Anatolian–Caucasian Relations from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages: An Archaeogenomic Study on the Human Remains of Anatolia and Azerbaijan

To date, ancient DNA studies have predominantly focused on understanding the genetic makeup of Neolithic populations and population dynamics over the millennia from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. These studies have also examined the genetic relationships and movements of populations in Southwest Asia. In addition to aDNA research, archaeological studies conducted so far show a dynamic relationship and multifaceted human movements between the Caucasus and Anatolian cultures from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages. Taken together, these lines of evidence indicate an ancient relationship between Anatolia and the Caucasus extending back to the Early Neolithic. In light of archaeological research and ancient DNA studies, it has been determined that Caucasian communities have had a significant impact on the genetic structure of Southwest Asian and European populations since the Neolithic. However, the paucity of genetic data from the Caucasus complicates understanding the internal dynamics of the Caucasus and how its relations with Anatolia changed over time. Aside from relations with Anatolia, there is a lack of definitive evidence for early phases of Neolithization in the Caucasus represented by Pre-Pottery (aceramic) Neolithic communities. Although ideas have been proposed about a direct transition from the Mesolithic to the Pottery Neolithic, data on this transition are very limited. Examination of remains from sites in the Caucasus thought to belong to the Pre-Pottery period and of Late Neolithic southern Caucasus architecture, burial practices, pottery production, and lithic industries indicates that Anatolia and Mesopotamia had an important influence on Neolithization in the Caucasus. Yet due to missing genomic data, neither the influence of Anatolia on the Caucasus nor that of the Caucasus on Anatolia has been fully clarified. For post-Neolithic periods, archaeological studies have shown that known pastoral cultures of the South Caucasus, such as the Kura-Araxes culture, influenced Levantine, Iranian and Anatolian communities culturally, politically and administratively. By the end of the 4th millennium BCE, while hierarchical organization, the establishment of religious structures and the use of weapons gave Anatolia a heterogeneous cultural character, ancient DNA studies indicate genetic continuity in Anatolia during this period despite cultural changes. In the Iron Age, historical events such as the presence of the Assyrian Empire, the westward spread of the Scythians, and the fall of the Kingdom of Urartu indicate that cultural dynamics continued to be active. In the proposed project, it is aimed to obtain ancient human genomic data from 94 individuals recovered from 16 archaeological excavations in Azerbaijan, dated from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages. The obtained data will be used to genetically investigate Anatolian and Caucasian communities through an interdisciplinary approach, clarifying how dynamic relationships between Anatolia and the Caucasus evolved over time and whether they align with material culture evidence. The project will fill gaps in the literature by providing genome-wide human data for these broad time intervals and thereby elucidate the genetic structure of different Azerbaijani populations across the time span and their connections with Anatolia.