J2b-Z42942 steppe migration to Moldova via Novosvobodnaya

[Polska]

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/...7.589600v1

The recent preprint linked above, “A genomic history of the North Pontic Region from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age”, confirms a separate (distinct from J2b L283) J2b steppe migration to Moldova, this time from the NW Caucasus (Ciscaucasia) and the Maykop Novosvobodnaya people.  A Zhyvotylivka kurgan (3200 BCE) from Bursuceni, Moldova containing the remains of an 8 year old boy, is confirmed to belong to Y haplogroup J2b2b2, specifically the J2b Z42942 branch.  There were extensive trade connections between the Usatovo people (steppe/farmer hybrid culture) and the Novosvobodnaya, sometimes called the “Steppe Novosvobodnaya“ people, from Adygea in the NW Caucasus, ultimately rooted in the Maykop Culture there.  Because the individual’s autosomal ancestry was also so strongly rooted in the Maykop Novosvobodnaya, yet located so far away in western Moldova, it is clear that he and his family, or at least his progenitors, moved there quite rapidly, perhaps even using early wagon technology, to aid in the journey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novosvobodnaya_culture

Supplementary Section re: Bursuceni Kurgan

“The skeleton of the third child, 7–8 years old (I17973, Individual #5), was located at the northern wall of the pit, at the feet of the adult and the first two children, contracted on the left side, head to the southeast, facing southwest. The arms were sharply bent, pressed to the chest, with the hands placed at the mandible. The legs were sharply bent, the knees were pressed to the elbows, heels to the pelvis.
All skeletons, especially the frontal parts of the skulls, were intensely colored with crimson ocher. In the southwestern corner of the pit, 0.25 m from the back of the head of an adult, there was a piece of crimson ocher 0.05 m in diameter.
Burial inventory included three clay vessels, a bone pin with a curved end and a pointed opposite end, and a 0.2 cm round hole in the central part (found under the mandible on the chest of the third child (individual #5), flint insert of a sickle (at the parietal part of the skull of the third child), beads made from shell valves (found on the remnants of the plant mat under the skeleton of the third child), gold temporal ring (under the right temple of the first child (individual #6)), and a flint flake without retouching (laid 0.05 m from the radius bones of the second child (individual #8)).”

   

   

Interestingly, this particular lineage of J2b, Z42942, was also confirmed to be found amongst the 2 Shulaveri Shomu boys discovered from Mentesh Tepe.  So there is genetic continuity with this particular lineage possibly linking Shulaveri Shomu in Georgia/Azerbaijan to the Usatovo in western Moldova via the Maykop Novosvobodnaya.

https://www.yfull.com/live/tree/J-Z42942/

Mentesh Tepe Burial and associated study:

   

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-04681-w

[Archetype0ne]

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/...7.589600v1

The recent preprint linked above, “A genomic history of the North Pontic Region from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age”, confirms a separate (distinct from J2b L283) J2b steppe migration to Moldova, this time from the NW Caucasus (Ciscaucasia) and the Maykop Novosvobodnaya people.  A Zhyvotylivka kurgan (3200 BCE) from Bursuceni, Moldova containing the remains of an 8 year old boy, is confirmed to belong to Y haplogroup J2b2b2, specifically the J2b Z42942 branch.  There were extensive trade connections between the Usatovo people (steppe/farmer hybrid culture) and the Novosvobodnaya, sometimes called the “Steppe Novosvobodnaya“ people, from Adygea in the NW Caucasus, ultimately rooted in the Maykop Culture there.  Because the individual’s autosomal ancestry was also so strongly rooted in the Maykop Novosvobodnaya, yet located so far away in western Moldova, it is clear that he and his family, or at least his progenitors, moved there quite rapidly, perhaps even using early wagon technology, to aid in the journey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novosvobodnaya_culture

