An Unusual Burial of a Xiongnu-Sarmatian Era Warrior in the Western Siberian Forest-Steppe: Results of a Paleogenetic Analysis

This article presents the results of a paleogenetic study of skeletal remains of a male from burial 688 at Sopka-2, in the Baraba forest-steppe. The artifacts, the burial rite, and the man’s Central Asian Mongoloid physical type unambiguously indicate a foreigner. We analyzed the uniparental markers, such as mitochondrial DNA (HVRI sequence and informative positions in the coding part of mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (allelic profile of 17 STR-loci). The male’s mtDNA belongs to the East Eurasian haplogroup D4b1, and his Y-chromosome haplogroup Q (Q1a) is likewise East Eurasian. Thus, the individual’s eastern origin has been established, consistent with his physical type. The phylogeographic analysis, using data on ancient and modern populations of Eurasia, revealed the presence of the East Eurasian D4b1-haplogroup both in the eastern and western Eurasian steppes. Importantly, it was present in Scythians of the northern Pontic area. Genetic data, then, do not allow to locate the region whence the individual had migrated to Baraba. We propose a scenario that explains the disagreement between the paleogenetic and the craniometrical evidence, indicating eastern origin, on the one hand, and the predominantly western (Sarmato-Alanian) parallels to the funerary items, on the other. We discuss the possibilities and limitations of the paleogenetic approach to reconstructing the origins of ancient individuals.