The ratio of indigenous to immigrant populations in the western steppe during the Bronze Age (based on cranial data)

Measurements of ~730 male crania from cemeteries associated with Bronze Age cultures of the steppe and foreststeppe zone of Eastern Europe (Yamnaya, Catacomb, Poltavka, Babino, Lola, and Timber-Grave) were subjected to multivariate analyses. D2 distances between sample centroids were calculated, and non-metric multidimensional scaling was carried out. The results are used to evaluate the proportion of indigenous and immigrant groups during four successive periods—Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Middle to Late Bronze Age transition, and Late Bronze Age. The differences between Yamnaya populations are comparable to those between recent groups inhabiting vast territories of Eastern Europe, from Karelia to the Northern Caucasus. The ro le of the substrate component in the origin of Early and Middle Bronze Age groups was considerable. However, virtually no continuity was observed at the Middle to Late Bronze Age transition, when post-Catacomb cultures originated. Continuity with Middle Bronze Age groups is observed in Late Bronze Age samples representing the Timber-Grave people, who combined features of the Catacomb and post-Catacomb people. Factors accounting for such a process may include “pendulum migrations” and temporary reversal of funerary tradition from kurgans to “invisible” fl at burials.