporary materials, but it was already present during the Bronze Age [...]"}}</ref>
== Language ==
[[Marija Gimbutas]] identified the Yamnaya culture with the late [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]] (PIE) in her [[Kurgan hypothesis]]. In the view of David Anthony, the Pontic-Caspian steppe is the strongest candidate for the ''[[Urheimat]]'' (original homeland) of the [[Proto-Indo-European language]], citing evidence from linguistics and genetics{{sfn|Haak|Lazaridis|Patterson|Rohland|2015|pp=207–211}}<ref name=Zimmer>{{cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Carl |date=10 June 2015 |title=DNA Deciphers Roots of Modern Europeans |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/science/dna-deciphers-roots-of-modern-europeans.html |access-date=12 December 2020}}</ref> which suggests that the Yamnaya culture may be the homeland of the Indo-European languages, with the possible exception of the [[Anatolian languages|Anatolian]] languages.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Olsen|first1=Birgit A.|title=Tracing the Indo-Europeans|date=23 August 2019|pages=1–6|publisher=Oxbow Books|isbn=978-1-78925-273-6 |last2=Olander|first2=Thomas|last3=Kristiansen|first3=Kristian|doi=10.2307/j.ctvmx3k2h.6|s2cid=202354040}}</ref><ref name="OlsenMarriageStrategies2023">{{cite book |last=Olsen |first=Birgit A. |chapter=Marriage Strategies and Fosterage among the Indo-Europeans: A Linguistic Perspective |date=11 May 2023 |title=The Indo-European Puzzle Revisited |pages=296–302 |editor-last=Kristiansen |editor-first=Kristian |editor2-last=Kroonen |editor2-first=Guus |editor3-last=Willerslev |editor3-first=Eske |edition=1 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |doi=10.1017/9781009261753.027 |isbn=978-1-00-926175-3 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781009261753%23CN-bp-20/type/book_part |url-access=subscription}}</ref> On the other hand, [[Colin Renfrew]] has argued for a [[Near Eastern]] origin of the earliest Indo-European speakers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schneider |first1=Thomas |title=Language Contact in Ancient Egypt |date=2023 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-643-91507-8 |pages=110–113 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29WtEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Russell D. Gray |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z2_8EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA297 |title=Cultural Evolution: Society, Technology, Language, and Religion |date=2024 |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |pages=295–297 |isbn= 978-0-262-55190-8 |language=en}}</ref>
According to [[David W. Anthony]], the genetic evidence suggests that the leading clans of the Yamnaya were of EHG (Eastern European hunter-gatherer) and WHG (Western European hunter-gatherer) paternal origin{{sfn|Anthony|2019b|p=36}} and implies that the [[Indo-European languages]] were the result of "a dominant language spoken by EHGs that absorbed Caucasus-like elements in phonology, morphology, and lexicon."{{sfn|Anthony|2019a|p=175}} It has also been suggested that the PIE language evolved through trade interactions in the circum-Pontic area in the 4th millennium BC, mediated by the Yamnaya predecessors in the North Pontic steppe.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nikitin |first1=Alexey |last2=Ivanova |first2=Svetlana |date=28 November 2022 |title=Long-distance exchanges along the Black Sea coast in the Eneolithic and the steppe genetic ancestry problem |journal=Cambridge Open Engage |url=https://www.cambridge.org/engage/coe/article-details/6382645cebc1c78cdcd3e4da |language=en |doi=10.33774/coe-2022-7m315 |url-access=subscription |doi-access=free}}</ref>
Guus Kroonen et al. 2022 found that the "basal Indo-European stage", also known as [[Indo-Anatolian]] or Pre-Proto-Indo-European language, largely but not totally lacked agricultural-related vocabulary and that only the later "core Indo-European languages" saw an increase in agriculture-associated words. According to the researchers, this is consistent with a homeland of early core Indo-European speakers within the westernmost Yamnaya horizon, around and west of the [[Dnieper]]; its basal stage, Indo-Anatolian, may have originated in the [[Sredny Stog culture]], as opposed to the eastern Yamnaya horizon. The [[Corded Ware culture]] may have acted as a major source for the spread of later Indo-European languages, including [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]], and the [[Tocharian languages]] may have been mediated via the [[Catacomb culture]].
