Neolithic Refuge and Continuity in Transylvania

[Riverman]

Looking at the different kinds and different levels of admixture already by 1300-600 BC, this quotation came to my mind again, which clearly points to structure if looking at the admixture in IA Bulgaria:

The second half of the century BC marks the widespread reappearance of bronze artefacts, mainly
adornments, showing a pronounced regional diversity. Now the Western Rhodopes show contacts with western
Macedonia, while southeastern Thrace seems to have closer links to Anatolia and the northern Aegean, and northeastern
Thrace shows connections with Moldavia.
Northwest Bulgaria shares similar fashions with the Western Balkans and the Carpathian region. At the same time contacts with Greece are renewed, and some of the
artefacts even suggest Caucasian intluence'.

Last common layer of all Daco-Thracians is Channelled Ware:

As an interregional phenomenon, the spread of channelled ware marks the final stage of the
Late Bronze Age in most of Thrace, first appearing in the
final stages of the Incrusted Pottery Culture on the Lower
Danube during Ha A 1. During the following Ha A2
period, there it became the only decoration, and for a
short period it probably was the only decoration in all
regions situated north of the Central Balkan"". At nearly
the same time the channelled ware gains popularity in
southern Thrace, where it is well documented in the first
layers with PG pottery at sites as far south as Kastanas41
and Assiros"6. Similarly, in Thassos channelled pottery
first appears in the lIB I period and has no connection
with Mycenaean potterl'. While channelling only makes
up a small perce ntage of the decoration there, towards the
North, in the Eastern Rhodopes. Sakar Mountains and the
Maritza and Tundja valleys, it is the prevailing decoration
at the beginning of the IA'.

Spread in the Transitonal Period from the North:

The last two types are often equipped with exaggerated
buckles (knobs). These buckles could be indicative as a
characteristic of the Eastern Balkan complex. where they
continued to be used during the entire EIA. Nowhere,
except in north-western Bulgaria, is the channelled
pottery found in definitive LBA contexts, and the
appearance of channelled pottery is traditionally regarded
as the beginning of the Iron Age.

Smooth transition to Stamped Pottery decorations:

Channelled pottery is followed by the gradual adoption of
a stamped geometric decoration style. In the regions of
southern Thrace, the appearance of the two styles could
have occurred simultaneously, with channelled pottery
prevailing in the early stages. Fluting is still an important
part of the decoration system and maintains its
predominance with the turban dishes, kantharoi and
amphora-like vessels, but is now often combined with
incised and stamped decoration.

The big exception is not the core of the South Thracians and Psenichevo, but the Brnjica area of the West Rhodopes:

The Western Rhodopes regton again presents an
exception from the general pi ct ure. Here the LBA
tradition in pottery form s and decoration co ntinu es in the
EIA. Indirect evidence for thi s can be found in the
Tzepina pottery phenomenon with its inci sed furchenstich
decoration, popular here during the entire LIA'5.
Channelled pottery remains an exception and is probably
more typical for the later stages of the period, stamped
pottery never gaining popularity.

Probably the home of the E-PH1246 group with Brnjica from South Vatin? That would explain why E-PH1246 is Thracian, but with a strong Near Eastern orientation and lack of overlap with other Thracian, even South Thracian branches, in later periods.

They are also, very clearly, the most influenced by actual Greeks:

The Western Rhodope Mountains stand out as an
exception in comparison to the other areas. Conservatism
is a typical feature in the pottery development and in
burial practices, while at the same time this region shows
probably the earliest adoption of ironworking.
Contacts
with Macedonia can be seen in the metal artefacts after
the 9'h century BC, and become more pronounced with
the appearance of the mattpainted
pottery in the Mesta
valley, of a style dated to the 8'''6'
h centuries Be' . These contacts go back to the LBA, as all the Mycenaean
pottery found in Thrace comes from sites in the Western
Rhodopes or in nearby western regions, and indicates that
the region is in contact with the main trade route between
Greece and Central Europe during the LBA. These wideranging
contacts explain the similarity of the rich geometric incised pottery decoration between two so
remote regions as the Western Rhodopes and northeastern
Trace.