Supplementary Section re: Bursuceni Kurgan

“The skeleton of the third child, 7–8 years old (I17973, Individual #5), was located at the northern wall of the pit, at the feet of the adult and the first two children, contracted on the left side, head to the southeast, facing southwest. The arms were sharply bent, pressed to the chest, with the hands placed at the mandible. The legs were sharply bent, the knees were pressed to the elbows, heels to the pelvis.
All skeletons, especially the frontal parts of the skulls, were intensely colored with crimson ocher. In the southwestern corner of the pit, 0.25 m from the back of the head of an adult, there was a piece of crimson ocher 0.05 m in diameter.
Burial inventory included three clay vessels, a bone pin with a curved end and a pointed opposite end, and a 0.2 cm round hole in the central part (found under the mandible on the chest of the third child (individual #5), flint insert of a sickle (at the parietal part of the skull of the third child), beads made from shell valves (found on the remnants of the plant mat under the skeleton of the third child), gold temporal ring (under the right temple of the first child (individual #6)), and a flint flake without retouching (laid 0.05 m from the radius bones of the second child (individual #8)).”





Interestingly, this particular lineage of J2b, Z42942, was also confirmed to be found amongst the 2 Shulaveri Shomu boys discovered from Mentesh Tepe.  So there is genetic continuity with this particular lineage possibly linking Shulaveri Shomu in Georgia/Azerbaijan to the Usatovo in western Moldova via the Maykop Novosvobodnaya.

https://www.yfull.com/live/tree/J-Z42942/

Mentesh Tepe Burial and associated study:



https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-04681-w

It should be noted that Aknashen seems also to have a connection to the Shulaveri Shomu.

Late Neolithic – this period includes a cultural phase preceding the Aratashen-Shulaveri-Shomutepe culture, represented by horizons VII and VI, and the Aratashen2 Shulaveri-Shomutepe culture itself, represented by horizons V-II

The Neolithic Settlement of Aknashen (Ararat valley, Armenia) PDF

I am not sure if Aratashen-Shulaveri-Shomutepe was responsible fore the neolithization of the region. But the dates somewhat fit the final stages of Neolithization.

[Sephesakueu]

I wonder what is his autossomal profile , I remember reading somewhere in that paper it was "north caucasian".
Would it be similar to that of Progress perhaps?

[Polska]

Thank you for the updated info, ArchetypeOne.  Very helpful. 

Here are some feasible models from the preprint for his possible admixture that you’ve probably seen, but will link here just in case.  There is a note indicating that he can be modeled somewhat closely to Maykop, but not precisely.  So there is a note of caution here.  Definitely from the Caucasus, probably NW Caucasus.

https://imgur.com/a/bKAGdgi

Migration routes of the Maykop Novosvobodnaya:

   

They can go up north and head west around the Sea of Azov or truck across the Taman Peninsula and take the Kurch Bridge route.

[RCO]

The steppe and Indo-European populations were crowded of different ancient J1 clades from Western Ukraine, Vasilyevsky-Don, Khvalynsk-Volga, Afanasievo-Mongolia and from BMAC, Iran, Anatolia to Greece, not to mention J1 EHG from Karelia, somehow J1 always moved from the South to the North.
We know some J2 clades were also present and now we understand the pace of replacements and substitutions, continuity and change, the steppe has been more a sink than an incubator.
When they decide to investigate hundreds of samples from Northern Iran and the Southeastern Caspian Sea they shall found more individuals (including many from the J haplogroup - J1 and J2) far more important to understand the CHG-IRAN movements than the few admixed BP individuals from the "Caucasus-Lower Volga" (CLV) cline.

[Archetype0ne]

Thank you for the updated info, ArchetypeOne.  Very helpful. 

Here are some feasible models from the preprint for his possible admixture that you’ve probably seen, but will link here just in case.  There is a note indicating that he can be modeled somewhat closely to Maykop, but not precisely.  So there is a note of caution here.  Definitely from the Caucasus, probably NW Caucasus.

https://imgur.com/a/bKAGdgi

hmm... so It is not exactly the older version of CHG, rather the second wave Aknashen one?

