近日，德国马克斯·普朗克进化人类学研究所教授Harald Ringbauer及其课题组报道了南高加索从青铜时代到中世纪早期的遗传历史，尽管流动性很高，但有5000年的遗传连续性。这一研究成果于2025年8月7日发表在国际顶尖学术期刊《细胞》上。
研究小组展示了来自现代格鲁吉亚的205个人和来自亚美尼亚的25个人的全基因组数据，涵盖了从青铜时代（BA）到“迁徙时期”（公元前3500年-公元前700年）的时期。他们的结果揭示了一个持续存在的当地基因库，在BA中后期，吸收了来自安纳托利亚和邻近的欧亚草原的额外祖先。在随后的时期，课题组记录了人口增长和遗传多样性的增加，这得到了个体祖先异常值的高比率的支持，特别是在格鲁吉亚东部的城市中心。在20个人工变形头骨的中世纪个体中，有15人是当地交配网络的一部分，5人的祖先来自欧亚草原，这表明颅骨改造是随着游牧群体而来的，但成为当地采用的文化习俗。
据了解，在史前，高加索地区是文化和技术创新的中心，然而，大高加索地区和小高加索地区之间的人口历史仍然没有得到充分的了解。
附：英文原文
Title: The genetic history of the Southern Caucasus from the Bronze Age to the Early Middle Ages: 5,000 years of genetic continuity despite high mobility
Author: Eirini Skourtanioti, Xiaowen Jia, Nino Tavartkiladze, Liana Bitadze, Ramaz Shengelia, Nikoloz Tushabramishvili, Vladimer Aslanishvili, Boris Gasparyan, Andrew W. Kandel, David Naumann, Gunnar U. Neumann, Raffaela Angelina Bianco, Angela Mtsch, Kay Prüfer, Thiseas C. Lamnidis, Luca Traverso, Ayshin Ghalichi, Sturla Ellingvg, Philipp W. Stockhammer, Johannes Krause, Harald Ringbauer
Issue&Volume: 2025-08-07
Abstract: The Caucasus was a hub for cultural and technological innovation in prehistory, yet the population history between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus remains insufficiently understood. We present genome-wide data of 205 individuals from modern Georgia and 25 from Armenia, spanning the period from the Bronze Age (BA) to the “Migration Period” (c. 3500 BCE–700 CE). Our results reveal a persisting local gene pool that, during the Middle-Late BA, absorbed additional ancestry from Anatolia and the neighboring Eurasian Steppe. In subsequent periods, we document population growth and increasing genetic diversity, supported by a high rate of individual ancestry outliers, particularly in urban centers of eastern Georgia. Among 20 Medieval individuals with artificially deformed skulls, 15 were part of local mating networks and five derived ancestry from the Eurasian Steppe, suggesting that cranial modification arrived with nomadic groups but became a locally adopted cultural practice.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.07.013
Source: https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(25)00802-5