Source: https://www.academia.edu/41178766/T...ological_Evidence_and_Questions_of_Chronology

This is in perfect alignment with the idea that the Greek context samples from 1300-1100 BC might be from a contact zone of Brnjica with Greeks. Too bad the Greek male with E-V13 couldn't be assigned downstream. If he would have been E-PH1246, that would have been a perfect match.

Contrary to that, the Psenichevo group had more Aegean substrate contacts probably, rather than direct Greek one, like the Aegean shifted South Thracian outliers show.

Also, the lack of both Aegean-Greek influences, or their greatly reduced impact, North of the Balkan mountains being also supported by the only Thracian female found Norht of the Balkans, as well as all the non-South Thracian/Aegean shifted samples with Thracian shift: None of them has Aegean-Greek IBD sharing than the South Eastern outliers from Chotin which have clearly this type of admixture. Other Mezocsat, Vekerzug and Kartal samples don't.

 

[Riverman]

To put things into context, here some data for E-V13 from FTDNA - this time exclusively based on BigY-testers, to keep things simple and comparable, since the FF tests don't cover a lot of important SNPs.

Something about its limitations: This is based on the modern data. It is absolutely clear to me that some branches were relatively more important in the past, especially E-FGC44169/BY5022 and E-PH1246, as the main Southern branches, than they are today.

Nevertheless, here some facts about the modern E-V13 frequencies (BigY is always the reference):
1) E-BY3880 makes up more than 91 % of the testers.
2) 9 main branches make up more than 93 percent of the total.
3) E-Z5018+E-Z5017 together make up nearly 2/3 of all modern E-V13 testers.
4) 7 founders from the LBA-EIA transition cover nearly half of the E-V13 population with an avearage TMRCA of around 1240 BC. That's an ideal fit for Gáva-related Channelled Ware expansions (Gáva-Holigrady, Belegis II-Gáva, Vartop-Gáva).
5) Of these 7 founders are 4 (!) under S2979, with an average TMRCA of around 1220 BC. This is an extraordinary concentration of big LBA-EIA founders all stemming from one branch which existed only for 400 years when this aggressive expansion event took place. This strongly suggests a population of its own or together with, in close proximity with, other branches like that of E-Z5017/CTS9320 for the E-S2979 population, but rather separate from the by then big Southern branches like those of E-BY5022.
Every 4th modern E-V13 descends from these 4 founders from around 1220 BC, presumably associated with Gáva-related Channelled Ware.
6) Looking all big modern E-V13 branches taken together, there are 7-9 ones (depending on counting later expansions like that of E-S3003/L540 or not), the starting date for these branches stronger expansion is between 2200-1900 BC, regardless of whether they are under E-BY3880 or not. This means the first big Thracian expansion was fueled by E-BY3880s big founder event, but not exclusive to it: The whole by then existing E-V13 population started to move outward and expand around that time frame (2200-1900 BC) and that's exactly the time frame of Gornea-Orlesti-Foeni - with its end phase and formation of daughter groups, like Wietenberg, Balta Sarata, North Vatin, South Vatin, Verbicoara, Tei and partially Otomani also.

Also remarkable: For E-Z5018 as whole, despite being the by far largest branch and most important branch, likely dominant demographically since about 1000 BC the latest, we only have 2 samples from before 200 BC and nothing older than 400 BC.

The oldest sample is a Thraco-Scythian individual from a smaller E-Z5018 branch from Crimea, about 400-300 BC. His autosomal profile is nearly identical with some Daco-Sarmatian individuals, so he's being closest to an East Carpathian (like Vekerzug East, Mezocsat Gáva-related or Himera mercenary etc.) - Scythian mix. The second oldest is an E-Y3183/E-A7136 from the Akbari set, from South of the Danube, in the Balkans presumably, from an unknown context and with a Thracian-like autosomal profile and IBD matching. It looks like an isolated find, since he didn't come from a series. He has limited IBD sharing with the later 1800 BP set with lots of E-FGC11451, E-L241 and E-CTS9320 as well as other rather Northern (mostly Z5018 and Z5017) branches from this male biased pulse migration into a Balkan Roman region.
So he is clearly related to or coming from the same source population(s) like this big 1800-1600 BP transect group of Daco-Thracian E-V13 settlers.

But that's it. Nothing before 400 BC yet, unless I have missed it. Especially not from the 4 big S2979 founders.

