“Lost Child” or Vanguard? Linking Fatyanovo Population with Middle Volga Abashevo Culture using Ancient DNA Sequencing Data

High-throughput sequencing of ancient DNA from Fatyanovo and Abashevo cultures (7 and 3 men, respectively) has led to new hypotheses about their origin and contacts. According to published archaeological evidence, i. e., due to striking similarities between the grave goods discovered in the Middle Volga Abashevo burial complexes and those found in the bell-shaped beaker culture, it is believed that the Fatyanovo people may have descended from the Corded Ware Culture. The present study demonstrates, for the first time, the remarkable similarity between the Fatyanovo people, as represented by the Volosovo-Danilovsky and Nikultsino burial grounds in the Yaroslavl region, and three distinct cultural groups: a) the Corded Culture People, primarily from Bohemia and Germany, b) the Bell-Beaker cultures, found in the same region as well as in France and the Netherlands, and c) the bearers of the Unetice culture. Furthermore, the Abashevite from the Pepkino mound (burial id 18) is genetically similar to several Fatyanovo individuals from the Volosovo-Danilovsky and Nikultsino burial grounds. Finally, the new set of AMS-radiocarbon dates has helped to narrow down the chronological gap between the Fatyanovo and Abashevo people’s expansion towards the Upper and Middle Volga regions, thereby indicating a direct contact between these two groups. Therefore, we can hypothesize that the highly mobile and dispersed lifestyle intrinsic to cattle-breeders may have led to the reclamation of vast territories in the east while still maintaining close ties with their ancestral lands. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that the Fatyanovo and Abashevo people likely originate from the same genetic background and are integral parts of the Corded Culture world, rather than “lost children” as previously assumed.