They also argue that the new data contradict a possible earlier origin of Pre-Proto-Indo-European among agricultural societies south of the Caucasus. Rather, "this may support a scenario of linguistic continuity of local non-mobile herders in the Lower Dnieper region and their genetic persistence after their integration into the successive and expansive Yamnaya horizon". Furthermore, the authors mention that the scenario can explain the difference in paternal haplogroup frequency between the Yamnaya and Corded Ware cultures, although both share similar autosomal DNA ancestry.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kroonen |first1=Guus |last2=Jakob |first2=Anthony |last3=Palmér |first3=Axel I. |last4=van Sluis |first4=Paulus |last5=Wigman |first5=Andrew |date=12 October 2022 |title=Indo-European cereal terminology suggests a Northwest Pontic homeland for the core Indo-European languages |journal=[[PLOS ONE]] |volume=17 |issue=10 |article-number=e0275744 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0275744 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=9555676 |pmid=36223379 |bibcode=2022PLoSO..1775744K}}</ref>
== Yamnaya-related migrations == {{See also|Indo-European migrations}} [[File:Indo-European migrations.jpg|thumb|upright=2| Scheme of Indo-European dispersals from a Yamnaya-[[Western Steppe Herders]] homeland (<small>{{Colorsample|#2E8B57|0.6}}</small>), c. 4000 to 1000 BC, according to the widely held [[Steppe hypothesis]]]]
=== Western Europe === {{See also|Corded Ware culture}} Genetic studies have found that Yamnaya autosomal characteristics are very close to the [[Corded Ware culture]] people, with up to 75% Yamnaya-like ancestry in the DNA of Corded Ware skeletons from Central and Eastern Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Stoneking |first1=Mark |last2=Arias |first2=Leonardo |last3=Liu |first3=Dang |last4=Oliveira |first4=Sandra |last5=Pugach |first5=Irina |last6=Rodriguez |first6=Jae Joseph Russell B. |date=24 January 2023 |title=Genomic perspectives on human dispersals during the Holocene |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=120 |issue=4 |article-number=e2209475119 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2209475119 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=9942792 |pmid=36649433|bibcode=2023PNAS..12009475S }}</ref> Yamnaya–related ancestry is found in the DNA of modern [[Central Europe|Central]], and [[Northern Europe]]ans (c. 38.8–50.4%), and is also found in lower levels in present-day Southern Europeans (c. 18.5–32.6%), [[Sardinians]] (c. 2.4–7.1%), and [[Sicilians]] (c. 5.9–11.6%).{{sfn|Haak|Lazaridis|Patterson|Rohland |2015|pp=121–124}}<ref name=Zimmer /><ref name=Nomads />
However, according to Heyd, et al. (2023), the specific [[Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup|paternal DNA haplogroup]] that is most commonly found in male Yamnaya specimens cannot be found in modern Western Europeans or in males from the nearby [[Corded Ware culture]]. That makes it unlikely that the Corded Ware culture was directly descended from the Yamnaya culture, at least along the paternal line.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kristiansen |first1=Kristian |last2=Kroonen |first2=Guus |last3=Willerslev |first3=Eske |title=The Indo-European Puzzle Revisited: Integrating Archaeology, Genetics, and Linguistics |date=11 May 2023 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-26174-6 |pages=70–76 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VSysEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 |language=en|quote="How exactly the emergence and expansion of the Corded Ware are linked to the emergence and expansion of the Yamnaya horizon remains unclear. However, the Y chromosome record of both groups indicates that Corded Ware cannot be derived directly from the Yamnaya or late eastern farming groups sampled thus far, and is therefore likely to constitute a parallel development in the forest steppe and temperate forest zones of Eastern Europe."}}</ref>