Also remarkable: Practically every LBA-EIA founder branch (exceptions are the smaller E-Z21371 and E-Y157412) has at least one Albanian founder lineage later. Some have mutliple ones. And they totally dominant the Albanian E-V13 population.

 

[PaleoRevenge]

The Bulgarian paper has the following samples, though keep in mind only 90.8% of these yielded DNA succesfully:

total is 918

• Prehistory: 89
• Iron Age: 55
• Hellenistic: 10
• Roman: 42
• Late Antiquity: 203
• Early Medieval (1st Kingdom): 54
• Medieval (2nd Kingdom / Byzantine): 401
• Ottoman / Renewal: 34
• Other / Unassigned: 38

So the akhabri database did not add new Thracian samples, assuming all the samples are new and unrelated to what was disclosed in southernarc.

 

[rafc]

Thanks, that is a bit reassuring. I was worried the lack of older/Thracian-looking samples from the Akbari set might mean the Bulgarian Transect was very underwhelming.
On the other hand, 89 samples for "Prehistory" is not gigantic for such a large area and time-period. I think there are a bunch of Akbari samples that come from the transect and are new EBA samples which are very comparable to the ones we already have. On top the 89 would also include any new Neolithic to Chalcolithic samples, and probably also Steppe ones from the BA (Yamnaya to Coslogeni). So I'm worried that the period 2500-1000BC will be very lightly covered, especially by non-Steppe samples, while this is exactly the period we need to understand the origins and spread of V13 better, whether local or arrival.

Any guesses on the sites? I think the prehistoric site in the Northeast might be Kamenovo, which would probably mean mainly Chalcolithic samples.

 

[Riverman]

If we look at the Akbari samples, the most important sample by far is I41598, because he is the oldest known sample from around 1300 BC with a very interesting IBD sharing which is more than 90 % old Daco-Thracian in ancestry. The big issue with this sample however is, that its a singleton. Not from a series, no other samples appear to be from the same site or context. This in turn might imply he could be a stray find, probably even without proper context or an outlier.

The closest sample by serial number and dating is this one:

Target: Akbari2026:I41552.TW
Distance: 3.5493% / 0.03549270
49.6 Yamnaya_RUS_Samara
41.2 TUR_Barcin_N
4.6 WHG
3.4 Levant_Natufian
1.2 IRN_Wezmeh_N

This haplogroup: https://discover.familytreedna.com/y-dna/I-BY37214/tree

Which modern and ancient distribution is somewhat similar to those of some E-V13 branches.

He is 120 years older, so pre-LBA-EIA transition.

mtDNA is https://discover.familytreedna.com/mtdna/H5e1/tree

If speculating this individual I41552 was from the vicinity of where I41598 was found, just 120 years prior, it is a completely different population. Not without the possibility of contributing to the Thracians on a small scale, even on the contrary, but completely different autosomally nevertheless. And that's 3426 vs. 3300 BP. An absolutely crucial timing for the South, since around 1300 BC the big second/third expansion of the Thracian groups just started in some regions.

