July 17, 2003
Mitochondrial Analysis of 3rd c. BC Saka
Int J Legal Med. 2002 Oct;116(5):304-8
Genetic analysis of human remains from a double inhumation in a frozen kurgan in Kazakhstan (Berel site, Early 3rd Century BC)
Clisson I, Keyser C et al.
"The discovery of a big barrow of the Saka period in eastern Kazakhstan between the Russian and the Chinese borders provided the opportunity to excavate a frozen burial site. In the burial chamber, there was a wooden sarcophagus with two human bodies. The skeletons of these two individuals, a man and a woman, were well preserved. A genetic study based on STRs and mitochondrial DNA analyses was undertaken in order to determine whether these human remains belonged to close relatives. Results were obtained for all the markers. Nevertheless, nuclear STRs did not allow a clear conclusion concerning the relationship, but analysis of mitochondrial DNA showed that these skeletons were not close relatives."
...
"Following these results on mtDNA, the origin of the
man (subject 1) cannot be established although the reference
sequence is the most frequent in Europe. Nevertheless,
the woman (subject 2) may have an Asian origin,
since 16223T and 16362C are the most frequent mutations
in eastern Asian population with around 52% and
35%, respectively (Comas et al. 1998)."