Ancient human genomes from the Altai region reveal population continuity and shifts in the 4th-12th centuries

Yusuf Can Özdemir; Balázs Gyuris; Kristóf Jakab; Tamás Szeniczey; Botond Heltai; Melinda Megyes; Balázs Gusztáv Mende; István Major; Николай Николаевич Серегин; Vadim V. Gorbunov; Sergey Grushin; Petr Konstantinovich Dashkovskiy; Mikhail A. Demin; Kirill Yu. Kiryushin; Yury T. Mamadakov; Надежда Фёдоровна Степанова; S.S. Tur; Alexey V. Fribus; Marina P. Rykun; Attila Türk; Alexey A. Tishkin; Anna Szécsényi‐Nagy

doi:10.64898/2026.03.24.713889

GeneticsbioRxivMar 25, 2026

Preprint

Ancient human genomes from the Altai region reveal population continuity and shifts in the 4th-12th centuries

Yusuf Can Özdemir iD, Balázs Gyuris iD, Kristóf Jakab iD, Tamás Szeniczey iD, Botond Heltai iD, Melinda Megyes iD, Balázs Gusztáv Mende iD, István Major iD, Николай Николаевич Серегин iD, Vadim V. Gorbunov, Sergey Grushin, Petr Konstantinovich Dashkovskiy iD, Mikhail A. Demin, Kirill Yu. Kiryushin iD, Yury T. Mamadakov, Надежда Фёдоровна Степанова iD, S.S. Tur iD, Alexey V. Fribus iD, Marina P. Rykun iD, Attila Türk iD, Alexey A. Tishkin, Anna Szécsényi‐Nagy iD

Abstract

The Altai region is a crossroads of the Asian steppes. However, the population history of the region remains understudied. We analyse ancient human genomes from the Altai and Ob regions, creating a ca. 1400-year-long time transect with 91 new data. We demonstrate an Iron Age genetic variety that continued into the Medieval era, with additional large-scale spread of East Asian genetic ancestry coinciding with the rise and spread of the Turkic cultural customs. Furthermore, we find a unique lineage in the Early Medieval Altai with elevated Ancient North Eurasian ancestry, providing a missing link between the North Eurasian hunter-gatherers and modern North Asian people. We identify distinct genetic patterns and connections among populations of the Mountainous and the Forest-Steppe Altai in the 4th-8th centuries.

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