Interpreting genetic ancestry of the builders of first kurgans - A. Nikitin

Interpreting genetic ancestry of the builders of first kurgans in the North Pontic steppe Professor Alexey Nikitin, Grand Valley State University, USA Earthen round barrow burial constructions called kurgans began to appear in the North Pontic steppe in the 37 century BCE. It has long been considered that the people who started the kurgan burial tradition in the steppe were the nomadic forager-pastoralist ancestors of the Yamna culture. Recent archaeogenetic data show that first kurgan builders of northwest Pontic steppe had a complex genetic composition, admixing ancestries of steppe nomads, Eneolithic populations of the North Caucasus, as well as descendants of the Neolithic farmers of Europe.