The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia.

By sequencing 523 ancient humans, we show that the primary source of ancestry in modern South Asians is a prehistoric genetic gradient between people related to early hunter-gatherers of Iran and Southeast Asia. After the Indus Valley Civilization's decline, its people mixed with individuals in the southeast to form one of the two main ancestral populations of South Asia, whose direct descendants live in southern India. Simultaneously, they mixed with descendants of Steppe pastoralists who, starting around 4000 years ago, spread via Central Asia to form the other main ancestral population.

[The Dynamics of the Composition of mtDNA Haplotypes of the Ancient Population of the Altai Mountains from the Early Bronze Age (3rd Millennium BC) to the Iron Age (2nd-1st Centuries BC)].

The mtDNA polymorphism in representatives of various archaeological cultures of the Developed Bronze Age, Early Scythian, and Hunnish-Sarmatian periods was analyzed (N = 34). It detected the dominance of Western-Eurasian haplotypes (70.6%) in mtDNA samples from the representatives of the ancient population of the Early Bronze Age--Iron Age on the territory of Altai Mountains.

Trepanations in the population of the Altai Mountains in the Vth - IIIrd centuries B.C.

The history of trepanations beginning with the Mesolithic (1 0-12 thousand years ago) is known by means of findings in various parts of the world. The article describes three cases of intravital trepanation of skulls from the Pazyryk Culture graves in the Altai Mountains that had existed from the end of the Vl'h to the beginning of the ll"d century B.C.

Scythian trepanations in the Gorny Altai in Hippocratic times: modern expert appraisal of ancient surgical technologies.

Objective: To report the analysis of 3 cases of ancient trepanation discovered in the craniological collection (153 skulls) of the Pazyryk nomadic culture (500-300 bc) from the Gorny Altai, Russia, and to evaluate the technique, instrumentation, and materials used for cranial surgery as well as the motivation for the trepanations in Scythian times.

Methods: A multidisciplinary approach was chosen to study the trepanned skulls. Visual inspection and examination under magnification, multislice computed tomography, high-field magnetic resonance imaging, and coupled plasma mass spectrometry and synchrotron radiation-induced x-ray fluorescence analysis of the bone samples from the site of trephination were used.

New hominin remains from Uzbekistan.

Although the Paleolithic occupations of Uzbekistan and the neighboring foothill regions of Tajikistan and Kazakhstan are well-documented, almost no hominin fossil material has been discovered in the area since Teshik-Tash 1 in 1938. Here we describe and offer a preliminary comparative framework for hominin remains that were recovered in 2003 from two Middle Paleolithic sites in Uzbekistan, Obi-Rakhmat Grotto and Anghilak Cave. The description of Teshik-Tash as a Neandertal and the preponderance of lithic assemblages identified as Mousterian in character has supported the interpretation of the region as the eastern-most extent of the Neandertal range.