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Andronovo Culture (c. 1800-1400 BCE)

Quick Facts

  • Descended from the Sintashta-Petrovka Culture and suceeded by the Karasuk Culture (1400-800 BCE).
  • Considered to be the ancestral culture of the Proto-Indo-Iranian speakers, and therefore of the Indo-Aryan, Iranic, Dardic and Nuristani people.
  • Semi-nomadic pastoral economy based principally on cattle, sheep/goat and horse herding. Some settled farmers around the Amu Darya. Regular use of horses for riding and for drawing chariots.
  • Flat-bottomed, well smoothed pottery decorated with geometric patterns. Intensive copper and bronze mettalurgy with distinctive curved bronze knives and twisted earrings.
  • Pit-houses were partly dug into the ground (semi-subterranean), with deep storage pits and corridor-shaped exits. Dwellings were spacious (80 to 300 mē) and constructed on two rows either in a semi-circular or rectangular plan. They were usually aligned overlooking river banks.
  • Inhumations in underground timber or stone chambers inside round or rectangular kurgans. The bodies were accompanied by sacrificed animals (mostly horses and dogs), chariots, cheek pieces, weapons, pottery and jewellery.
Distribution of the Andronovo Culture

Genetic Analysis

Y-DNA & mtDNA

MtDNA samples from the Bronze Age Central Asia & southern Siberia
Hg N1a R0/HV H HV0/V J T1 T2 U2 U3 U4 U5 K I W X Others
N=30 0 1 3 0 0 3 2 3 0 5 6 1 2 0 0 4
% 0% 3.5% 10% 0% 0% 10% 6.5% 10% 0% 15% 20% 3.5% 3.5% 0% 0% 13.5%

Andronovo samples from southwest Siberia

The following mtDNA samples from the Krasnoyarsk area in southern Siberia were tested Keyser et al. (2009).

Sample Y-DNA mtDNA Location Date
S07 C U4 Tatarka cemetery (burial 64), Charypovsky region 1800-1400 BCE
S08 - Z1 Solenoozernoye IV Kurgan, Krasnoyarsk 1800-1400 BCE
S09 - T1 Solenoozernoye IV Kurgan, Krasnoyarsk 1800-1400 BCE
S10 R1a1a U2e Solenoozernoye IV Kurgan, Krasnoyarsk 1800-1400 BCE
S11 - T2a1b1 Solenoozernoye IV Kurgan, Krasnoyarsk 1800-1400 BCE
S13 - H6 Solenoozernoye IV Kurgan, Krasnoyarsk 1800-1400 BCE
S14 - U4 Solenoozernoye I Kurgan, Krasnoyarsk 1800-1400 BCE
S15 - K2b Solenoozernoye I Kurgan, Krasnoyarsk 1800-1400 BCE
S16 R1a1a U5a1 Chief Kurgan, Oust-Abakansty, Khakassia republic 1800-1400 BCE

The following samples were tested by Allentoft et al. (2015).

Sample Y-DNA mtDNA Location Date
RISE500 - U4d1 Kytmanovo, Altai Krai ?
RISE503 - U2e2 Kytmanovo, Altai Krai 1600 BCE
RISE505 - U4a1b Kytmanovo, Altai Krai 1700 BCE
RISE512 R1a1a1b (S224) U2e1 Kytmanovo, Altai Krai 1370 BCE

Karasuk samples from southern Siberia

Keyser et al. (2009) also tested two samples from the Karasuk culture in Khakassia (south-central Siberia) in southern Siberia.

Sample Y-DNA mtDNA Location Date
S18 - U5a1 Oust-Abakansty, Kurgan IV, burial 1, Khakassia republic 1400-800 BCE
S19 - U4* Bogratsky, burial 1, Khakassia republic 1400-800 BCE

The following samples were tested by Allentoft et al. (2015).

Sample Y-DNA mtDNA Location Date
RISE493 Q1a C4a1c Sabinka 2, Altai Krai 1570 BCE
RISE494 R1a1a1 (M417) I4a1 Sabinka 2, Altai Krai 1350 BCE
RISE495 R1a1a1 D4j1 Arban 1, Altai Krai ?
RISE496 - U5a1a2a Arban 1, Altai Krai 1330 BCE
RISE497 - A Arban 1, Altai Krai ?
RISE499 - H5a1 Bytrovka, Altai Krai ?
RISE502 - U5a1d Bytrovka, Altai Krai 1400 BCE

Karasuk samples from Kazakhstan

Lalueza-Fox et al. (2004) tested 8 samples from the Karasuk culture in Kazakhstan.

  • HV
  • H
  • I
  • T1 (x2)
  • T2
  • U5
  • U5a1

Comparison with modern populations

An analysis using MyTrueAncestry.com to compare the genomes of the Andronovo people with those of modern Europeans showed that the closest match in term of genetic distance were the Finns. No other modern European population could be said to be ethnically similar. Perhaps that is because modern Finns have about 6% of Mongoloid Siberian DNA and that Andronovo people also had a small amount of East Asian ancestry.


Follow-up

Find out the latest studies and discuss them on the Ancient DNA Forum.