DNA Sequenced From Ancient Saka Burials in Kyrgyzstan Reveals Ancestry and Kinship

Paleogeneticists have sequenced the DNA of ancient Saka people from a burial site in Kyrgyzstan, offering new insights into their origins and social structures. The analysis focused on remains from the Boz-Barmak burial ground, which dates back to the 4th-2nd centuries BCE.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, involved analyzing DNA from 12 individuals. Researchers successfully sequenced nine genomes, revealing not only familial relationships among them but also tracing a significant portion of their ancestry to earlier nomadic populations from the regions of Kazakhstan and Western Siberia.

The Boz-Barmak burial site was discovered in 2022 during the construction of a railway section near Lake Issyk-Kul. Archaeologists identified it as an early Iron Age burial ground, believed to have been used by the Saka people to inter members of their local elite. The site consisted of several kurgans, with diameters ranging from 7 to 14 meters and heights of about one meter. Unfortunately, most of the excavated graves had been looted.

A team of scientists from Austria, Kyrgyzstan, and the United States, led by Martin Kuhlwilm of the University of Vienna, conducted the genetic analysis. Of the nine sequenced genomes, six belonged to women and three to men. While no first-degree relatives were found, the analysis identified three pairs of second-degree relatives (e.g., aunt/uncle and nephew/niece) and three pairs of third-degree relatives (e.g., cousins).

The study also indicated a pattern of patrilocality, where women moved to their husband's community after marriage, suggested by the diverse mitochondrial haplogroups among individuals and a common Y-chromosome haplogroup (R1a1a1b2) found in three of the men. This haplogroup is frequently observed in modern Kyrgyz and Tajik populations. The research provides valuable information about the genetic landscape and social dynamics of the Saka people in ancient Central Asia.