Ancient Migrations into Eurasian Steppe Revealed by Genetic Analysis of Ancient mtDNA
Presentation Type
Poster/Portfolio
Presenter Major(s)
Nursing
Mentor Information
Alexey Nikitin
Department
Biology
Location
Henry Hall Atrium 93
Start Date
11-4-2012 9:00 AM
Keywords
Historical Perspectives, Life Science
Abstract
The study of human DNA helps to understand human migratory patterns throughout the past. By analysis of the maternally inherited mitochondrial genome (mtDNA), phylogenetic relationships between geographically distinct populations can be deduced through region-specific mtDNA lineage (haplogroup) assignment. The analysis of mtDNA lineages extracted from the remains of seven specimens from three pre-historic burial mounds in southern Ukraine has given us greater understanding of the magnitude of prehistoric migrations during a time of cultural, technological and ecological change. By piecing together the archeological details of individual burials and the geographic origins of mtDNA lineages, we see a dynamic continuum of long distance human travel to the Black Sea from as far as Siberia and Central Asia, likely precipitated by a cooling environment and sustained by stockbreeding and the new power of copper trade.
Ancient Migrations into Eurasian Steppe Revealed by Genetic Analysis of Ancient mtDNA
Henry Hall Atrium 93
The study of human DNA helps to understand human migratory patterns throughout the past. By analysis of the maternally inherited mitochondrial genome (mtDNA), phylogenetic relationships between geographically distinct populations can be deduced through region-specific mtDNA lineage (haplogroup) assignment. The analysis of mtDNA lineages extracted from the remains of seven specimens from three pre-historic burial mounds in southern Ukraine has given us greater understanding of the magnitude of prehistoric migrations during a time of cultural, technological and ecological change. By piecing together the archeological details of individual burials and the geographic origins of mtDNA lineages, we see a dynamic continuum of long distance human travel to the Black Sea from as far as Siberia and Central Asia, likely precipitated by a cooling environment and sustained by stockbreeding and the new power of copper trade.