mtDNA and prehistoric Siberian hunter-gatherers: Characterising matrilineal population affinities in Neolithic and Bronze Age Cis-Baikal

The evolution of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been fundamental to the analysis of ancient DNA (aDNA) from human remains. Using aDNA polymorphisms retrieved from human skeletal material, it is possible to reconstruct the life history of an individual by revealing population origins, sex and disease polymorphisms, if present. This dissertation presents the aDNA analysis of two prehistoric cemetery populations from the Cis-Baikal region of Eastern Siberia which date from 6125 to 2220 B.C. These two cemeteries, known as Lokomotiv and Ust-Ida, flank a putative 800-year hiatus in the archaeological record of the Cis-Baikal region. Based on differences in cultural behaviour and osteological traits, the groups buried at Lokomotiv and Ust-Ida are believed to be biologically distinct. Using PCR primer sets targeting Asian-specific mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) substitutions, the people at Lokomotiv and Ust-Ida were found to possess six different mtDNA haplogroups including A, C, D, F, G2a and U5a. The mtDNA haplogroup distributions for the Lokomotiv and Ust-Ida samples differ significantly, thus supporting the hypothesis that these groups were biologically distinct. Biological distance algorithms, used to compare the Lokomotiv and Ust-Ida mtDNA datasets with those for other Siberian and East Asian groups, showed the Lokomotiv and Ust-Ida samples to have different population affinities. While Lokomotiv was observed to cluster with modern Yenisei river basin groups to the west of Cis-Baikal, the Ust-Ida sample was most similar to groups living proximate to Cis-Baikal including a Northern Mongolian cemetery population dating to the 3rd century B.C. These differing mtDNA affinities suggest that the biological hiatus began with the migration of the Lokomotiv community from the Cis-Baikal region and ended when the group at Ust-Ida moved into the area. Furthermore, while the descendents of the Lokomotiv people may have contributed to the subsequent matrilineal population structure of modern Yenesei river basin groups, descendents of the group at Ust-Ida likely remained in the Cis-Baikal region until the 2nd century A.D. By comparing the aDNA data for Lokomotiv and Ust-Ida against various lines of archaeological evidence, several associations between biological affinity and differential mortuary ritual were illuminated; these associations suggest that biological affinity influenced the type of grave one was buried in as well as where one was buried at either cemetery.