Autosomal tests also indicate that the Yamnaya are the vector for "Ancient North Eurasian" admixture into Europe.{{sfn|Haak|Lazaridis|Patterson|Rohland|2015}}{{pn|date=March 2026}} "[[Ancient North Eurasian]]" is the name given in literature to a genetic component that represents descent from the people of the [[Mal'ta–Buret' culture]]{{sfn|Haak|Lazaridis|Patterson|Rohland|2015}} or a closely related culture. That genetic component is visible in tests of the Yamnaya people,{{sfn|Haak|Lazaridis|Patterson|Rohland|2015}} as well as of modern-day Europeans.{{sfn|Lazaridis|Patterson|Mittnik|Renaud|2014}}
=== Eastern Europe and Finland === [[File:From Corded Ware to Sintashta.jpg|thumb|According to Allentoft ''et al.'' (2015), the Sintashta culture probably derived from the Corded Ware Culture.{{sfn|Allentoft|Sikora|Sjögren|Rasmussen|2015|pp=168–169}}]] In the Baltic, Jones et al. (2017) found that the [[Neolithic Revolution|Neolithic transition]], the passage from a hunter-gatherer economy to a farming-based economy, coincided with the arrival en masse of individuals with Yamnaya-like ancestry. That is different from what happened in Western and Southern Europe, where the Neolithic transition was caused by a population that came from Anatolia, with Pontic steppe ancestry being detected from only the late Neolithic onward.{{sfn|Jones|Zarina|Moiseyev|Lightfoot|2017}}
Per Haak et al. (2015), the Yamnaya contribution in the modern populations of [[Eastern Europe]] ranges from 46.8% among [[Russians]] to 42.8% in [[Ukrainians]]. [[Finland]] has the highest Yamnaya contributions in all of Europe (50.4%).{{sfn|Haak|Lazaridis|Patterson|Rohland|2015|pp=121–122}}<ref group=lower-alpha>Per {{harvtxt|Haak|Lazaridis|Patterson|Rohland|2015}}, adding a north-Siberian people as a fourth reference population improves residuals for northeastern European populations, accounts for the higher-than-expected Yamnaya contribution and brings it down to expected levels (67.8–50.4 % in Finns, 64.9–46.8 % in Russians).</ref>
=== Central and South Asia === {{See also|Sintashta culture}} [[File:Andronovo culture.png|thumb|Map of the approximate maximal extent of the [[Andronovo]] culture. The formative Sintashta-Petrovka culture is shown in darker red. The location of the earliest [[spoke]]-wheeled [[chariot]] finds is indicated in purple. Adjacent and overlapping cultures ([[Afanasevo culture|Afanasevo]], [[Srubna culture|Srubna]] and [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|Bactria-Margiana Culture]] are shown in green.]] [[File:Indo-Iranian origins.png|thumb|Archaeological cultures associated with [[Indo-Iranians|Indo-Iranian]] [[Indo-Iranian migration|migrations]] and [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] migrations (after [[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|EIEC]]). The [[Andronovo culture|Andronovo]], [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|BMAC]] and [[Yaz culture]]s have often been associated with [[Indo-Iranians|Indo-Iranian]] migrations. The [[Gandhara grave culture|GGC]], [[Cemetery H culture|Cemetery H]], [[Copper Hoard Culture|Copper Hoard]] and [[Painted Grey Ware culture|PGW]] cultures are candidates for cultures associated with [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] migrations.]]
There is a significant presence of Yamnaya descent in the nations of South Asia, especially in groups that are referred to as [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryans]].{{sfn|Narasimhan|Patterson|Moorjani|Rohland|2019}}{{sfn|Pathak|Kadian|Kushniarevich|Montinaro|2018}} Lazaridis et al. (2016) estimated (6.5–50.2%) steppe-related admixture in South Asians, though the proportion of Steppe ancestry varies widely across ethnic groups.{{sfn|Lazaridis|Nadel|Rollefson|Merrett|2016}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Lazaridis et al. (2016) Supplementary Information, Table S9.1: "Kalash – 50.2 %, Tiwari Brahmins – 44.1 %, Gujarati (four sample sets) – 46.1 % to 27.5 %, Pathan – 44.6 %, Burusho – 42.5 %, Sindhi – 37.7 %, Punjabi – 32.6 %, Balochi – 32.4 %, Brahui – 30.2 %, Lodhi – 29.3 %, Bengali – 24.6 %, Vishwabhramin – 20.4 %, Makrani – 19.2 %, Mala – 18.4 %, Kusunda – 8.9 %, Kharia – 6.5 %."}} According to Pathak et al. (2018), the "North-Western Indian & Pakistani" populations (PNWI) showed significant Middle-Late Bronze Age Steppe (Steppe_MLBA) ancestry along with Yamnaya Early-Middle Bronze Age (Steppe_EMBA) ancestry, but the Indo-Europeans of [[Gangetic Plains]] and [[Dravidian people]] showed only significant Yamnaya (Steppe_EMBA) ancestry, no Steppe_MLBA. The study also noted that ancient south Asian samples had significantly higher Steppe_MLBA than Steppe_EMBA (or Yamnaya).