Comparison between morphological and genetic data for Egyin Gol Mongolians

I had first blogged about Egyin Gol in 2003, that paper is freely available here. From the current paper:

The Egyin Gol necropolis is located in the Egyin Gol Valley (northern Mongolia), near the Egyin Gol River, close to its confluence with the Selenge, a main tributary of Lake Baikal (see Fig. 1). This site has been the subject of a French-Mongolian interdisciplinary research project from 1997 to 1999, which allowed the excavation of 84 graves containing skeletal remains of 99 individuals buried from the third century B.C. to the second century A.D. The graves were organized in three main sectors (A, B, and C) that, based on AMS carbon-14 dating of human bones, progressively expanded from south to north (i.e., Sector A is the oldest followed by Sector B and Sector C). The development of Sector C corresponds to the end of the necropolis and may reflect a Turkish influence on the Xiongnu tribe (Keyser-Tracqui et al., 2003).

and:

The results showed, however, that individuals buried in sector C represent a specific kin group clearly differentiated from the rest of the necropolis based on nonmetric
data (Table 4), and confirmed by the genetic data. This might be explained on the basis that these individuals are suggested to be of Turkish origin, based on their shared single paternal lineage, unique in the necropolis and affiliated with Turkish populations (Keyser-Tracqui et al., 2003). However, the sector C individuals share the same maternal lineages with individuals buried in sectors A and B, which could explain the global homogeneity of the population as a whole. The particular characteristics of the sample from sector C suggests a possible shift in the population demographics, caused by the emergence of a Turkish component in the Xiongnu population at the end of the necropolis use and at the end of the first steppe empire led by the Xiongnu. The fact that this particular subgroup of the population buried in sector C was detected by nonmetric traits analysis demonstrated that nonmetric traits are an efficient tool when analyzing population microevolution.

The Y chromosome results are found in Table 2 of the original paper.

I ran the Y-STR profile of the shared patrilineage over the haplogroup predictor, but I don't get a clear estimate for the Y-STR profile (grave 46 in Table 2).

A YHRD search gave the following results:
The high frequency in Kazakhs and Yakuts, with a little spillover in both China and eastern Europe is certainly consistent with a Turkic origin of this haplotype.

Finally, I gave it a try at ysearch, getting a match with a Pole and a 1-step match with a Czech, both of which are listed as C3-tested.

So, there you have it, archaeology, non-metric data, Y-chromosomes, and a little use of online tools gives us a first glimpse on what may have been a group of ancient Turkic individuals. Of course here are theories-a-plenty about what language the Xiongnu originally spoke, so it would be premature to arrive at any firm conclusions.

Interestingly, C3 is also present in a different 2,000-year old Xiongnu individual from NE Mongolia from the Duurlig Nars site, but an earlier group of Xiongnu-related individuals from China (Pengyang) belonged to haplogroup Q.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology doi:10.1002/ajpa.21322

Comparison between morphological and genetic data to estimate biological relationship: The case of the Egyin Gol necropolis (Mongolia)

François-X. Ricaut et al.

Osseous and dental nonmetric (discrete) traits have long been used to assess population variability and affinity in anthropological and archaeological contexts. However, the full extent to which nonmetric traits can reliably be used as a proxy for genetic data when assessing close or familial relationships is currently poorly understood. This study represents the unique opportunity to directly compare genetic and nonmetric data for the same individuals excavated from the Egyin Gol necropolis, Mongolia. These data were analyzed to consider the general efficacy of nonmetric traits for detecting familial groupings in the absence of available genetic data. The results showed that the Egyin Gol population is quite homogenous both metrically and genetically confirming a previous suggestion that the same people occupied the necropolis throughout the five centuries of its existence. Kinship analysis detected the presence of potential family burials in the necropolis. Moreover, individuals buried in one sector of the necropolis were differentiated from other sectors on the basis of nonmetric data. This separation is likely due to an outside Turkish influence in the paternal line, as indicated by the results of Y-chromosome analysis. Affinity matrices based on nonmetric and genetic data were correlated demonstrating the potential of nonmetric traits for detecting relationships in the absence of genetic data. However, the strengths of the correlations were relatively low, cautioning against the use of nonmetric traits when the resolution of the familial relationships is low. Am J Phys Anthropol 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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