A genomic history of the North Pontic Region from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age

Alexey G. Nikitin (), Iosif Lazaridis (), Nick Patterson, Svitlana Ivanova, Mykhailo Videiko, Valentin Dergachev, Nadiia Kotova, Malcolm Lillie, Inna Potekhina, Marta Krenz-Niedbała, Sylwia Łukasik, Serhij Makhortykh, Virginie Renson, Henry Shephard, Gennadie Sirbu, Sofiia Svyryd, Taras Tkachuk, Piotr Włodarczak, Kim Callan, Elizabeth Curtis, Eadaoin Harney, Lora Iliev, Aisling Kearns, Ann Marie Lawson, Megan Michel, Matthew Mah, Adam Micco, Jonas Oppenheimer, Lijun Qiu, J. Noah Workman, Fatma Zalzala, Swapan Mallick, Nadin Rohland and David Reich ()
Additional contact information
Alexey G. Nikitin: Grand Valley State University
Iosif Lazaridis: Harvard University
Nick Patterson: Harvard University
Svitlana Ivanova: National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Mykhailo Videiko: Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University
Valentin Dergachev: Academy of Science of Moldova
Nadiia Kotova: National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Malcolm Lillie: National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Inna Potekhina: National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Marta Krenz-Niedbała: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Sylwia Łukasik: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Serhij Makhortykh: National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Virginie Renson: University of Missouri Research Reactor
Henry Shephard: Archaeological Institute of America
Gennadie Sirbu: Academy of Science of Moldova
Sofiia Svyryd: Grand Valley State University
Taras Tkachuk: Museum of History of Ancient Halych
Piotr Włodarczak: Polish Academy of Sciences
Kim Callan: Harvard Medical School
Elizabeth Curtis: Harvard Medical School
Eadaoin Harney: Harvard Medical School
Lora Iliev: Harvard Medical School
Aisling Kearns: Harvard Medical School
Ann Marie Lawson: Harvard Medical School
Megan Michel: Harvard Medical School
Matthew Mah: Harvard Medical School
Adam Micco: Harvard Medical School
Jonas Oppenheimer: Harvard Medical School
Lijun Qiu: Harvard Medical School
J. Noah Workman: Harvard Medical School
Fatma Zalzala: Harvard Medical School
Swapan Mallick: Harvard Medical School
Nadin Rohland: Harvard Medical School
David Reich: Harvard University

Nature, 2025, vol. 639, issue 8053, 124-131

Abstract: Abstract The North Pontic Region was the meeting point of the farmers of Old Europe and the foragers and pastoralists of the Eurasian steppe1,2, and the source of migrations deep into Europe3–5. Here we report genome-wide data from 81 prehistoric North Pontic individuals to understand the genetic makeup of its people. North Pontic foragers had ancestry from Balkan and Eastern hunter-gatherers6 as well as European farmers and, occasionally, Caucasus hunter-gatherers. During the Eneolithic period, a wave of migrants from the Caucasus–Lower Volga area7 bypassed local foragers to mix in equal parts with Trypillian farmers, forming the people of the Usatove culture around 4500 bce. A temporally overlapping wave of migrants from the Caucasus–Lower Volga blended with foragers instead of farmers to form Serednii Stih people7. The third wave was the Yamna—descendants of the Serednii Stih who formed by mixture around 4000 bce and expanded during the Early Bronze Age (3300 bce). The temporal gap between Serednii Stih and the Yamna is bridged by a genetically Yamna individual from Mykhailivka, Ukraine (3635–3383 bce), a site of archaeological continuity across the Eneolithic–Bronze Age transition and a likely epicentre of Yamna formation. Each of these three waves of migration propagated distinctive ancestries while also incorporating outsiders, a flexible strategy that may explain the success of the peoples of the North Pontic in spreading their genes and culture across Eurasia3–5,8–10.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08372-2

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