Research Article

Molecular Genetic Analysis of 400-Year-Old Human Remains Found in Two Yakut Burial Sites

  1. François-Xavier Ricaut1,2,*,
  2. Sergei Kolodesnikov3,
  3. Christine Keyser-Tracqui1,
  4. Anatoly Nikoyevich Alekseev4,
  5. Eric Crubézy2,
  6. Bertrand Ludes1,2

Article first published online: 14 OCT 2005

DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.20195

Issue

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Volume 129, Issue 1, pages 55–63, January 2006

Additional Information

How to Cite

Ricaut, F.-X., Kolodesnikov, S., Keyser-Tracqui, C., Alekseev, A. N., Crubézy, E. and Ludes, B. (2006), Molecular Genetic Analysis of 400-Year-Old Human Remains Found in Two Yakut Burial Sites. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 129: 55–63. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.20195

Author Information

  1. 1

    Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Moléculaire, Institut de Médecine Légale, 67085 Strasbourg, France

  2. 2

    Département d'Anthropobiologie, Université Paul Sabatier, CNRS, UMR 8555, 3100 Toulouse, France

  3. 3

    Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Yakutsk State University, Yakutsk 677891, Russia

  4. 4

    Department of Archaeology, Yakutsk State University, Yakutsk 677891, Russia

*Department of Biological Anthropology, Leverhulme Centre of Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Downing St., Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 6 DEC 2005
  2. Article first published online: 14 OCT 2005
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 14 SEP 2004
  4. Manuscript Received: 27 MAR 2004

Funded by

  • French Department of Research
  • Action Cooperation Integred “Espaces et Territoires: Le Complexe Spatial Altaï-Baïkal. Plaque Tournante des Flux Géniques en Haute Asie de la Période Protohistorique à l'Époque Moderne.”

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Keywords:

  • Siberia;
  • Sakha;
  • ancient DNA;
  • kinship;
  • ethnogenesis

Abstract

The excavation of five frozen graves at the Sytygane Syhe and Istekh-Myrane burial sites (dated at 400 years old) in central Yakutia revealed five human skeletons belonging to the Yakut population. To investigate the origin and evolution of the Yakut population as well as the kinship system between individuals buried in these two sites, DNA was extracted from bone samples and analyzed by autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) and by sequencing hypervariable region I (HV1) of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region. The results showed a diversity of sepulchral organizations linked probably to the social or genetic background of the subjects. Comparison of STR profiles, mitochondrial haplotypes, and haplogroups with data from Eurasian populations indicated affinities with Asian populations and suggested a relative specificity and continuity of part of the Yakut mitochondrial gene pool during the last five centuries. Moreover, our results did not support a Central Asian (with the exception of maternal lineage of West Eurasian origin) or Siberian origin of the maternal lineages of these ancient Yakut subjects, implying an ethnogenesis of the Yakut population probably more complex than previously proposed. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2006. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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