Ancient Northeast Asian

File:Map of the Ancient Northeast Asians.png

The Ancient Northeast Asians (ANA,   yellow area) are defined as a cluster of Neolithic populations from the Altai Mountains to the Pacific coast. They were bordered by Western Eurasian populations to the west, which combined BMAC, Afanasievo and Ancient North Eurasian (ANE) ancestry.

In archaeogenetics, the term Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA), also known as Amur ancestry, is the name given to an ancestral component that represents the lineage of the hunter-gatherer people of the 7th-4th millennia before present, in far-eastern Siberia, Mongolia and the Baikal regions. They are inferred to have diverged from Ancient East Asians about 24kya ago, and are represented by several ancient human specimens found in archaeological excavations east of the Altai Mountains. They are a sub-group of the Ancient Northern East Asians (ANEA).

Neolithic populations

File:Position of Ancient Northeast Asians in a principal component (PC) analysis of non-African modern human genomes (grey), and other ancient populations (colors).png

Position of Ancient Northeast Asians ( ) in a principal component analysis (PCA) of non-African modern human genomes (grey), and other ancient populations (colors).

The Prehistoric populations of Eastern Siberia are poorly understood, mainly due to the lack of archaeological specimens. So far, the oldest populations for which genomic data have been obtained are the Upper Paleolithic Ancient North Eurasians (c. 24,000 BP) from Central Siberia, and Upper-Paleolithic populations related to the "Basal-East Asian" Tianyuan man (c. 40,000 BP), specifically the Salkhit (c. 34,000 BP) and AR33K (c. 33,000 BP) samples from Mongolia and the Amur region, or Manchuria. There is then a large gap until the Neolithic period, where the specific ANA gene pool has been identified. Ancestry basal to the ANA gene pool, but significantly closer to them than to the Upper-Paleolithic Tianyuan-related gene pool or other East Asian lineages (such as Southern East Asians), has been found among a sample in the Amur region (AR19K; c. 19 000 BP), suggesting that Ancient Northeast Asians diverged from other East Asian populations sometimes between 19kya to 26kya.

The first individual to be identified with the specific ANA gene pool came from the Russian Far East, near the Pacific coast, at the Devil’s Gate Cave ("DevilsCave_N", c. 5700 BCE). More Neolithic individuals with the ANA gene pool have been identified in eastern Mongolia (SOU001, "EastMongolia_preBA" 4686–4495 cal. BCE), in central Mongolia (ERM003, "CentralMongolia_preBA" 3781–3639 cal. BCE), and four individuals from the eastern Baikal region ("Fofonovo_EN"). The closely related hunter-gatherers from the western Baikal region ("Baikal_EN", 5200–4200 BCE), as well as the Early Bronze Age Baikal populations ("Baikal_EBA", circa 2500 BCE) are generally included within the Ancient Northeast Asian cluster, although they are slightly differentiated from ANA samples through a minor ancestral component derived from Ancient North Eurasian (ANE) at c. 5-20%.

The Devils_Cave_N sample was found to display genetic continuity with a c. 14kya sample (AR14K) from the Amur region, suggesting that the specific ANA gene pool formed as early as 14,000 BP. Neolithic ANA remains have been found as far as the Altai Mountains, 1,500 km further to the west than previously understood.

Later populations

Ulaanzuukh and Slab Grave cultures

The people of the Ulaanzuukh (1450–1150 BCE) and Slab Grave (1100–300 BCE) cultures were closely associated with the Ancient Northeast Asians and can be modeled as direct descendants.

Tarim Mummies

A genomic study published in 2021 found that the Tarim mummies (c. 2000 BCE) had high levels of Ancient North Eurasian ancestry (c. 72%), with a smaller admixture from an Ancient Northeast Asian-like population (particularly the Baikal_EBA, at c. 28%), but no detectable Western Steppe-related ancestry.

Altai MLBA and Khövsgöl LBA

File:Khovsgol LBA in the Middle-Late Bronze Age.png

Khövsgöl LBA in the Middle-Late Bronze Age (1400 to 1100 BC) in Mongolia. Khövsgöl LBA is essentially composed of Baikal EBA ancestry   (itself essentially Ancient Northeast Asian, ANA  , with a small admixture from Ancient North Eurasian), and a relatively small admixture from a Sintashta-like source  .

