Scythian skeletons tell of ancient cultural crossover

Joanna Carver, reporter

(Image: Universitat Aut?noma de Barcelona (UAB))

It's a warriors' tomb, but we now know it says more about culture than conquest. It contains ancient Scythian skeletons discovered in the Altai mountains of Mongolia in 2005, and their DNA is part of the first hard evidence of genetic blending between Europe and Asia.

Researchers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, extracted mitochondrial DNA from the bones and teeth of skeletons found in the mountains. Bronze-Age skeletons, dating from the seventh to the 10th century BC, showed no sign of mixed lineages: those from the western side of the mountain range were European, and those from the eastern side were Asian. However, come the Iron Age - seventh to second centuries BC - and the coming of the Scythian culture, and the skeletons display a neat 50-50 blend of lineages.

The Scythians were already known to be the first large Eurasian culture, but were believed to be the product of migration from Europe. The researchers now suggest that the genetic blending is actually a result of the expansion of Scythian culture over the mountains.

That culture was based on nomadic pasturing and horse breeding - as you may have guessed from the presence of a horse alongside humans in this tomb.

Scythians weren't confirmed to exist in east Asia before this tomb and others were found in 2005 in the Altai mountains, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan share borders. In ancient times the mountain range prevented cultural and genetic blending, dividing the Asian and European populations until the Scythian culture expanded from the west.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/258a7564/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cshortsharpscience0C20A120C110Cscythian0Eskeletons0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

zambrano orange bowl tim howard goal ben gibbard nfl playoff schedule tim howard scores nick cannon kidney failure