This was particularly interesting:



We have two scenarios right now:
1. L283 having been within the older Caucasus admix that was part of BPgroup
2. L283 having been within the younger Aknashen mix that together with BPgroup created the Sredni Stih cline.

What I find interesting is that J2b was commonplace in Shulaveri Shomu (Genome-wide analysis of a collective grave from Mentesh Tepe provides insight into the population structure of early neolithic population in the South Caucasus). That Shulaveri Shomu had connections to Aknashen (the fact that the two boys from Shulaveri Shomu having the same YDNA as this Moldovan J2b2 which is 90% Aknashen looks more than a mere coincidence). But more peculiarly, that with this sample we do not exactly have a 50-50 BP+Aknashen admix, but rather on the very other geographical end of the Srednih Stih complex, we find almost pure Aknashen admix J2b2 with very little BP. This is somewhat contradictory with the model where Core Yamnaya needed a wave of BP+Aknashen, similar to Sretnoye. So either this J2b was not a contributor to Core Yamnaya, which I highly doubt. Or that Sretnoye is just a placeholder (given even geography being so peripherial) for two different movements, one of BP which contains older CHG, and one of Aknashen which contains Anatolia Neolithic (which likely brought farming and animal husbandry to Aknashen and the Caucasus in general) and Eneolithic CHG.

Edit: (some notes) and a remark.
It feels like we are moving away from the L283 designation and into its brother branches and even stem when talking about pre-Core-Yamnaya around the Lower Volga. Chances are that L283 was one of many quite distantly connected brother branches that experienced a boom thanks to the Yamnaya. It made sense to focus solely on L283 to explain L283 when yfull had its age estimate at 6kbp which coincides with Yamnaya, but now that yfull has it a ~10kbp, I feel these brother branches are essential for its deep history in the Northern Caucasus - Volga region.

Edit 2: Polska could you make a basic paint graph of how the Kotias Klde, Shulaveri-Sholu-Moldova and L283 are related?

[Sephesakueu]

This sample might be interesting for the discussion due to how odd it seems at first sight:

MonteCanelas337A.SG/MC337A
Date
3011 - 2786 calBCE
Phylogeny
J2b2b2-Z42957+ https://www.yfull.com/tree/J-Z42957/

Archaeological Context: Portugal_LN_C_o
Autossomal Profile: 82% EEF, 18% WHG
Site: Monte Canelas 1

Source:
MartinianoPLoSGenetics2017 and https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-0...87-4#Sec20

It comes from a site at the southwestern most tip of the iberian peninsula, in the supplementary tables it is pointed as a autossomal outlier and it has lower WHG than the other, they did not try to model it with CHG related components sadly.
It belongs to the parent clade of the ones found at Mentesh Tepe kids and the Bursuceni I17973 , wich makes me wonder if perhaps this clade was moving around with the Anatolian farmer side of the things. Ancient migrations sometimes seem like such random events it is hard to wrap our heads around it.

[Archetype0ne]

Did this manually though:

Z534[formed 15600 ybp, TMRCA 15600 ybp] (brother branch to Kotias Klde) >Z1825[formed 15600 ybp, TMRCA 13800 ybp]>Z593[formed 13800 ybp, TMRCA 12700 ybp]>J-M241[formed 12700 ybp, TMRCA 9700 ybp]>L283[formed 9700 ybp, TMRCA 5600 ybp]

Z534[formed 15600 ybp, TMRCA 15600 ybp] (brother branch to Kotias Klde)>Z1825[formed 15600 ybp, TMRCA 13800 ybp]>Z2453[formed 13800 ybp, TMRCA 13000 ybp]>Z42957[formed 11600 ybp, TMRCA 10400 ybp]>Z42942[formed 8700 ybp, TMRCA 7400 ybp]

So they both stem from the brother branch of Kotias Klde(z533) formed around 15.5kbp, and they split around 13.8kbp, very close to the formation and TMRCA of Kotias Klde. Also both Z42957 and L283 formed around the early neolithization of the Caucasus [7th and the beginning of the 6th millennium BCE].

