德国马克斯·普朗克演化人类学研究所Wolfgang Haak等研究人员合作揭示青铜时代高加索牧民的崛起与变革。2024年10月30日，《自然》杂志在线发表了这项成果。

研究人员呈现了来自38个考古遗址的131个个体的全基因组新数据，涵盖了6000年的历史。研究人员发现，在中石器时代，高加索山脉南北的种群之间存在显著的遗传分化，北部有东部狩猎采集者的血统。而南部则具有独特的高加索狩猎采集者血统，并伴随日益增加的东安纳托利亚农民混合。在随后的新石器时代，研究人员观察到典型的西欧亚草原血统的形成，以及山地和草原地区之间互动的增强，这一过程得益于迈科普文化复合体的技术发展。

相反，在早期和中期青铜时代，牧民活动和领土扩张的巅峰时期则表现出长期的遗传稳定性。晚青铜时代标志着来自多个不同来源的基因流动的另一个时期，这与草原文化的衰退相吻合，随后草原血统被高地种群转化和吸收。

研究人员表示，高加索及其周边地区因其丰富的金属资源，成为青铜时代的熔炉，也是最早的草原牧民社会的发源地。然而，尽管该地区对后续欧洲和亚洲的发展产生了重大影响，但关于其狩猎采集者的过去以及扩张性移动草原社会的形成仍存在许多问题。

附：英文原文

Title: The rise and transformation of Bronze Age pastoralists in the Caucasus

Author: Ghalichi, Ayshin, Reinhold, Sabine, Rohrlach, Adam B., Kalmykov, Alexey A., Childebayeva, Ainash, Yu, He, Aron, Franziska, Semerau, Lena, Bastert-Lamprichs, Katrin, Belinskiy, Andrey B., Berezina, Natalia Y., Berezin, Yakov B., Broomandkhoshbacht, Nasreen, Buzhilova, Alexandra P., Erlikh, Vladimir R., Fehren-Schmitz, Lars, Gambashidze, Irina, Kantorovich, Anatoliy R., Kolesnichenko, Konstantin B., Lordkipanidze, David, Magomedov, Rabadan G., Malek-Custodis, Katharina, Mariaschk, Dirk, Maslov, Vladimir E., Mkrtchyan, Levon, Nagler, Anatoli, Fazeli Nashli, Hassan, Ochir, Maria, Piotrovskiy, Yuri Y., Saribekyan, Mariam, Sheremetev, Aleksandr G., Stllner, Thomas, Thomalsky, Judith, Vardanyan, Benik, Posth, Cosimo, Krause, Johannes, Warinner, Christina, Hansen, Svend, Haak, Wolfgang

Issue&Volume: 2024-10-30

Abstract: The Caucasus and surrounding areas, with their rich metal resources, became a crucible of the Bronze Age1 and the birthplace of the earliest steppe pastoralist societies2. Yet, despite this region having a large influence on the subsequent development of Europe and Asia, questions remain regarding its hunter-gatherer past and its formation of expansionist mobile steppe societies3,4,5. Here we present new genome-wide data for 131 individuals from 38 archaeological sites spanning 6,000 years. We find a strong genetic differentiation between populations north and south of the Caucasus mountains during the Mesolithic, with Eastern hunter-gatherer ancestry4,6 in the north, and a distinct Caucasus hunter-gatherer ancestry7 with increasing East Anatolian farmer admixture in the south. During the subsequent Eneolithic period, we observe the formation of the characteristic West Eurasian steppe ancestry and heightened interaction between the mountain and steppe regions, facilitated by technological developments of the Maykop cultural complex8. By contrast, the peak of pastoralist activities and territorial expansions during the Early and Middle Bronze Age is characterized by long-term genetic stability. The Late Bronze Age marks another period of gene flow from multiple distinct sources that coincides with a decline of steppe cultures, followed by a transformation and absorption of the steppe ancestry into highland populations.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08113-5

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08113-5