Yamnaya culture

The Yamnaya culture (/jəmˈnæjə/ or /ˈjæmnəjə/, Russian: Я́мная культу́ра, IPA: [ˈjamnəjə kulʲ
ˈtura]) also known as the Yamnaya Horizon,[2] Yamna culture, Pit Grave culture or Ochre Grave
culture, was a late Copper Age to early Bronze Age archaeological culture of the region between
the Southern Bug, Dniester, and Ural rivers (the Pontic steppe), dating to 3300–2600 BC.[3] Its
name derives from its characteristic burial tradition: Я́мная (romanization: yamnaya) is a
Russian adjective that means 'related to pits (yama)', and these people used to bury their dead in
tumuli (kurgans) containing simple pit chambers. The people of the Yamnaya culture were likely
the result of a genetic admixture between the descendants of Eastern European Hunter-
Gatherers[a] and people related to hunter-gatherers from the Caucasus.[4] People with this
ancestral component are known as Western Steppe Herders.[5] Their material culture was very
similar to the Afanasevo culture, and the populations of both cultures are genetically
indistinguishable.[1] They lived primarily as nomads, with a chiefdom system and wheeled carts
and wagons that allowed them to manage large herds.
 Yamnaya culture

Alternative names Pit Grave culture

Yamna culture

Ochre Grave culture

Yamnaya Horizon

Geographical range Eurasia

Period Bronze Age

Dates c. 3300–2600 BC

Preceded by Samara culture, Khvalynsk culture, Dnieper–

Donets culture, Sredny Stog culture, Repin culture,
Maykop culture

Followed by West: Catacomb culture

East: Poltavka culture, Srubnaya culture

North: Corded Ware culture (possibly from

Yamnaya culture)[1]

They are also closely connected to Final Neolithic cultures, which later spread throughout
Europe and Central Asia, especially the Corded Ware people and the Bell Beaker culture, as well
as the peoples of the Sintashta, Andronovo, and Srubnaya cultures. Back migration from Corded
Ware also contributed to Sintashta and Andronovo.[6] In these groups, several aspects of the
Yamnaya culture are present.[b] Genetic studies have also indicated that these populations
derived large parts of their ancestry from the steppes.[1][7][8][9]
The Yamnaya culture is identified with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans, and the Pontic-Caspian
steppe is the strongest candidate for the Urheimat (original homeland) of the Proto-Indo-
European language.

Origins …

Corded ware pot, Yamnaya culture

 Origins of Yamnaya culture

Sredny Stog culture (v.4500-3500 BCE)

Usatovo culture (c. 3500–3000 BCE)

Khvalynsk culture (c. 4900–3500 BCE)

Location of early Yamnaya culture (3400 BCE), according to Anthony (2007)

Largest expansion of the Yamnaya culture. Ca. 3500 origins of Usatovo culture; 3400 origins of Yamnaya; c. 3400–3200
expansion of Yamnaya across the Pontic-Caspian steppe; c. 3000 end of Tripolye culture, and transformation of Yamnaya
into Corded Ware in the contact zone east of the Carpatian mountains; 3100–2600 Yamnaya expansion into the Danube
Valley.[10][11][12]

According to Pavel Dolukhanov (1996) the emergence of the Pit-Grave culture represents a
social development of various local Bronze Age cultures, representing "an expression of social
stratification and the emergence of chiefdom-type nomadic social structures", which in turn
intensified inter-group contacts between essentially heterogeneous social groups.[13]

According to Mallory (1999), "The origin of the Yamnaya culture is still a topic of debate," with
proposals for its origins pointing to both Khvalynsk and Sredny Stog.[14] The Khvalynsk culture
(4700–3800 BCE)[15] (middle Volga) and the Don-based Repin culture (ca.3950–3300 BCE)[16] in
the eastern Pontic-Caspian steppe, and the closely related Sredny Stog culture (c. 4500–3500
BCE) in the western Pontic-Caspian steppe, preceded the Yamnaya culture (3300–2500
BCE).[17][18]

According to Anthony (2007), the Yamnaya culture (3300–2600 BCE) originated in the Don–
Volga area at ca. 3400 BCE,[19][3] preceded by the middle Volga-based Khvalynsk culture and the
Don-based Repin culture (c. 3950–3300 BC),[16][3] arguing that late pottery from these two
cultures can barely be distinguished from early Yamnaya pottery.[20] Earlier continuity from
eneolithic but largely hunter-gatherer Samara culture and influences from the more agricultural
Dnieper–Donets II are apparent.