[Archetype0ne]

This sample might be interesting for the discussion due to how odd it seems at first sight:

MonteCanelas337A.SG/MC337A
Date
3011 - 2786 calBCE
Phylogeny
J2b2b2-Z42957+  https://www.yfull.com/tree/J-Z42957/

Archaeological Context: Portugal_LN_C_o
Autossomal Profile: 82% EEF, 18% WHG
Site: Monte Canelas 1

Source:
MartinianoPLoSGenetics2017 and https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-0...87-4#Sec20
 
It comes from a site at the southwestern most tip of the iberian peninsula, in the supplementary tables it is pointed as a autossomal outlier and it has lower WHG than the other, they did not try to model it with CHG related components sadly.
It belongs to the parent clade of the ones found at Mentesh Tepe kids and the Bursuceni  I17973 , wich makes me wonder if perhaps this clade was moving around with the Anatolian farmer side of the things. Ancient migrations sometimes seem like such random events it is hard to wrap our heads around it.

Do we know if Caucasus Neolithic was a thing around the Middle East?

[Polska]

This sample might be interesting for the discussion due to how odd it seems at first sight:

MonteCanelas337A.SG/MC337A
Date
3011 - 2786 calBCE
Phylogeny
J2b2b2-Z42957+  https://www.yfull.com/tree/J-Z42957/

Archaeological Context: Portugal_LN_C_o
Autossomal Profile: 82% EEF, 18% WHG
Site: Monte Canelas 1

Source:
MartinianoPLoSGenetics2017 and https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-0...87-4#Sec20
 
It comes from a site at the southwestern most tip of the iberian peninsula, in the supplementary tables it is pointed as a autossomal outlier and it has lower WHG than the other, they did not try to model it with CHG related components sadly.
It belongs to the parent clade of the ones found at Mentesh Tepe kids and the Bursuceni  I17973 , wich makes me wonder if perhaps this clade was moving around with the Anatolian farmer side of the things. Ancient migrations sometimes seem like such random events it is hard to wrap our heads around it.

Fascinating sample, no doubt.  Crazy he’s on the same branch.  Thanks for sharing.

He was found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalithic...0position.

I will have to read up on this site when I have time.  Looks very interesting. Because of this lineage’s possible connection with the Neolithization process that took place around the Ararat Plain and Transcaucasia, I see no reason why a branch could not have also moved out through Anatolia or the Levant enroute to Portugal.

[Polska]

Thank you for the updated info, ArchetypeOne.  Very helpful. 

Here are some feasible models from the preprint for his possible admixture that you’ve probably seen, but will link here just in case.  There is a note indicating that he can be modeled somewhat closely to Maykop, but not precisely.  So there is a note of caution here.  Definitely from the Caucasus, probably NW Caucasus.

https://imgur.com/a/bKAGdgi

hmm... so It is not exactly the older version of CHG, rather the second wave Aknashen one?

This was particularly interesting:



We have two scenarios right now:
1. L283 having been within the older Caucasus admix that was part of BPgroup
2. L283 having been within the younger Aknashen mix that together with BPgroup created the Sredni Stih cline.