These are his IBD matches - he seems to have Tumulus culture and Sabatinovka-Coslogeni and older layer Horodistea-Foltesti/GAC ancestry:
I41552.TW unknown
I10245.AG 32.58 unknown (Central Europe, NE profile, 2000 BC, Tumulus culture?)
I10243.AG 25.07 unknown (Central Europe, NE profile, 2000 BC, Tumulus culture?)
I10247.AG 20.11 unknown (Central Europe, NE profile, 2000 BC, Tumulus culture?)
ILK003.AG 18.31 Ukraine_EBA_GlobularAmphorae
I7278.SG 16.97 Czechia_BA_BellBeaker (same direction as the cluster of TC samples before!)
NEO306.SG 16.42 Estonia_CWC
I11840.AG 15.92 Russia_Samara_EBA_Yamnaya
j6-1.SG 15.63 Russia_BA_SrubnayaAlakul
b33-1.AG.SG 15.61 Russia_BA_SrubnayaAlakul
I20974.AG 12.25 unknown
I10246.AG 12.13 unknown
I7487.SG 11.64 Russia_Chelyabinsk_EBA_Yamnaya
I41707.TW 11.11 unknown
I20243.AG 11.00 unknown
I20101.AG.TW 10.82 Russia_Altai_Afanasievo_contam
I2786_enhanced.AG 10.68 Hungary_EBA_BellBeaker
Latvia_LN1.SG 10.56 Latvia_LN_CordedWare
I25169.AG 10.54 unknown
pcw361.SG 10.38 Poland_Southeast_CordedWare
I25161.AG 10.33 Russia_Altai_Afanasievo
I5272.AG 10.10 Russia_Afanasievo
I11990.AG 9.91 Russia_Orenburg_EBA_Yamnaya
I12168.AG.TW 9.82 Ukraine_EBA_Yamnaya
I17745.AG.TW 9.82 Moldova_EBA_Yamnaya
I26780.AG 9.59 Russia_Rostov_EBA_Yamnaya
I8291.AG 9.53 Russia_Samara_EBA_Yamnaya
I24287.AG 9.50 unknown
I45279_preQC.TW 9.46 unknown
I44641.TW 9.45 unknown
I40828.TW 9.40 unknown
I29560.TW 9.27 unknown
I25649.AG 9.21 unknown
ROU003.AG 9.20 Czechia_EBA_Unetice
b1-2.AG.SG 9.13 Russia_BA_SrubnayaAlakul
I14189.AG 9.12 Czechia_EBA_Unetice
FRA033.SG 9.08 Sweden_Fralsegarden_N
I38758.TW 9.03 unknown
I6735.SG 8.96 Russia_Saratov_Khvalynsk_Eneolithic
I26195.AG 8.93 unknown
poz929.SG 8.92 Poland_Iwno_EBA
I26431.AG 8.90 unknown
CGG100683.SG 8.83 Denmark_Medieval
I13764.AG 8.81 unknown
I5126.SG 8.80 Hungary_EBA_Yamnaya
I7249.SG 8.80 Czechia_BA_BellBeaker
I10034.AG.TW 8.79 Russia_Orenburg_EBA_Yamnaya
I33071.TW 8.78 unknown
I18797.AG.TW 8.77 unknown
I30157.TW 8.74 unknown
I2800.AG 8.73 United_Kingdom_Scotland_Viking_o
POH002.SG 8.69 United_Kingdom_England_Saxon
I4258.AG 8.69 Tajikistan_BA_DashtiKozy
FRA032.SG 8.66 Sweden_Fralsegarden_N
S47607_Fluffle.19_SQ.TW 8.64 unknown
I7490.AG 8.61 Russia_Samara_EBA_Yamnaya
I12992.AG 8.56 unknown
b30-1.AG.SG 8.55 Russia_BA_SrubnayaAlakul
I3532.AG 8.53 unknown
I40600.TW 8.53 unknown
I10244.AG 8.52 unknown
I7848.AG 8.51 Moldova_EBA_Yamnaya
VK184.SG 8.51 Greenland_EarlyNorse
I31889.TW 8.49 unknown
VLI010.AG 8.49 Czechia_EBA_CordedWare
I44514.TW 8.44 unknown
FRA029.SG 8.40 Sweden_Fralsegarden_N
I6718.SG 8.40 Russia_MLBA_Krasnoyarsk
TRM006.AG 8.37 Czechia_EBA_CordedWare
RKC026.AG 8.37 Hungary_MiddleLateAvar
I43286.TW 8.35 unknown
I3951.SG 8.33 Russia_Afanasievo
I24089.AG 8.32 Russia_Rostov_EBA_Yamnaya
I26021.AG 8.32 unknown
I33864.TW 8.32 Russia_Kalmykia_EBA_Yamnaya
KO1002.AG 8.32 Czechia_EBA_CordedWare
I44885_preQC.TW 8.30 unknown
pcw061.SG 8.29 Poland_Southeast_CordedWare