Alternatively, Parpola (2015) relates both the Corded ware culture and the Yamnaya culture to
the late Tripolye culture.[21] He hypothesizes that "the Tripolye culture was taken over by PIE
speakers by c. 4000 BCE,"[22] and that in its final phase the Tripolye culture expanded to the
steppes, morphing into various regional cultures which fused with the late Sredny Stog
pastoralist cultures. This gave rise to the Yamnaya culture.[23]

According to Anthony (2007), the early Yamnaya horizon spread quickly across the Pontic–
Caspian steppes between c. 3400 and 3200 BC:[19]

The spread of the Yamnaya horizon was the material expression of the
spread of late Proto-Indo-European across the Pontic–Caspian
steppes.[24]
[...] The Yamnaya horizon is the visible archaeological expression of a
 social adjustment to high mobility – the invention of the political
infrastructure to manage larger herds from mobile homes based in the
steppes.[25]

The Yamnaya (Pit-grave) culture was succeeded in its western range by the Catacomb culture
(2800–2200 BC); in the east, by the Poltavka culture (2700–2100 BC) at the middle Volga. These
two cultures were followed by the Srubnaya culture (18th–12th century BC).

Characteristics …

Yamnaya culture grave, Volgograd Oblast

Yamnaya culture was semi-nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers and a few
hillforts.[26]

Mallory and Adams suggest that Yamnaya society may have had a tripartite structure of three
differentiated social classes, although the evidence available does not demonstrate the
existence of specific classes such as priests, warriors, and farmers.[27]

Characteristic for the culture are the burials in pit graves under kurgans (tumuli), often
accompanied with animal offerings. The dead bodies were placed in a supine position with bent
knees and covered in ochre. Multiple graves have been found in these kurgans, often as later
insertions.It has been argued that kurgan burials were rare, and reserved for special adults, who
were predominantly, but not necessarily, male.[28] Status and gender are marked by grave goods
and position, and in some areas, elite individuals are buried with complete wooden wagons.[29]
Grave goods are more common in eastern Yamnaya burials than in western areas.

In the northern Pontic steppes were excavated the oldest wheels in the world, which may
tentatively be associated with the Indo-Europeans.[30] The Yamnaya culture possessed and
utilized both two-wheeled carts and four-wheeled wagons, which are thought to have been oxen-
drawn at this time, and there is evidence that they practised horse riding.[31]

Anthony[32] speculates that the Yamnaya ate a diet consisting of meat, milk, yogurt, cheese, and
soups made from seeds and wild vegetables, and probably consumed mead.

Metallurgists and other craftsmen are given a special status in Yamnaya society, and metal
objects are sometimes found in large quantities in elite graves. New metalworking technologies
and weapon designs are used.[29]

Archaeogenetics …

According to Jones et al. (2015) and Haak et al. (2015), autosomal tests indicate that the
Yamnaya people were the result of a genetic admixture between two different hunter-gatherer
populations: distinctive "Eastern Hunter-Gatherers" (EHG) with high affinity to the Mal'ta–Buret'
culture or other, closely related people from Siberia[7] and a population of "Caucasus hunter-
gatherers" (CHG) who probably arrived from the Caucasus or, less probably, what is now
Iran.[33][4] Each of those two populations contributed about half the Yamnaya DNA.[8][4] This
admixture is referred to in archaeogenetics as Western Steppe Herder (WSH) ancestry.

