Mitochondrial DNA Diversity Among Staroaleisk Culture Individuals from the Obskiye Plyosy-2 and Staroaleika-2 Burial Grounds

This article is a follow-up of a series that discusses the results of a paleogenetic study of the Staroaleisk culture (the Scythian period, forest-steppe Altai). Previous genetic diversity data for the Staroaleisk population from the Firsovo XIV burial ground are supplemented by the results of mitochondrial DNA lineage analysis from a series of individuals from the Obskiye Plyosy II (middle stage of the Staroaleisk culture, synchronous with Firsovo XIV, N = 10) and Staroaleika II (late stage of the Staroaleisk culture, N = 5) sites. As a result, the total size of the Staroaleisk mtDNA sample increased by more than twice, thus reaching 28 samples. Our data from the Obskiye Plyosy II burial ground allowed us to examine the structure of the population mtDNA gene pool at the middle stage of the Staroaleisk culture using a more representative sample, extending beyond a single ground. A comparative analysis with Firsovo XIV revealed both similarities and differences between the series, allowing assessment of the general population characteristics of the mtDNA gene pool and their variability at the level of individual burial grounds, respectively. These new data are consistent with our previous hypotheses regarding the formation of the mtDNA gene pool from two main sources: one indigenous to the foreststeppe zone of Western Siberia and another derived from early nomadic populations of Southern Siberia. The first data on mtDNA variability in the gene pool of bearers of the late stage of the Staroaleisk culture (Staroaleika II) revealed similarities in the composition of at least some of main components of the gene pool with the population of the middle stage. We can assume that there was no abrupt change in the population composition (maternally), although new individual components may have penetrated the mtDNA gene pool.

Mitochondrial DNA · paleogenetics · Scythian period · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Forensic and Genetic Research · Genetic diversity and population structure