Study Shows Russians Descended From The Ancient People Of Ukraine

Around 5,000 years ago, pastoralists of the Yamna, or Yamnaya, culture from the Pontic–Caspian steppe—spanning Eastern Europe and Central Asia, north of the Black and Caspian Seas—migrated westward into Europe, permanently transforming the continent’s cultural and genetic landscape, Lehti Saag and Mait Metspalu reported for Nature.

The Yamna significantly shaped the genetic and cultural makeup of Europe.

Previous studies have suggested that these people also introduced Indo-European languages, which are now spoken across most of Europe. A study led by Iosif Lazaridis, along with 24 other researchers, reached this conclusion in a paper published in Nature.

The research also shed light on the demographic processes that shaped pre-Yamna populations in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and revealed the genetic origins of the Yamna, Saag and Metspalu reported.

Writing for New Scientist, Michael Marshall theorized that the Yamna from Ukraine were the ancestors of all modern Europeans, making them more ancient than the Russians of the Duchy of Muscovy, which was founded 700 years after Ukraine became a self-governing territory.

Muscovy was originally ruled by tax collectors of the Golden Horde, who seized control of the region following the Mongol departure.

“This crucial population was formed when multiple groups mixed in the region north of the Black Sea, in what is now Ukraine,” Marshall wrote.

Modern humans (Homo sapiens) arrived in Europe in three waves: the first consisted of hunter-gatherers about 45,000 years ago; the second was composed of farmers from the Middle East who arrived around 9,000 years ago; and the third included the Yamna, who significantly shaped the genetic and cultural makeup of Europe.