Admixture between EHGs and CHGs is believed to have occurred on the eastern Pontic-Caspian
steppe starting around 5,000 BC, while admixture with Early European Farmers (EEF) happened
in the southern parts of the Pontic-Caspian steppe sometime later. As Yamnaya Y-DNA is
exclusively of the EHG and WHG type, displaying genetic continuity from the paternal lineages of
the Dnieper-Donets culture, the admixture appears to have occurred predominately between EHG
males, and CHG and EEF females.
Haplogroup R1b, especially subclades of R1b-M269, is the most common Y-DNA haplogroup
found among both the Yamnaya and modern-day Western Europeans.[1][7] Additionally, a minority
are found to belong to haplogroup I2.[8] They are found to belong to a wider variety of mtDNA
haplogroups, including U, T, and haplogroups associated with Caucasus Hunter-Gatherers and
Early European Farmers.[34][35]

It has been hypothesized that an allele associated with lactase persistence (conferring lactose
tolerance into adulthood) was brought to Europe from the steppe by Yamnaya-related
migrations.[36][37][38][39]

People of the Yamnaya culture are believed to have had mostly brown eye colour with some
variation, light to intermediate skin, and mainly brown hair, possibly with some individuals
carrying a mutation to the KITLG gene associated with blond hair.[40][41] A study in 2015 found
that Yamnaya had the highest ever calculated genetic selection for height of any of the ancient
populations tested.[42][43]

The geneticist David Reich has argued that the genetic data supports the likelihood that the
people of the Yamnaya culture were a "single, genetically coherent group" who were responsible
for spreading many Indo-European languages.[44] Reich also argues that the genetic evidence
shows that Yamnaya society was an oligarchy dominated by a small number of elite males.[45]

The genetic evidence for the extent of the role of the Yamnaya culture in the spread of Indo-
European languages has however been questioned by Russian archaeologist Leo Klejn[46] and
Balanovsy et al.,[47] who note a lack of male haplogroup continuity between the people of the
Yamnaya culture and the contemporary populations of Europe.

Language …

The Yamnaya culture is identified with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE) in the Kurgan
hypothesis of Marija Gimbutas. The Pontic-Caspian steppe is the strongest candidate for the
Urheimat (original homeland) of the Proto-Indo-European language, and evidence from
linguistics[48] and genetics[7][49] suggests that the Yamnaya culture may be the homeland of the
core Indo-European languages, excluding the Anatolian languages.[50]
According to David W. Anthony, the genetic evidence suggests that the leading clans of the
Yamnaya were of EHG and WHG paternal origin[51] and implies that the Indo-European languages
were the result of "a dominant language spoken by EHGs that absorbed Caucasus-like elements
in phonology, morphology, and lexicon."[52]

Yamnaya-related migrations …

Western Europe
…

Expansion of Yamnaya-related people, according to Anthony (2007),[48] 2017;[53][note 1] Narasimhan et al. (2019);[54]
Nordqvist and Heyd (2020):[11] * 3000 BC: Initial eastward migration initiating the Afanasievo culture, possibly Proto-
Tocharian. * 2900 BC: North-westward migrations carrying Corded Ware culture, transforming into Bell Beaker; according
to Anthony, westward migration west of Carpatians into Hungary as Yamnaya, transforming into Bell Beaker, possibly
ancestral to Italo-Celtic (disputed). * 2700 BC: Second eastward migration starting east of Carpatian mountains as Corded
→ →
Ware, transforming into Fatyanovo-Balanova (2800 BCE) Abashevo (2200 BCE) Sintashta (2100–1900 BCE) →
→
Andronovo (1900–1700 BCE) Indo-Aryans.

Haak et al. (2015) conducted a genome-wide study of 69 ancient skeletons from Europe and
Russia. They concluded that Yamnaya autosomal characteristics are very close to the Corded
Ware culture people, with an estimated 73% ancestral contribution from the Yamnaya DNA in the
DNA of Corded Ware skeletons from Germany. The same study estimated a (38.8–50.4 %)
ancestral contribution of the Yamnaya in the DNA of modern Central, and Northern Europeans,
and an 18.5–32.6 % contribution in modern Southern Europeans; this contribution is found to a
lesser extent in Sardinians (2.4–7.1 %) and Sicilians (5.9–11.6 %).[55][49][9] Haak et al. also note
that their results state that haplogroup R-M269 spread into Europe from the East after
3000 BC.[56] Studies that analysed ancient human remains in Ireland and Portugal support the
thesis that R-M269 was introduced in these places along with autosomal DNA from the Eastern
European steppes.[57][58]

