User:Tewdar/sandbox/WSH V6
Archaeogenetic name for an ancestral genetic component / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In archaeogenetics, Western Steppe Herder (WSH), is the name given to a distinct ancestral component first identified in individuals from the Pontic-Caspian steppe during the Eneolithic and thought to have formed at least by around the turn of the 5th millennium BC. This ancestry is found in substantial levels in many ancient and modern populations. It is also referred to as Yamnaya Ancestry, Yamnaya-Related Ancestry, Steppe Ancestry or Steppe-Related Ancestry, and may also be divided chronologically into Eneolithic, Early to Middle Bronze Age, and Middle to Late Bronze Age steppe ancestry, each with distinctive characteristics.
So-called 'Eneolithic steppe' ancestry is usually modelled as an mixture of eastern European hunter-gatherer (EHG) and Caucasus Hunter-Gatherer (CHG) ancestry in roughly equal proportions, with the majority of the Y-DNA haplogroup contribution from EHG males. So called steppe Early to Middle Bronze Age (steppe EMBA) ancestry consists of an additional Anatolian Farmer component and a small amount of WHG. So called steppe Middle to Late Bronze Age (steppe MLBA) ancestry additionally contains a substantial contribution from Neolithic European farmers.
Around 3,000 BC, populations bearing steppe ancestry embarked on a massive expansion throughout Eurasia, which is considered to be associated with the dispersal of many of the Indo-European languages by most contemporary linguists, archaeologists, and geneticists. These migrations are linked to the origins of the Afanasievo culture in South Siberia, who are genetically indistinguishable from Yamnaya Samara, the Corded Ware culture of North-Central and Eastern Europe, whose members were of about 75% steppe ancestry, and the Bell Beaker culture, who were around 50% steppe ancestry. The expansion of people with this ancestry resulted in the virtual disappearance of Early European Farmer (EEF) male haplotypes from the European gene pool, and significantly altered the cultural and genetic landscape of Europe.
During the Bronze Age, eastern Corded Ware people, with admixture from Central European cultures, remigrated onto the steppe, forming the Sintashta culture south of the Ural mountains. Through the Andronovo culture and Srubnaya culture, Steppe Middle to Late Bronze Age ancestry was carried into Central Asia and South Asia along with Indo-Iranian languages, leaving a long-lasting cultural and genetic legacy.
In modern Europeans, WSH ancestry peaks among Norwegians (c. 50%), while in South Asia, it peaks among the Kalash people at around c. 30–50%.
Steppe ancestry is associated with speakers of Indo-European languages by several modern geneticists, archaeologists, and linguists. Cultures with significant levels of Steppe ancestry, such as the Afanasievo, Corded Ware, Bell Beaker, and Andronovo cultures, have been seen as likely vectors for the spread of Indo-European languages into Europe and Asia.