Willerslev - Baikal Archaeology Project

PNAS 17 July 2018

Ancient human parvovirus B19 in Eurasia reveals its long-term association with humans

Mühlemann B, Margaryan A, de Barros Damgaard P, Allentoft ME, Vinner L, Hansen AJ, Weber A, Bazaliiskii VI, Molak M, Arneborg J, Bogdanowicz W, Falys C, Sablin M, Smrčka V, Sten S, Tashbaeva K, Lynnerup N, Sikora M, Smith DJ, Fouchier RAM, Drosten C, Sjögren K-G, Kristiansen K, Willerslev E, Jones TC

Human parvovirus B19 (B19V) is a ubiquitous human pathogen associated with a number of conditions, such as fifth disease in children and arthritis and arthralgias in adults. B19V is thought to evolve exceptionally rapidly among DNA viruses, with substitution rates previously estimated to be closer to those typical of RNA viruses. On the basis of genetic sequences up to ∼70 years of age, the most recent common ancestor of all B19V has been dated to the early 1800s, [...]

pderas2020-06-30T11:02:15-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Bazaliiskii, Weber, Willerslev|

Science 29 June 2018

The first horse herders and the impact of early Bronze Age steppe expansions into Asia

de Barros Damgaard P, Martiniano R, Kamm J, Moreno-Mayar JV, Kroonen G, Peyrot M, Barjamovic G, Rasmussen S, Zacho C, Baimukhanov N, Zaibert V, Merz V, Biddanda A, Merz I, Usmanova E, Loman V, Hemphill B, Seguin-Orlando A, Yediay FE, Ullah I, Sjögren KG, Iversen KH, Choin J, de la Fuente C, Ilardo M, Schroeder H, Moiseyev V, Gromov A, Polyakov A, Omura S, Senyurt SY, Ahmad H, McKenzie C, Margaryan A, Hameed A, Samad A, Gul N, Khokhar MH, Goriunova OI, Bazaliiskii VI, Novembre J, Weber AW, Orlando L, Allentoft ME, Nielsen R, Kristiansen K, Sikora M, Outram AK, Durbin R, Willerslev E

The Yamnaya expansions from the western steppe into Europe and Asia during the Early Bronze Age (~3000 BCE) are believed to have brought with them Indo-European languages and possibly horse husbandry. We analyzed 74 ancient whole-genome sequences from across Inner Asia and Anatolia and show that the Botai people associated with the earliest horse husbandry derived from a hunter-gatherer population deeply diverged from the Yamnaya. Our results also suggest distinct migrations bringing West Eurasian ancestry into South Asia [...]

pderas2020-06-30T11:03:25-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Bazaliiskii, Goriunova, Weber, Willerslev|

Nature 09 May 2018

137 ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes

de Barros Damgaard P, Marchi N, Rasmussen S, Peyrot M, Renaud G, Korneliussen T, Moreno-Mayar JV, Pedersen MW, Goldberg A, Usmanova E, Baimukhanov N, Loman V, Hedeager L, Pedersen AG, Nielsen K, Afanasiev G, Akmatov K, Aldashev A, Alpaslan A, Baimbetov G, Bazaliiskii VI, Beisenov A, Boldbaatar B, Boldgiv B, Dorzhu C, Ellingvag S, Erdenebaatar D, Dajani R, Dmitriev E, Evdokimov E, Frei KM, Gromov A, Goryachev A, Hakonarson H, Hegay T, Khachatryan Z, Khashkhanov R, Kitov E, Kolbina A, Kubatbek T, Kukushkin A, Kukushkin I, Lau N, Margaryan A, Merkyte I, Mertz IV, Mertz VK, Mijiddorj E, Moiyesev V, Mukhtarova G, Nurmukhanbetov B, Orozbekova Zh, Panyushkina I, Pieta K, Smrčka V, Shevnina I, Logvin A, Sjögren K-G, Štolcová T, Tashbaeva K, Tkachev A, Tulegenov T, Voyakin D, Yepiskoposyan L, Undrakhbold S, Varfolomeev V, Weber A, Kradin N, Allentoft ME, Orlando L, Nielsen R, Sikora M, Heyer E, Kristiansen K, Willerslev E

For thousands of years the Eurasian steppes have been a centre of human migrations and cultural change. Here we sequence the genomes of 137 ancient humans (about 1× average coverage), covering a period of 4,000 years, to understand the population history of the Eurasian steppes after the Bronze Age migrations. We find that the genetics of the Scythian groups that dominated the Eurasian steppes throughout the Iron Age were highly structured, with diverse origins comprising Late Bronze Age [...]

pderas2020-06-30T11:04:41-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Bazaliiskii, Weber, Willerslev|