Autosomal tests also indicate that the Yamnaya are the most likely vector for "Ancient North
Eurasian" admixture into Europe.[7] "Ancient North Eurasian" is the name given in literature to a
genetic component that represents descent from the people of the Mal'ta–Buret' culture[7] or a
population closely related to them. That genetic component is visible in tests of the Yamnaya
people[7] as well as modern-day Europeans, but not of Europeans predating the Bronze Age.[59]

Eastern Europe and Finland

…
In the Baltic, Jones et al. (2017) found that the Neolithic transition – the passage from a hunter-
gatherer economy to a farming-based economy – coincided with the arrival en masse of
individuals with Yamnaya-like ancestry. This is different from what happened in Western and
Southern Europe, where the Neolithic transition was caused by a population that came from the
Near East, with Pontic steppe ancestry being detected from only the late Neolithic onward.[60]

Per Haak et al. (2015), the Yamnaya contribution in the modern populations of Eastern Europe
ranges from 46.8% among Russians to 42.8% in Ukrainians. Finland has one of the highest
Yamnaya contributions in all of Europe (50.4%).[61][c]

Central and South Asia …

According to Allentoft (2015), the Sintashta culture probably derived from the Corded Ware Culture.
Map of the approximate maximal extent of the Andronovo culture. The formative Sintashta-Petrovka culture is shown in
darker red. The location of the earliest spoke-wheeled chariot finds is indicated in purple. Adjacent and overlapping
cultures (Afanasevo, Srubna, Bactria-Margiana Culture are shown in green.

Archaeological cultures associated with Indo-Iranian migrations and Indo-Aryan migrations (after EIEC). The Andronovo,
BMAC and Yaz cultures have often been associated with Indo-Iranian migrations. The GGC, Cemetery H, Copper Hoard and
PGW cultures are candidates for cultures associated with Indo-Aryan migrations.

Studies also point to the strong presence of Yamnaya descent in the current nations of South
Asia, especially in groups that are referred to as Indo-Aryans.[54][62]
According to Pathak et al. (2018), the "North-Western Indian & Pakistani" populations (PNWI)
showed significant Middle-Late Bronze Age Steppe (Steppe_MLBA) ancestry along with
Yamnaya Early-Middle Bronze Age (Steppe_EMBA) ancestry, but the Indo-Europeans of Gangetic
Plains and Dravidian people only showed significant Yamnaya (Steppe_EMBA) ancestry and no
Steppe_MLBA. The study also noted that ancient south Asian samples had significantly higher
Steppe_MLBA than Steppe_EMBA (or Yamnaya). The study infers, "The Rors stand out in South
Asia as the population with the highest proportion of Steppe ancestry".[62]

Lazaridis et al. (2016) notes "The demographic impact of steppe related populations on South
Asia was substantial, as the Mala, a south Indian population with minimal ANI (Ancestral North
Indian) along the 'Indian Cline' of such ancestry is inferred to have a minimum ~18 % steppe-
related ancestry, while the Kalash of Pakistan are inferred to have ~50 % steppe-related
ancestry."[63] Lazaridis et al.'s 2016 study estimated (6.5–50.2 %) steppe related admixture in
South Asians.[64][d]

Lazaridis et al. (2016) further notes that "A useful direction of future research is a more
comprehensive sampling of ancient DNA from steppe populations, as well as populations of
central Asia (east of Iran and south of the steppe), which may reveal more proximate sources of
the ANI than the ones considered here, and of South Asia to determine the trajectory of
population change in the area directly."[64]

According to Unterländer et al. (2017), Iron Age Scythians from the southern Ural region, East
Kazakhstan and Tuva can best be described as a mixture of Yamnaya-related ancestry and an
East Asian component, the latter occurring at only trace levels – if at all – among earlier steppe
inhabitants.[65]