{{sfn|Pathak|Kadian|Kushniarevich|Montinaro|2018}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Pathak et al. (2018) "The [[Ror]] and [[Jat]] peoples stand out for having the highest proportion of Steppe_MLBA ancestry (∼63%)"}} According to Narasimhan et al. (2019), the Yamnaya-related ancestry, termed Western_Steppe_EMBA, which reached central and south Asia was not the initial expansion from the steppe to the east but a secondary expansion that involved a group with c. 67% Western_Steppe_EMBA ancestry and c. 33% ancestry from the European cline. The group included people similar to that of [[Corded Ware]], [[Srubnaya]], [[Petrovka settlement|Petrovka]] and [[Sintashta]]. Moving further eastward in the central steppe, it acquired c. 9% ancestry from a group of people that possessed West Siberian Hunter Gatherer ancestry and thus formed the Central Steppe MLBA cluster. That is the primary source of steppe ancestry in South Asia and contributes up to 30% of the ancestry of the modern groups in the region.{{sfn|Narasimhan|Patterson|Moorjani|Rohland|2019}}
According to Unterländer et al. (2017), all Iron Age [[Scythians|Scythian]] Steppe nomads can best be described as a mixture of Yamnaya-related ancestry and an [[East Asian peoples|East Asian]]–related component, which most closely corresponds to the modern North [[Siberia]]n [[Nganasan people]] of the lower [[Yenisey River]], to varying degrees, but generally higher among Eastern Scythians.{{Sfn|Unterländer|Palstra|Lazaridis|Pilipenko|2017|ps=: "Genomic inference reveals that Scythians in the east and the west of the steppe zone can best be described as a mixture of Yamnaya-related ancestry and an East Asian component. Demographic modelling suggests independent origins for eastern and western groups with ongoing gene-flow between them, plausibly explaining the striking uniformity of their material culture. We also find evidence that significant gene-flow from east to west Eurasia must have occurred early during the Iron Age. ... The blend of EHG [European hunter-gatherer] and Caucasian elements in carriers of the Yamnaya culture was formed on the European steppe and exported into Central Asia and Siberia. We therefore considered an alternative model in which we treat them as a mix of Yamnaya and the Han (Supplementary Table 25). This model fits all of the Iron Age Scythian groups, consistent with these groups having ancestry related to East Asians not found in the other populations. Alternatively, the Iron Age Scythian groups can also be modelled as a mix of Yamnaya and the north Siberian Nganasan (Supplementary Note 2, Supplementary Table 26)."{{check quotation|date=June 2025}}}}
== See also == {{col div|colwidth=18em}} * [[Kurgan]] * [[Kurgan stelae]] * [[Butmir culture]] * [[Vinča culture]] * [[Beaker culture]] * [[Baden culture]] * [[Botai culture]] * [[Khvalynsk culture]] * [[Mamai-Hora]] * [[Samara culture]] * [[Sintashta culture]] * ''[[Yersinia pestis]]'' * [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]] {{colend}}
== Notes == {{reflist|group=lower-alpha|40em}}
== References == {{reflist|25em}}
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== Further reading == {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Anthony |first=David |year=2017 |chapter=Archaeology and Language: Why Archaeologists Care About the Indo-European Problem |editor-last1=Crabtree |editor-first1=P.J. |editor-last2=Bogucki |editor-first2=P. |title=European Archaeology as Anthropology: Essays in Memory of Bernard Wailes |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/35405459 }} * {{cite journal |vauthors=Cassidy LM, Martiniano R, Murphy EM, Teasdale MD, Mallory J, Hartwell B, Bradley DG |year=2016 |title=Neolithic and Bronze Age migration to Ireland and establishment of the insular Atlantic genome |journal=PNAS |volume=113 |issue=2 |pages=368–373 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1518445113 |pmid=26712024 |pmc=4720318 |bibcode=2016PNAS..113..368C|doi-access=free }} * {{Citation |last=Fortson |first=Benjamin W. |year=2004 |title=Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]]}} * {{cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Gallego-Llorente M, Connell S, Jones ER, Merrett DC, Jeon Y, Eriksson A, Siska V, Gamba C, Meiklejohn C, Beyer R, Jeon S, Cho YS, Hofreiter M, Bhak J, Manica A, Pinhasi R |year=2016 |title=The genetics of an early Neolithic pastoralist from the Zagros, Iran |journal=[[Scientific Reports]] |volume=6 |article-number=31326 |doi=10.1038/srep31326 |pmid=27502179 |pmc=4977546 |bibcode=2016NatSR...631326G}} * {{cite journal |last1=Jeong |first1=Choongwon |last2=Balanovsky |first2=Oleg |last3=Lukianova |first3=Elena |last4=Kahbatkyzy |first4=Nurzhibek |display-authors=1 |date=29 April 2019 |title=The genetic history of admixture across inner Eurasia languages in Europe |journal=[[Nature Ecology and Evolution]] |publisher=[[Nature Research]] |volume=3 |issue=6 |pages=966–976 |doi=10.1038/s41559-019-0878-2 |pmc=6542712 |pmid=31036896 |hdl=10871/36562}} * {{cite book |last=Kuzmina |first=Elena E. |author-link=Elena Efimovna Kuzmina |year=2007 |editor-last=Mallory |editor-first=J. P. |editor-link=J. P. Mallory |title=The Origin of the Indo-Iranians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x5J9rn8p2-IC |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |isbn=978-90-04-16054-5}} * {{cite journal |vauthors=Martiniano, R |display-authors=1 |year=2017 |title=The population genomics of archaeological transition in west Iberia: Investigation of ancient substructure using imputation and haplotype-based methods |journal=[[PLOS Genetics]] |volume=13 |issue=7 |article-number=e1006852 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1006852 |pmid=28749934 |pmc=5531429 |ref={{sfnref|Martiniano, et al.|2017}} |doi-access=free}} * {{cite thesis |last1=Pashnick |first1=Jeff |date=August 2014 |title=Genetic Analysis of Ancient Human Remains from the Early Bronze Age Cultures of the North PonticSteppe Region |url=https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/theses/737/ |access-date=12 January 2020 |degree=Masters Theses |publisher=[[Grand Valley State University]] |volume=737}} * {{cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Wilde S, Timpson A, Kirsanow K, Kaiser E, Kayser M, Unterländer M, Hollfelder N, Potekhina ID, Schier W, Thomas MG, Burgera J |title=Direct evidence for positive selection of skin, hair, and eye pigmentation in Europeans during the last 5,000 y |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |doi=10.1073/pnas.1316513111 |pmid=24616518 |year=2014 |volume=111 |issue=13 |pages=4832–4837 |pmc=3977302 |bibcode=2014PNAS..111.4832W |doi-access=free}} {{refend}}
== External links == {{Commons category|Yamna culture}} * [https://www.academia.edu/96484146/_2022_J_Dani_B_Preda_B%C4%83l%C4%83nic%C4%83_J_Angi_The_Emergence_of_a_New_Elite_in_Southeast_Europe_People_and_Ideas_from_the_Steppe_Region_at_the_Turn_of_the_Copper_and_Bronze_Ages_p_60_77?rhid=39045614516&swp=rr-rw-wc-116346464&nav_from=891377a8-36d7-4df3-b77d-8a7fcd09b901 The Emergence of a New Elite in Southeast Europe: People and Ideas from the Steppe Region at the Turn of the Copper and Bronze Ages (2022)] * {{Cite news |last=Spinney |first=Laura |date=5 May 2024 |title=Archaeologists identify the birthplace of the mysterious Yamnaya |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |url=https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/05/05/archaeologists-identify-the-birthplace-of-the-mysterious-yamnaya }} * {{cite news |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150304075334.htm |website=Science Daily |date=March 2015 |title=Genetic study revives debate on origin and expansion of Indo-European Languages}} * {{cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/first-horse-warriors/?linkId=67160903 |website=PBS.org NOVA series |date=15 May 2019 |title=First Horse Warriors}}
[[Category:Archaeological cultures of Europe]] [[Category:Bronze Age cultures of Europe]] [[Category:Chalcolithic cultures of Europe]] [[Category:Archaeological cultures in Ukraine]] [[Category:Archaeological cultures in Russia]] [[Category:Archaeological cultures in Moldova]] [[Category:Archaeological cultures in Kazakhstan]] [[Category:4th millennium BC]] [[Category:Prehistoric Russia]]