Mitochondrial DNA Diversity in Siberian Tatars from the Late Medieval Burial Ground Abramovo-10 (Baraba Forest-Steppe)

Purpose. Although the medieval population of West Siberian forest-steppe has been studied for a long time by methods of archeology and physical anthropology, paleogenetic data on these groups are still completely absent. We present the first paleogenetic results for late medieval populations of the forest-steppe zone, including the analysis of a mitochondrial DNA series from the Abramovo-10 burial ground (16th – 18th centuries AD, Baraba forest-steppe), and consider these paleogenetic results in the context of the interdisciplinary data on ethnogenetic processes in the region. Results. We analyzed the structure, phylogeny, and phylogeographic features of 72 mitochondrial DNA samples from the Abramovo-10 burial ground. As a result, we obtained a well-representative sample of mtDNA for the late medieval population of Central Baraba. The population shows similarities in mtDNA diversity with modern Siberian Tatars (closer to the Tobolo-Irtysh than to the modern Baraba local group), as well as Ugric and Samoyed indigenous populations of Western Siberia. Conclusion. Our results confirm the participation of genetic components of Turkic (both from the Eurasian steppes and the Altai-Sayan region), Ugric, and Samoyed origin in the formation of the late medieval population gene pool of in West Siberian forest-steppe zone. We assume that sub-ethnic groups of Siberian Tatars could change their settlement territories in the late Middle Ages and Modern times. At least a part of the Turkic-speaking indigenous population in the West Siberian forest-steppe retained the structure of the mitochondrial DNA gene pool, despite the influence of the migrant Caucasian population.