Ancient DNA points to the roots of Uralic languages in Yakutia, far east of the Ural Mountains. The genetic trail traces a remarkable prehistoric migration that reshaped Eurasia’s linguistic landscape.
A new study using ancient DNA has revealed that the origins of the Uralic language family (including Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian) lie further east than previously thought – specifically in Yakutia, northeastern Siberia, around 4,500 years ago. Researchers, led by Harvard scientists, analyzed genomes from Siberia and across Eurasia, tracing a genetic signal westward. This challenges the long-held belief that the Uralic homeland was near the Ural Mountains.
The study links the spread of Uralic languages to the Seima-Turbino phenomenon – a period of advanced bronze-casting and cultural exchange – and shows interaction with the Yamnaya culture (associated with the spread of Indo-European languages). While modern Uralic-speaking populations show varying degrees of Yakutia ancestry (with Hungarians having the least), the ancient DNA confirms a Siberian origin for the language family. The research also sheds light on the origins of the Yeniseian language family and potentially supports a connection between Yeniseian and North American Na-Dene languages.
A new study using ancient DNA has revealed that the origins of the Uralic language family (including Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian) lie further east than previously thought – specifically in Yakutia, northeastern Siberia, around 4,500 years ago. Researchers, led by Harvard scientists, analyzed genomes from Siberia and across Eurasia, tracing a genetic signal westward. This challenges the long-held belief that the Uralic homeland was near the Ural Mountains.
The study links the spread of Uralic languages to the Seima-Turbino phenomenon – a period of advanced bronze-casting and cultural exchange – and shows interaction with the Yamnaya culture (associated with the spread of Indo-European languages). While modern Uralic-speaking populations show varying degrees of Yakutia ancestry (with Hungarians having the least), the ancient DNA confirms a Siberian origin for the language family. The research also sheds light on the origins of the Yeniseian language family and potentially supports a connection between Yeniseian and North American Na-Dene languages.
A pair of landmark studies has identified the originators of the Indo-European family of languages in current-day Russia about 6,500 years ago, the Caucasus Lower Volga people.
>“We can see there was a small group of villages 5,700 to 5,300 years ago with just a couple thousand breeding individuals,” Reich said. “And then there was a demographic explosion, with these people going everywhere.”
>“We can see there was a small group of villages 5,700 to 5,300 years ago with just a couple thousand breeding individuals,” