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Descent, marriage, and residence practices of a 3,800-year-old pastoral community in Central Eurasia

Blöcher, Jens, Brami, Maxime, Feinauer, Isabelle Sofie, Stolarczyk, Eliza, Diekmann, Yoan, Vetterdietz, Lisa, Karapetian, Marina, Winkelbach, Laura, Kokot, Vanessa, Vallini, Leonardo, Stobbe, Astrid, Haak, Wolfgang, Papageorgopoulou, Christina, Krause, Rüdiger, Sharapova, Svetlana, Burger, Joachim·2023·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI 10.1073/pnas.2303574120PMC PMC10483636
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Abstract

Our understanding of prehistoric societal organization at the family level is still limited. Here, we generated genome data from 32 individuals from an approximately 3,800-y-old burial mound attributed to the Bronze Age Srubnaya-Alakul cultural tradition at the site of Nepluyevsky, located in the Southern Ural region of Central Eurasia. We found that life expectancy was generally very low, with adult males living on average 8 y longer than females. A total of 35 first-degree, 40 second-degree, and 48 third-degree biological relationships connected 23 of the studied individuals, allowing us to propose a family tree spanning three generations with six brothers at its center. The oldest of these brothers had eight children with two women and the most children overall, whereas the other relationships were monogamous. Notably, related female children above the age of five were completely absent from the site, and adult females were more genetically diverse than males. These results suggest that biological relationships between male siblings played a structural role in society and that descent group membership was based on patrilineality. Women originated from a larger mating network and moved to join the men, with whom they were buried. Finally, the oldest brother likely held a higher social position, which was expressed in terms of fertility.

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Fig. 1. (A) Top view of the kurgan under excavation in the Central Eurasian landscape (photo by S. Sharapova). (B) Location of the Nepluyevsky necropolis in the Southern Urals (in blue) with locations of archaeological sites (red dots) from which individuals were identified sharing two or more IBD segments of at least 12cM with individuals buried at Nepluyevsky.
Fig. 1. (A) Top view of the kurgan under excavation in the Central Eurasian landscape (photo by S. Sharapova). (B) Location of the Nepluyevsky necropolis in the Southern Urals (in blue) with locations of archaeological sites (red dots) from which individuals were identified sharing two or more IBD segments of at least 12cM with individuals buried at Nepluyevsky.CC BY-NC-ND · PubMed Central
Fig. 2. A representation of the pedigree, inferred from relationship coefficients r, genetic sex, age at death in years, and MT- and Y-haplogroups. The reconstructed pedigree spans three generations and connects 33 individuals, 21 of which were sequenced in this study; the existence of the remaining 12 was inferred (uncolored). First-generation individuals, their spouses, and their descendants are grouped by color. The same color code is used to indicate individual associations with graves and “jamas” (pits) in the kurgan. A larger version of both can be found in SI Appendix, Figs. S6.7 and S6.8.
Fig. 2. A representation of the pedigree, inferred from relationship coefficients r, genetic sex, age at death in years, and MT- and Y-haplogroups. The reconstructed pedigree spans three generations and connects 33 individuals, 21 of which were sequenced in this study; the existence of the remaining 12 was inferred (uncolored). First-generation individuals, their spouses, and their descendants are grouped by color. The same color code is used to indicate individual associations with graves and “jamas” (pits) in the kurgan. A larger version of both can be found in SI Appendix, Figs. S6.7 and S6.8.CC BY-NC-ND · PubMed Central
Fig. 3. (A) Principal component analysis based on modern Eurasian populations taken from the Human Origins dataset [colored population names, (64), for a detailed list, see SI Dataset]. The box in the middle indicates the area of the lower right Insert. The Nepluyevsky samples (red dots) fall on top of other Bronze Age genomes from the broader steppe area associated with the Fatyanovo, Srubnaya and Alakul cultures (green diamonds, crosses and triangles) and the Sintashta culture (green rectangles), except for individuals b10-2 and b28-2. (B) qpAdm results, modeling the Nepluyevsky individuals as a mixture of Russian Sintashta and Eneolithic Steppe individuals with Eneolithic Shamanka individuals from Lake Baikal. P Values for each model are color-coded below the stacked bars. The model for individual b13-1 was rejected (P < 0.01, red star).
Fig. 3. (A) Principal component analysis based on modern Eurasian populations taken from the Human Origins dataset [colored population names, (64), for a detailed list, see SI Dataset]. The box in the middle indicates the area of the lower right Insert. The Nepluyevsky samples (red dots) fall on top of other Bronze Age genomes from the broader steppe area associated with the Fatyanovo, Srubnaya and Alakul cultures (green diamonds, crosses and triangles) and the Sintashta culture (green rectangles), except for individuals b10-2 and b28-2. (B) qpAdm results, modeling the Nepluyevsky individuals as a mixture of Russian Sintashta and Eneolithic Steppe individuals with Eneolithic Shamanka individuals from Lake Baikal. P Values for each model are color-coded below the stacked bars. The model for individual b13-1 was rejected (P < 0.01, red star).CC BY-NC-ND · PubMed Central

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Metadata

Authors
Blöcher, J., Brami, M., Feinauer, I. S., Stolarczyk, E., Diekmann, Y., Vetterdietz, L., Karapetian, M., Winkelbach, L., Kokot, V., Vallini, L., Stobbe, A., Haak, W., Papageorgopoulou, C., Krause, R., Sharapova, S., & Burger, J.
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Published
2023-08-21
Volume
120
Issue
36
ISSN
  • 0027-8424
  • 1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.2303574120
PMC
PMC10483636
Cited by
42
References
15
Language
en
Licence
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (vor)
Funders
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (466680522, BU 1403/14-1)
  • EC | ERC | HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council (771234-PALEoRIDER)
  • EC | European Research Council (788616)

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Blöcher, J., Brami, M., Feinauer, I. S., Stolarczyk, E., Diekmann, Y., Vetterdietz, L., Karapetian, M., Winkelbach, L., Kokot, V., Vallini, L., Stobbe, A., Haak, W., Papageorgopoulou, C., Krause, R., Sharapova, S., & Burger, J. (2023). Descent, marriage, and residence practices of a 3,800-year-old pastoral community in Central Eurasia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2303574120