Informal report by Bulgarian archaeologist Svetoslav Stamov in 7/8 TV, from data collected by the Reich Lab for their future paper on South-Eastern Europe.
As can be seen from the TV captions below, this is the earliest R1b-P310 from Yamnaya or Yamnaya-related individuals in Early Bronze Age contexts from Bulgaria. In fact, its appearance together with a R1b-Z2103 lineage (and another undefined R1b-M269) shows once again that the earliest R1b-L23 bottlenecks were associated with Proto-Indo-Europeans.
Lacking a precise periodization, location, or proper cultural context in the spreadsheet, it is impossible to know whether they belong to Khvalynsk-related cultures like Ezero (i.e. Pre-Yamnaya) or Yamnaya-related individuals; that is, whether they belong to EBA-1c, EBA-2, or even post-Yamnaya EBA-3.
Based on ancient phylogeography and SNP estimations, though, Yamnaya(-related) seems much more likely.
Admittedly, this is but another unnecessary and indirect proof of what was already evident long ago, especially after the confirmation of R1b-L51 in Pre-Tocharian Afanasievo; but it is still nice to see a sneak peek of a paper that has been expected for a long time.
#EDIT: Updated TreeToM phylogeography map of Yamnaya-related R1b-M269 samples including this new data, the Tollense R1b-P312 samples and the Middle Eastern ones (see previous versions here):
Probably much more interesting (but possibly a mistake) is the earliest reported “Dinaric” I2-L621, also among Early Bronze Age individuals from Bulgaria, which – if confirmed when samples are released – would mean that the most likely common haplogroup associated with Early Slavs was already there among the Yamnaya 5,000 years ago.
Stamov also shares Y-DNA from the Early Iron Age, showing that E1b-V13 was also present there quite early, probably among Thracians, hence both haplogroups already quite close to the likely Proto-Slavic homeland near the Carpathians.
The Ancient DNA Dataset and the ArcGIS Web App have been updated with these (preliminary) data.
See also
More on Yamnaya Bulgaria:
- Pit graves in Bulgaria and the Yamnaya Culture, by Elke Kaiser & Katja Winger (2015).
- Yamnaya Groups and Tumuli west of the Black Sea, by Volker Heyd (2012)
More from this blog:
- Survival of hunter-gatherer ancestry in West-Central European Neolithic
- Maros shows Yamnaya-derived East BBC ancestry and local admixture
- qpAdm best practices and common pitfalls
- Early arrival of Steppe ancestry in Switzerland
- Yamnaya ancestry: mapping the Proto-Indo-European expansions
- Italo-Venetic peoples related patrilineally to Terramare elites
- Corded Ware and Bell Beaker related groups defined by patrilocality and female exogamy
- R1b-L23-rich Bell Beaker-derived Italic peoples from the West vs. Etruscans from the East
- Bell Beakers and Mycenaeans from Yamnaya; Corded Ware from the forest steppe
- East Bell Beakers, an in situ admixture of Yamna settlers and GAC-like groups in Hungary
- Yamnaya replaced Europeans, but admixed heavily as they spread to Asia
