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Cultures compared: ancient Y-DNA and mtDNA

Pick two to four cultures. Each column is a culture's samples by branch of the paternal (Y-DNA) or maternal (mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA)) tree; ribbons join the same branch in neighbouring cultures, pale ones a branch and a branch under it. The slider sets how deep the tree is cut.

Order the cultures from oldest to latest

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How to read the chart

Each sample is cut to its ancestor at the chosen depth; a sample whose test did not reach that deep stays on its own branch. An asterisk: in this culture the branch also has samples further down. “A → B” is the share of A's samples with a branch of the same line in B: the same branch, its ancestor or a branch under it. A sample whose test stopped higher could belong to any branch under it, so it matches them. The frequency overlap sums the smaller share of every shared branch, such a sample's share split among the branches under it by their shares in both cultures together; it is less swayed by single samples. By age, a sample moves up to the ancestor whose branch had already split off by the chosen year (branch ages are Discover estimates), so every letter is cut at the same time. “Auto” takes the time of the oldest culture chosen, or earlier if a column would not read otherwise. Maternal lines follow the Mitotree tree of FTDNA Discover.

Did the people change with the culture? #

Archaeologists arrange cultures in chains, each taking over from the one before. Ancient DNA shows whether the people changed along with the pottery and the rites. Similarity here is the frequency overlap of branches: 100% if the branch make-up is the same, 0% if no line is shared: no branch occurs in the other culture, neither itself nor through a branch under it.

Iberian Peninsula. From the Neolithic to the Copper Age the male lines of Iberia barely change: 77% in common, with I2a, I2b and G2a in the lead both times. The Bell Beaker men share only 19% with the local Copper Age. The peninsula's Bronze Age, by contrast, repeats the Beakers at 85%, and 94% of its samples are R1b.

Carpathian Basin. The Avars came to the Carpathian Basin in the 6th century, and their khaganate lasted until the early 9th. Later the conquering Hungarians took the basin. Early Avars are 43% N, the conquering Hungarians 27%, while the medieval population of Hungary is led by R1b and R1a. It shares about as much with the early Avars as with the conquerors: 39% and 37%.

Pontic steppe. The Srubnaya culture held the steppe from the Dnieper to the Urals in the 18th–13th centuries BCE. The Scythians came to the northern Black Sea coast from Central Asia in the 9th–8th centuries BCE, and from the 3rd century BCE the steppe belonged to the Sarmatians. For 94% of Srubnaya samples the branch, or one under it, is also found among the Scythians, and Scythians and Sarmatians share 68%, with R1a in the lead in both.

Central Europe, Bronze and Iron Age. Here the male lines run from the Early Bronze Age to the Celts. The Unterwölbling culture of Lower Austria probably descends from the Bell Beakers; its men are 92% R1b, and it shares 92% with the Urnfield culture. Urnfield preceded Hallstatt, and La Tène grew out of the Hallstatt tradition without a clear break. Hallstatt is more mixed: besides R1b it has a fair share of G2a and I2a. It shares 55% with La Tène, where R1b is back to 69%.

Central Europe, dawn of the Bronze Age. At the turn of the Copper and Bronze Ages two horizons spread across Europe: Corded Ware and the Bell Beakers. Corded Ware men are 66% R1a, Beaker men 82% R1b, and the two share only 24%. The Early Bronze Age Únětice culture has both: it is 39% R1b and 28% R1a, and it shares 42% with the Beakers. Ancient DNA studies find that in Bohemia at least 40% of the population was renewed at the start of the Bronze Age.

Danube, first farmers. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers lived at the Iron Gates of the Danube, and nearly half of their male lines are R1b. The farmers of the Starčevo–Kőrös culture carry other branches, above all G2a, and share only 13% with the hunters. Linear Pottery ware is linked to Starčevo, and the male lines agree: 61% in common, with G2a in the lead in both.

Steppe from the Dnieper to the Urals. In the early 20th century V. A. Gorodtsov set out the “steppe triad”: the Yamnaya culture, then the Catacomb, then the Srubnaya. The Catacomb culture grew out of the Yamnaya, and the male lines agree: every Catacomb man's branch, or one under it, is also found in Yamnaya, 49% in common. Yamnaya is 81% R1b; the Catacomb men are R1b and I2b.

Italy. The Etruscans lived between the Arno and the Tiber, and from the late 4th century BCE Rome absorbed their land. Imperial Rome drew many migrants from the Near East, and Romans share only 25% with the Etruscans. Medieval Italy, by its male lines, is closer to the Etruscans again, at 66%.

Scandinavia and Rus’. Here the male lines run unbroken. The Scandinavian Iron Age and Viking Age Swedes share 70%, and Vikings found in what is now Russia share 61% with the Swedes. I1 leads in all three groups.

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