According to Narasimhan et al. (2019), the Yamnaya-related ancestry, termed

Western_Steppe_EMBA, that reached central and south Asia was not the initial expansion from
the steppe to the east, but a secondary expansion that involved a group possessing ~67%
Western_Steppe_EMBA ancestry and ~33% ancestry from the European cline. This group
included people similar to that of Corded Ware, Srubnaya, Petrovka, and Sintashta. Moving
further east in the central steppe, it acquired ~9% ancestry from a group of people that
possessed West Siberian Hunter Gatherer ancestry, thus forming the Central Steppe MLBA
cluster, which is the primary source of steppe ancestry in South Asia, contributing up to 30% of
the ancestry of the modern groups in the region.[54]
Artifacts …

From the Hermitage Museum collections

Corded ware pot

 See also …

Kurgan Vinča culture

Kurgan stelae Beaker culture

Cucuteni–Trypillia culture Baden culture

Butmir culture Botai culture

Khvalynsk culture Sintashta culture

Mamai-Hora Yersinia pestis

Samara culture Proto-Indo-Europeans

Notes …

a. The Eastern European hunter-gatherers were themselves mostly descended from ancient North
Eurasians, related to the palaeolithic Mal'ta–Buret' culture.

b. Yamnayan cultural aspects, for example, were horse-riding, burial styles, and to some extent the
pastoralist economy.

c. Per Haak et al. (2015), adding a north-Siberian people as a fourth reference population improves
residuals for northeastern European populations. This accounts for the higher than expected Yamnaya
contribution and brings it down to expected levels (67.8–50.4 % in Finns, 64.9–46.8 % in Russians).

d. Lazaridis et al. (2016) Supplementary Information, Table S9.1: "Kalash – 50.2 %, Tiwari Brahmins –
44.1 %, Gujarati (four samples) – 46.1 % to 27.5 %, Pathan – 44.6 %, Burusho – 42.5 %, Sindhi – 37.7 %,
Punjabi – 32.6 %, Balochi – 32.4 %, Brahui – 30.2 %, Lodhi – 29.3 %, Bengali – 24.6 %, Vishwabhramin –
20.4 %, Makrani – 19.2 %, Mala – 18.4 %, Kusunda – 8.9 %, Kharia – 6.5 %."

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branch of haplogroup R1b-L23, showing that the paternal descendants of the Yamnaya still live in the
Pontic steppe and that the ancient Yamnaya population was not an important source of paternal lineages
in present-day West Europeans."

48. Anthony 2007, p. .

49. Zimmer, Carl (10 June 2015). "DNA Deciphers Roots of Modern Europeans" (https://www.nytimes.com/2
015/06/16/science/dna-deciphers-roots-of-modern-europeans.html) . New York Times. Retrieved
2020-12-12.

50. Olsen, Birgit A.; Olander, Thomas; Kristiansen, Kristian (23 August 2019), Tracing the Indo-Europeans,
Oxbow Books, pp. 1–6, doi:10.2307/j.ctvmx3k2h.6 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2Fj.ctvmx3k2h.6) ,
ISBN 978-1-78925-273-6

51. Anthony 2019b, p. 36.

52. Anthony 2019a, p. 1-19.

53. Anthony 2017.

54. Narasimhan et al. 2019.

55. Haak et al. 2015, pp. 121–124.

56. Haak et al. 2015, p. 5.

57. Cassidy et al. 2016.

58. Martiniano, et al. 2017.

59. Lazaridis et al. 2014.

60. Jones et al. 2017.

61. Haak et al. 2015, pp. 121–122.

62. Pathak et al. 2018.

63. Lazaridis et al. (2016), pp. 123.

64. Lazaridis et al. (2016).

65. Unterländer et al. 2017.

 Notes …

1. See also Eurogenes Blog (December 18, 2017), Corded Ware as an offshoot of Hungarian Yamnaya
(Anthony 2017) (https://eurogenes.blogspot.com/2017/12/corded-ware-as-offshoot-of-hungarian.htm
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External links …

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yamna culture.

"Genetic study revives debate on origin and expansion of Indo-European Languages" (https://
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150304075334.htm) . Science Daily. March 2015.

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