Several successor groups with varying degrees of Sintashta admixture start to appear in the Altai region after this period. These groups formed from the westwards expansion of ANA-rich population from the Eastern Steppe and subsequent admixture from Western Steppe Herder migrant groups. This includes the Khövsgöl LBA herders from northern Mongolia and the Altai MLBA hunter-gatherers from the Altai region. The Khövsgöl LBA herders are descended from Early Bronze Age Baikal hunter-gatherers (Baikal EBA, c. 93%) with small amounts of admixture from Western Steppe Herders (Sintashta, c. 7%). Genetic analyses revealed that while dairy pastoralism seems to have been adopted by them from the Western Steppe Herders, they were primarily of local Northeast Asian origin, implying cultural transmission. Modern day Tuvinians are among the people sharing the highest genetic affinity with the Late Bronze Age herders of Khövsgöl. The Altai MLBA gene pool further West can be associated with Eastern Scythians (Saka), who can be modeled as deriving significant amounts of ancestry (c. 40-55%) from the Baikal EBA groups, with additional Sintashta-like admixture (c. 45-60%).

Sakas, Xiongnus, Huns, Avars

File:Map of Mongolia (Early Iron Age).png

The Slab Grave culture was essentially Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA,  ), while the neighbouring Sakas combined in almost equal parts Western Eurasian (Sintashta,  ) with Ancient Northeast Asian (Baikal EBA,  ) ancestry, with a smaller Iranian contribution (BMAC,  ).

File:Genomic evidence from Avar period human remains.png

Genomic evidence from human remains shows that the Avars were essentially derived from Ancient Northeast Asians (ANA).

Nivkh people are closely related to Ancient Northeast Asians.

The Ancient Northeast Asians, particularly the Baikal EBA, contributed to a large extent to the formation of the hybrid Eurasian Tasmola (Central Saka) cultures of Central Asia from around 1,000 BCE, contributing to about half of their genetic profile, highlighting the increase in genetic diversity during the late Bronze Age and the following Iron Age.

The Saka cultures in turn played an important role in the formation of the Xiongnu Empire (3rd century BCE-1st century CE), which combined specific Saka ancestries (particularly Chandman/Uyuk-related ones), with Ancient Northeast Asian-derived Ulaanzuukh and Slab Grave ancestries, to which Sarmatian and Han ancestry was further added at a later stage. High status Xiongnu individuals tended to have less genetic diversity, and their ancestry was essentially derived from the Eastern Eurasian Ulaanzuukh/Slab Grave culture, or alternatively from the Xianbei, suggesting multiple sources for their Eastern ancestry. High Eastern ancestry was more common among high status female samples, while low status male samples tended to be more diverse and having higher Western ancestry. A likely chanyu, a male ruler of the Empire identified by his prestigious tomb, was shown to have had similar ancestry as a high status female in the "western frontiers", deriving about 39.3% Slab Grave genetic ancestry, 51.9% Han ancestry, with the rest (8.8%) being Saka (Chandman) ancestry.

A Hun individual from an elite burial of the mid-4th century CE in Budapest, Hungary, was reconstructed as 60% Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) and 40% Saka.

The 7-8th century Avars in Europe, particularly as regards the Avar elite, were also confirmed to have essentially Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry (c. 90%), with some additions from other sources.

Göktürks

The Turkic princess Ashina (551–582 CE), whose remains were sequenced, was found to be genetically closely associated with Ancient Northeast Asians (with 97.7% Northeast Asian ancestry and 2.3% West Eurasian ancestry dating back to around 2000 years ago), which according to Yang et al supports a Northeast Asian origin of the Ashina tribe and the Göktürk Khanate. These findings refute "the western Eurasian origin and multiple origin hypotheses" in favor of an East Asian origin for the Göktürks. However, the authors also observed that the population of the "Türkic Empire" as a whole, particularly Central Steppe and Medieval Türks, had a high but variable degree of West Eurasian admixture, suggesting genetic sub-structure within the empire: for example, the ancestry of early medieval Turks was derived from Ancient Northeast Asians for about 62,2% of their genome, while the remaining 37,8% was derived from West Eurasians (BMAC and Afanasievo), with the admixture occurring around the year 500 CE.

ANA ancestry today

Genetically, ANA ancestry peaks among modern Tungusic, Mongolic and Nivkh-speaking populations of Northeast Asia. ANA ancestry (represented by the Tungusic-speaking Ulchi people) overall forms the main ancestry of the early and contemporary speakers of Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic languages, which supports their spread from Northeast Asia westwards. An earlier wave into Siberia can be associated with "Neo-Siberians" (represented by Uralic-speaking Nganasans), which may be associated with the spread of Yukaghir and Uralic languages, and the partial displacement of Paleo-Siberians.