Middle Bronze Armenia: Highlands in Transition

The Middle Bronze Age communities sampled across the Armenian Highlands (sites such as Katnaghbiur 1, Tavshut, Keti, Karashamb Cemetery, Dzori Gekh and Nerquin Getashen) emerge in the archaeological record between roughly 2127 and 1211 BCE. Archaeological data indicates continuity with earlier Bronze Age settlement patterns—hilltop dwellings, cemeteries, and an intensification of metallurgy and craft specialization—set against a rugged, cinematic landscape of terraces and river valleys.

Genetically, the small corpus of nine individuals exhibits a mosaic of maternal lineages (T, K, U, HV) commonly associated with West Eurasia and the Near East, suggesting deep regional maternal continuity and connections across the Caucasus corridor. The Y-DNA distribution is sparse and uneven (two E, one R), pointing to limited paternal resolution; haplogroup E in this region may reflect long-standing Near Eastern/Caucasus ties, while R could indicate episodic gene flow from steppe-associated sources. Given N=9, these signals are intriguing but preliminary.

Limited evidence suggests that population dynamics in this era were shaped by local persistence combined with mobility along trade and pastoral corridors. The archaeological places named above provide the spatial anchor for these genetic glimpses: each burial or assemblage is a fragment of a larger, still-fragile narrative about emergence and entanglement in the Armenian Middle Bronze Age.

The genetic dataset for Armenia_MBA comprises nine dated individuals (2127–1211 BCE) from six named sites. Maternal diversity is relatively high: four individuals carry mtDNA T, two carry K, two carry U, and one carries HV. These maternal haplogroups are broadly distributed across West Eurasia and the Near East and often appear in ancient samples from the Caucasus and Anatolia, consistent with a regional maternal substrate that persisted into the Middle Bronze Age.

Paternal resolution is limited: two individuals show haplogroup E and one shows R. Haplogroup E in the Caucasus and adjacent regions may reflect enduring connections with Near Eastern lineages, while R is commonly linked to wider West Eurasian and steppe-associated populations. With only three Y-chromosome calls, it is not possible to robustly infer paternal structure or migration rates; the presence of R hints at some degree of gene flow from northern or steppe-adjacent groups, but archaeological corroboration is essential.

Overall, the data point toward a mixed picture of local continuity on the maternal side with episodic paternal inputs—an archaeological landscape of enduring communities shaped by occasional long-range contacts. Because the sample count is low (<10), these conclusions should be treated as preliminary: additional sampling across sites and time-depth is required to test patterns of continuity, admixture, and social kinship.