N18.SG 8.29 Poland_TRB
I16892.AG 8.23 unknown
I0099_enhanced.AG 8.23 Germany_LBA_Halberstadt
VK551.SG 8.23 Estonia_EarlyViking
I13793.AG 8.18 Czechia_LBA_Knoviz
I4783.AG 8.17 Kazakhstan_MLBA_KazakhMys
I26783.AG 8.17 Russia_Rostov_EBA_Yamnaya
I8480.AG 8.16 unknown
I20130.AG 8.15 unknown
I38681.TW 8.13 unknown
I5521.AG 8.13 Germany_Lech_BellBeaker
I12510.AG 8.11 Moldova_MBA
I43269.TW 8.09 unknown
I41611.TW 8.08 unknown
I25160.AG 8.08 Russia_Altai_Afanasievo
I29559.TW 8.08 Russia_Rostov_Remontnoye_EBA_Yamnaya
UZZ075.AG 8.08 Italy_Sicily_N_Stentinello
VLI076.AG 8.07 Czechia_EBA_CordedWare
I7482.SG 8.06 unknown
I10490.AG 8.06 unknown
I12249.AG 8.05 unknown
R75.SG 8.04 Italy_Imperial
I6728.SG 8.01 Russia_Samara_EBA_Yamnaya
I28395.AG.TW 8.00 unknown
I44317_preQC.TW 8.00 unknown
I6721.AG 7.98 unknown
I26013.AG 7.95 unknown
I26328.AG 7.94 unknown
I28167.AG 7.93 unknown
RISE1163.SG 7.93 Poland_Koszyce_GlobularAmphora
RISE1173.SG 7.93 Poland_Koszyce_GlobularAmphora
I34046.TW 7.91 Carpathian_Basin_Avar
I1852.AG.TW 7.91 Russia_MLBA_Krasnoyarsk
MOK9B.SG 7.89 Serbia_Mokrin_EBA_Maros
RDV001.AG 7.88 Czechia_EBA_CordedWare
I7864.AG 7.87 Russia_Yaroslavl_Fatyanovo_BA
I26089.AG 7.87 Russia_Altai_Afanasievo
I17747.AG.TW 7.84 Moldova_EBA_Yamnaya_o
I42396.TW 7.83 unknown
POST_6.AG 7.81 Germany_Lech_EBA
MA2206.SG 7.80 Turkey_Central_Kalehoyuk_AssyrianColonyPeriod
I2860.SG 7.79 United_Kingdom_Scotland_LBA
I46585.TW 7.78 unknown
UKR012-I.SG 7.78 Ukraine_Zaporizhzhia_Cuman_Medieval
BK-2.SG 7.73 Hungary_Conqueror_Elite
FRA034.SG 7.72 Sweden_Fralsegarden_N
I20644.AG 7.71 United_Kingdom_England_EarlyMedieval_Saxon
I25018.AG 7.70 unknown
MYG008.AG 7.70 Greece_Mygdalia_LBA
I28163.AG 7.69 unknown
I25513.AG 7.67 unknown
I12408.AG 7.66 unknown
ST0101.SG 7.66 Belgium_Flanders_Sint_Truiden_EarlyHighMedieval
b22-1.SG 7.64 Russia_BA_SrubnayaAlakul
I40160.TW 7.63 unknown
I43501_preQC.TW 7.62 unknown
I25024.AG 7.62 unknown
I7677.AG 7.60 Russia_Samara_EBA_Yamnaya
RKC018.AG 7.59 Hungary_LateAvar
I39268.TW 7.57 unknown
RISE555.SG 7.57 Russia_EBA_o1
b8-1.AG.SG 7.56 Russia_BA_SrubnayaAlakul
pcw260.SG 7.56 Poland_Southeast_BellBeaker
I10630.AG.TW 7.55 Russia_Orenburg_EBA_Yamnaya
CHL001.AG 7.54 Czechia_EBA_Unetice
I11999.AG.TW 7.54 Ukraine_EBA_Yamnaya
I20184.AG 7.54 Bulgaria_EIA
I31263.TW 7.54 unknown
I3390.SG 7.54 Russia_MLBA_Krasnoyarsk
I26832.AG 7.53 Netherlands_MBA
I34427.TW 7.53 unknown
I31187.TW 7.52 unknown
I0103.SG 7.51 Germany_CordedWare
I4200.AG 7.51 unknown
I12413.AG 7.51 United_Kingdom_England_EastYorkshire_MIA_LIA
I31895.TW 7.51 unknown
I35657.TW 7.51 unknown
I12087.AG 7.50 unknown
I35331.TW 7.50 unknown
I37643.TW 7.50 unknown
I12989.AG 7.49 unknown
I45579.TW 7.49 unknown
I40182.TW 7.49 unknown
I39548.TW 7.48 unknown
I7887.AG 7.48 unknown
I6695.AG 7.46 Czechia_EBA_CordedWare
I27119.AG 7.46 unknown
I22197.AG 7.45 Russia_Volgograd_EBA_Yamnaya
I44567_preQC.TW 7.45 unknown
I6727.SG 7.44 Russia_Samara_EBA_Yamnaya
