@article {Narasimhan292581,
	title = {The Genomic Formation of South and Central Asia},
	journal = {bioRxiv},
	year = {2018},
	publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory},
	abstract = {The genetic formation of Central and South Asian populations has been unclear because of an absence of ancient DNA. To address this gap, we generated genome-wide data from 362 ancient individuals, including the first from eastern Iran, Turan (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan), Bronze Age Kazakhstan, and South Asia. Our data reveal a complex set of genetic sources that ultimately combined to form the ancestry of South Asians today. We document a southward spread of genetic ancestry from the Eurasian Steppe, correlating with the archaeologically known expansion of pastoralist sites from the Steppe to Turan in the Middle Bronze Age (2300-1500 BCE). These Steppe communities mixed genetically with peoples of the Bactria Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) whom they encountered in Turan (primarily descendants of earlier agriculturalists of Iran), but there is no evidence that the main BMAC population contributed genetically to later South Asians. Instead, Steppe communities integrated farther south throughout the 2nd millennium BCE, and we show that they mixed with a more southern population that we document at multiple sites as outlier individuals exhibiting a distinctive mixture of ancestry related to Iranian agriculturalists and South Asian hunter-gathers. We call this group Indus Periphery because they were found at sites in cultural contact with the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) and along its northern fringe, and also because they were genetically similar to post-IVC groups in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. By co-analyzing ancient DNA and genomic data from diverse present-day South Asians, we show that Indus Periphery-related people are the single most important source of ancestry in South Asia {\textemdash} consistent with the idea that the Indus Periphery individuals are providing us with the first direct look at the ancestry of peoples of the IVC {\textemdash} and we develop a model for the formation of present-day South Asians in terms of the temporally and geographically proximate sources of Indus Periphery-related, Steppe, and local South Asian hunter-gatherer-related ancestry. Our results show how ancestry from the Steppe genetically linked Europe and South Asia in the Bronze Age, and identifies the populations that almost certainly were responsible for spreading Indo-European languages across much of Eurasia.},
	doi = {10.1101/292581},
	url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/03/31/292581},
	author = {Narasimhan, Vagheesh M and Patterson, Nick J and Moorjani, Priya and Lazaridis, Iosif and Mark, Lipson and Mallick, Swapan and Rohland, Nadin and Bernardos, Rebecca and Kim, Alexander M and Nakatsuka, Nathan and Olalde, Inigo and Coppa, Alfredo and Mallory, James and Moiseyev, Vyacheslav and Monge, Janet and Olivieri, Luca M and Adamski, Nicole and Broomandkhoshbacht, Nasreen and Candilio, Francesca and Cheronet, Olivia and Culleton, Brendan J and Ferry, Matthew and Fernandes, Daniel and Gamarra, Beatriz and Gaudio, Daniel and Hajdinjak, Mateja and Harney, Eadaoin and Harper, Thomas K and Keating, Denise and Lawson, Ann-Marie and Michel, Megan and Novak, Mario and Oppenheimer, Jonas and Rai, Niraj and Sirak, Kendra and Slon, Viviane and Stewardson, Kristin and Zhang, Zhao and Akhatov, Gaziz and Bagashev, Anatoly N and Baitanayev, Baurzhan and Bonora, Gian Luca and Chikisheva, Tatiana and Derevianko, Anatoly and Dmitry, Enshin and Douka, Katerina and Dubova, Nadezhda and Epimakhov, Andrey and Freilich, Suzanne and Dorian Fuller and Goryachev, Alexander and Gromov, Andrey and Hanks, Bryan and Judd, Margaret and Kazizov, Erlan and Khokhlov, Aleksander and Kitov, Egor and Kupriyanova, Elena and Kuznetsov, Pavel and Luiselli, Donata and Maksudov, Farhad and Meiklejohn, Chris and Merrett, Deborah C and Micheli, Roberto and Mochalov, Oleg and Muhammed, Zahir and Mustafakulov, Samridin and Nayak, Ayushi and Petrovna, Rykun M and Pettner, Davide and Potts, Richard and Razhev, Dmitry and Sarno, Stefania and Sikhymbaevae, Kulyan and Slepchenko, Sergey M and Stepanova, Nadezhda and Svyatko, Svetlana and Vasilyev, Sergey and Vidale, Massimo and Voyakin, Dima and Yermolayeva, Antonina and Zubova, Alisa and Shinde, Vasant S and Lalueza-Fox, Carles and Meyer, Matthias and Anthony, David and Boivin, Nicole and Thangaraj, Kumarasmy and Kennett, Douglas and Frachetti, Michael and Pinhasi, Ron and Reich, David}
}