What I find interesting is that J2b was commonplace in Shulaveri Shomu (Genome-wide analysis of a collective grave from Mentesh Tepe provides insight into the population structure of early neolithic population in the South Caucasus). That Shulaveri Shomu had connections to Aknashen (the fact that the two boys from Shulaveri Shomu having the same YDNA as this Moldovan J2b2 which is 90% Aknashen looks more than a mere coincidence). But more peculiarly, that with this sample we do not exactly have a 50-50 BP+Aknashen admix, but rather on the very other geographical end of the Srednih Stih complex, we find almost pure Aknashen admix J2b2 with very little BP. This is somewhat contradictory with the model where Core Yamnaya needed a wave of BP+Aknashen, similar to Sretnoye. So either this J2b was not a contributor to Core Yamnaya, which I highly doubt. Or that Sretnoye is just a placeholder (given even geography being so peripherial) for two different movements, one of BP which contains older CHG, and one of Aknashen which contains Anatolia Neolithic (which likely brought farming and animal husbandry to Aknashen and the Caucasus in general) and Eneolithic CHG.

Edit: (some notes) and a remark.
It feels like we are moving away from the L283 designation and into its brother branches and even stem when talking about pre-Core-Yamnaya around the Lower Volga. Chances are that L283 was one of many quite distantly connected brother branches that experienced a boom thanks to the Yamnaya. It made sense to focus solely on L283 to explain L283 when yfull had its age estimate at 6kbp which coincides with Yamnaya, but now that yfull has it a ~10kbp, I feel these brother branches are essential for its deep history in the Northern Caucasus - Volga region.

Edit 2: Polska could you make a basic paint graph of how the Kotias Klde, Shulaveri-Sholu-Moldova and L283 are related?

Great analysis, great questions.  I tend to think that it’s probably linked to the older, more archaic form of CHG.  However, the movement out along the Taman Penninsula starting around 5000 BCE of agro pastoralists…I’m guessing that this would be connected to a later wave of CHG/Aknashen related ancestry.

You’re way ahead of me and next level with your understanding of this paper.  I have no idea what a basic paint graph is and don’t own a computer, so I’m unable to assist in this department.

I think there’s another big paper on the way from the Caucasus that might provide some answers, hopefully, to some of these questions. 

https://imgur.com/a/8hcZqsp

[Polska]

Here is a migration map for the CLV Cline Outlier lineage of J2b Z42942 that tracks this lineage from:

Shulaveri Shomu —> Maykop Novosvobodnaya  —> Zhyvotylivka Volchansk

https://www.yfull.com/tree/J-Z42942/

   

   

[CowboyHG]

Here is a migration map for the CLV Outlier Cline lineage of J2b Z42942 that tracks this lineage from:

Shulaveri Shomu —> Maykop Novosvobodnaya  —> Zhyvotylivka Volchansk

https://www.yfull.com/tree/J-Z42942/

Nice map. Just a minot semantic point, if J2b2 comes along with Novosvobodnaya, as you propose, then is 1000 years after the CLV formed. And the CLV cluster no longer existed indepedently by 3300 bc, precisely due to the conquest of the northern Caucasus by Majkop groups bearing different genetics.

[Polska]

Here is a migration map for the CLV Outlier Cline lineage of J2b Z42942 that tracks this lineage from:

Shulaveri Shomu —> Maykop Novosvobodnaya  —> Zhyvotylivka Volchansk

https://www.yfull.com/tree/J-Z42942/

Nice map. But it is not correct to label this lineage as ''CLV outlier''.
If J2b2 comes along with Novosvobodnaya, as you propose, then is 1000 years after the CLV formed. And the CLV cluster no longer existed indepedently by 3300 bc, precisely due to the conquest of the northern Caucasus by Majkop groups bearing different genetics.

Thanks.

My syntax is off in that the preprint has this sample labeled as “CLV Cline Outlier”, whereas I’ve labeled him as “ CLV Outlier Cline”, which might be causing some confusion.  Will correct.  It falls just outside the 4500-3500 BCE CLV window, but I think they labeled this sample as CLV because it retained its original ancestry profile from the Kuban steppe/NW Caucasus (85% Aknashen/15% Remontnoye) without admixing with Core Yamnaya groups mostly concentrated between the Dnieper and Don Rivers (probably rapid transit via wagon).