I12843.AG 7.43 Ukraine_EBA_Yamnaya
I6778.AG 7.43 United_Kingdom_England_BellBeaker_o
I3530.AG 7.43 unknown
I0059.AG 7.42 Germany_BenzigerodeHeimburg_LN
I6733.SG 7.42 Russia_Samara_EBA_Yamnaya
RISE1169.SG 7.40 Poland_Koszyce_GlobularAmphora
I7359.AG 7.38 Russia_Ivanovo_Fatyanovo_BA
I26436.AG 7.37 unknown
I33454.TW 7.37 unknown
I7783.AG 7.36 Russia_Yaroslavl_Fatyanovo_BA
I33308.TW 7.36 Russia_Kalmykia_EBA_Yamnaya
I42067.TW 7.36 unknown
I43105_preQC.TW 7.35 unknown
I20956.AG 7.35 unknown
I42707.TW 7.34 unknown
I46358.TW 7.34 unknown
I25002.AG 7.33 unknown
WEHR_1415adult.AG 7.33 Germany_Lech_EBA_possible_contam
b32-2.AG.SG 7.33 Russia_BA_SrubnayaAlakul
I5519.AG 7.33 Germany_Lech_BellBeaker
I1450.AG 7.33 Russia_Samara_EBA_Yamnaya
R1223.SG 7.32 Italy_PalazzoDellaCancelleria_Medieval_oEurope
RISE547.SG 7.31 Russia_Remontnoye_EBA_Yamnaya
I5872.AG.TW 7.31 Ukraine_N
MX280.AG 7.31 Germany_SouthernGermany_Singen_EBA
I26433.AG 7.30 unknown
I25851.AG 7.30 unknown
RISE1248.SG 7.29 Poland_Ksiaznice_GlobularAmphora
I13007.AG 7.29 unknown
I13796.AG 7.29 Czechia_LBA_Knoviz
I7207.AG 7.27 Czechia_EBA_CordedWare
NEO51.SG 7.26 Sweden_MN_BAC
I43718.TW 7.26 unknown
I7629.AG 7.26 United_Kingdom_England_LBA
I34811.TW 7.26 unknown
I35783.TW 7.24 unknown
I10598.AG 7.23 unknown
I15729.AG 7.23 Armenia_NerkinGetashen_LBA
HG00119 7.22 unknown
I12637.AG 7.21 Moldova_EBA_Yamnaya
I12966.AG 7.21 unknown
I42711.TW 7.21 unknown
I35779.TW 7.20 unknown
CHL003.AG 7.19 Czechia_EBA_Unetice
I6297.AG.TW 7.19 Russia_Samara_Orlovka_EBA_Yamnaya
I7785.AG 7.19 Russia_Yaroslavl_Fatyanovo_BA
I10592.AG 7.19 unknown
I20559.AG 7.19 Russia_Khakassia_Afanasievo_Yenisei
UNTA85_1343.AG 7.19 Germany_Lech_BellBeaker
NEO653.SG 7.19 Spain_Asturias_BA
I0507.AG 7.18 Kazakhstan_Dali_MLBA
I5748.DG 7.18 Netherlands_LNB_BellBeaker
I17743.AG.TW 7.18 Moldova_EBA_Yamnaya
LEU007.AG 7.18 Germany_EBA_Unetice
I7485.AG 7.18 unknown
I25168.AG 7.18 unknown
I39283.TW 7.17 unknown
I24845.AG 7.17 unknown
I38851.TW 7.16 unknown
I13078.AG 7.16 unknown
I10248.AG 7.15 unknown
I5232.SG 7.15 Serbia_IronGates_Mesolithic_o
I42403.TW 7.14 unknown
KED002.AG 7.14 Russia_Kideksha_Modern
I39314.TW 7.13 unknown
I28732.TW 7.13 unknown
I44733.TW 7.13 unknown
I7784.AG 7.13 Russia_Yaroslavl_Fatyanovo_BA
I6799.AG 7.11 Kazakhstan_MLBA_Alakul_Satan
kzb002.SG 7.11 Russia_LBA_Srubnaya_Alakul
I16713.AG 7.11 unknown
I6591.AG 7.11 Germany_BellBeaker
I3396.SG 7.10 Russia_MLBA_Krasnoyarsk
I24558.AG 7.09 Italy_Sicily_Marsala_Lilybaeum_Roman
I43372.TW 7.09 unknown
I6775.AG 7.08 United_Kingdom_England_BellBeaker
I3913.AG 7.08 Iran_DinkhaTepe_BA_IA_1
NEO738.SG 7.05 Denmark_SouthScandinavia_LN
RISE523.SG 7.05 Russia_Mezhovskaya
Gordion001.SG 7.04 Turkey_Central_Gordion_IA
I32875.TW 7.04 Russia_Kalmykia_EBA_Yamnaya
RISE1247.SG 7.03 Poland_Ksiaznice_GlobularAmphora
I24487.AG 7.03 unknown
I7205.AG 7.03 Czechia_BellBeaker
I6105.SG 7.01 Russia_Saratov_Khvalynsk_Eneolithic
I45172_preQC.TW 7.01 unknown

