To study the history of migration and movement in the Ukrainian region, with a particular focus on Iron Age and Medieval migrant populations, the scientists generated genomic data on 91 individuals from around 7000 BC to around 1800 AD. Their results show that ancient peoples had diverse ancestry as a result of frequent migration, assimilation, and contact.
A map showing the geographical location of the ancient figures included in the study and a chronology showing the dates of the figures in the archaeological group. Image credit: Saag others., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adr0695.
Over the centuries, migration has taken place in the steppe and forest-steppe regions of Ukraine in several directions.
These migrations were driven by a variety of processes, including cultural contacts and conflicts between tribes, trade, demographic pressures, and the expansion of nomadic areas of influence.
The main migration flows were from the Carpathian-Donabian region, the Southern Ural-Volga region, Central Asia and the North Caucasus, and intensive population movements also occurred within the territory of Ukraine.
At the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Early Iron Age, the most notable archaeological activity in the northern Pontic Steppe was Cimmerian and military operations in Asia Minor.
The Cimmerians were followed by Scythians and SarmatiansEarly Iron Age political and military tribal confederations with various combinations of local and East Asian ancestry, as shown by previous ancient DNA (aDNA) studies. At this time, the northern Black Sea coast was covered with a network of urbanized Greek colonies.
In the forest-steppe region, the modern sedentary population is influenced by the former Tsinets culture (including the Lusatian and Vysotska cultures) and the central European influences of the Hallstatt and La Tène periods (Illyrians, Thracians, Celts). It was related.
According to written and archaeological sources, the peoples considered to be the predecessors of the Slavs were Zarbinetska culture — Already existed in the Ukrainian region from the 3rd century BC onwards, during the La Tène and Roman times.
The beginning of the era of migration in the Ukrainian region is associated with the arrival of Germanic tribes such as the Goths and the formation of a multiethnic state. Culture of Cherniahivwhich also included other ethnic groups that already lived in the area.
Between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD, the nomadic Huns of Central Asia emerged on the northern Pontic Steppe, and their westward migration brought about significant economic, cultural, and social changes in Europe.
This period is associated with the emergence of a new ethnolinguistic group, the Slavs, who spread across much of Eastern Europe between the 5th and 7th centuries AD.
From the 8th to the 10th century AD, large parts of Ukraine were under its control. Khazar Khaganate.
In Ukrainian archeology, this is expressed as follows: saltive cultureit is believed that it was shared among multiple ethnic groups (Alans, Bulgars, Turks, Slavs, Magyars, etc.).
At the same time, there was a process of unification of the Slavic tribes, and in the 9th century AD, Kiev Rus was formed.
The development of Slavic states took place against the background of constant nomadic invasions from the east.
Between the 11th and 13th centuries AD, waves of Pechenegs, Turks, and Cumans invaded the northern Pontic region from Central Asia. The most substantial invasion in terms of military power and results was that of the Mongols of the Golden Horde. 13th century AD.
By the 15th century AD, remnants of the Golden Horde, such as the Nogai, still lived in the steppes of northern Pontus.
Since the 16th century. In the Western era, Slavs were the majority ethnolinguistic group in the Ukrainian region.
“We decided to investigate the genetic ancestry of people who lived in the northern Pontic region during these times and were associated with different cultural groups,” said lead author of the study and co-author of the University of Tartu and University of Tartu. said Dr. Letty Saag, a researcher at College London. And my colleagues.
For the study, the authors extracted and sequenced DNA from tooth roots and bone fragments from 91 people at 33 archaeological sites in present-day Ukraine.
The sample included one Neolithic individual (7000–6000 BC), nine individuals from the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Final Bronze Age to the beginning of the Iron Age (3000–700 BC), and six individuals from the beginning of the Early Iron Age. contained the name (900-700 BC), 29 people of the Early Iron Age Scythian period (700-300 BC), 6 people of the Early Iron Age (700-300 BC), the end of the Iron Age (400-1 BC). , 12 from the Late Iron Age (1-400 AD), 9 from the Early Middle Ages (800-900 AD), and from the Middle Ages to B.C. 19 Early modern period (900 to 1800 AD).
Their DNA analysis shows that ancient peoples had diverse ancestry as a result of frequent migration, assimilation, and contact.
“From the Mesolithic to the time of the Vysotska and Vylozerska cultures at the end of the Bronze Age, the proportion of large-scale ancestry was similar to modern populations in other parts of Europe, first as hunter-gatherers and then as early farmers. and finally a mixture of the two: early farmers and steppe pastoralists,” the researchers said.
“From the Cimmerian period to the Middle Ages, the appearance of eastern nomads in the Pontic region became a common occurrence.”
“Their genetic make-up ranges from Yamuna-like superimposition on indigenous peoples, such as the Scythians and Cumans, to highly East Asian ancestry and minimal indigenous ancestry, such as the Alan Bulgars and Nogais. They ranged from mixed race to mixed race.”
“At that time, nomadic groups were recorded in the steppe regions, but the people of other parts of the Ukrainian region had mainly European ancestry, with connections to local ancestors and Thracians, Greeks, Goths, etc. there were.”
“The palincest of migration and population mixing in the Ukrainian region contributes to high genetic heterogeneity in geographically, culturally and socially homogeneous populations, and between individuals from the same place, at the same time, and with the same characteristics. “Different genetic profiles will exist,” they added.
“Our study focuses specifically on historically attested migrant populations rather than local populations, and the sampling is geographically biased primarily towards eastern Ukraine and temporally towards the Iron Age and Middle Ages. It is important to note that
“Nevertheless, a large local genetic profile similar to modern Ukrainians persists in the region through time and within this sample set.”
“This ancestral structure can be traced back at least to the Zurbunas, and is also found in the Vysotskas and Lusatians, the Scythians of the west, the modern agricultural peoples of the east, the Chernyahivs, and even the medieval and early modern Slavs.”
“We infer that there has been a major indigenous component in the ancestry of Ukrainians since at least the Bronze Age, although there are clear traces of high migration activity, including immigration from East Asia and extensive admixture. ”
of findings Featured in this week's diary scientific progress.
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Letty Thurg others. 2025. Crossroads of the Northern Pontus: Migration of Ukraine from the Bronze Age to the Early Modern Period. scientific progress 11(2);doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adr0695