A possible evidence for this population to have contributed to the Thraicans is the Southern-local admixed South Thracian individual I20184 being a match. Yes, it is a small match, but I don't think its arbitrary. Its also remarkable that Southern-local admixed, non-core Thracian individuals we got have more matching with these older layers time and time again, even if those older samples have higher steppe or higher Anatolian or whatever, doesn't matter.

It seems to be that these admixed individuals come from Thracian groups which simply soaked up more from the substrate and neighbours than the Daco-Thracian core has, individuals like I20183 and I20181 or I41598.

Interesting to think about where exactly could Noua-Sabatinovka-Coslogeni meet up with Tumulus culture groups? I asked ChatGPT which region he would predict with this type of profile and dating:

At ~3426 BP (~1430 BC), that combination fits best with the Lower Danube–Carpathian contact zone during the mature Noua horizon and peak Tumulus interaction. Most likely candidates:

• Oltenia / western Muntenia
• north Bulgaria
• eastern Serbia
• southern or southeastern Transylvania

Less likely: deep Ukraine/Moldova steppe core. The strong older Balkan substrate points more toward a western/southern frontier population interacting with both Noua-Sabatinovka and Tumulus networks.

I-P78, his upstream position was found in EBA Tell Kran (Horodistea-Foltesti/Cernavoda II) and Beli Breyag (Nova Zagora), so both sites are in the central Bulgarian region, close to the Balkan mountain chain.

So that's most likely a Serbian or Bulgarian LBA sample. And it has astonishing connections and mixture with Horodistea-Foltesti + Tumulus culture + Sabatinovka.

The real fascinating part is indeed that just about 100 years later we have this proto-typical E-V13 carrier, assuming he is from the same wider region, which kind of wiped all of that out. Even the most admixed South Thracians (Southern shifted female, R-Z93 carrier etc.) have only minor to moderate admixture from this type of population.

And I would definitely associate this individual with a group of Coslogeni which mixed with some Tumulus culture inspired group. I speculated about Coslogeni being the base for this individual, asked ChatGPT again:

If the base is essentially Coslogeni culture, then the most likely mixing zone with Tumulus-derived populations would be the western Lower Danube and Iron Gates sphere.

The best candidates are probably interactions with:

• Gârla Mare culture
• late Verbicioara culture groups
• or early Cruceni-Belegiš culture expansions.

Especially the Cruceni-Belegiš / Belegiš I horizon is important because it carried strong Tumulus/Urnfield-related influence southeastward into:

• Banat,
• Serbia,
• Oltenia,
• and the Lower Danube interaction zone.

So a Coslogeni-derived individual with Tumulus-like affinities would fit very well in:

• eastern Serbia,
• western Bulgaria,
• Iron Gates,
• or Oltenia,
  where these networks overlapped around 1450–1200 BC.

 

[PaleoRevenge]

Any guesses on the sites? I think the prehistoric site in the Northeast might be Kamenovo, which would probably mean mainly Chalcolithic samples.

Extremely hard to make out the sites, I gave up, maybe I'll try some ai image enhancer,see if things clear up. Great coverage of the country overall, north-west seems the least sampled. Going by the map, they did not include Kapitan Andreevo, so they are strictly discussing the new samples.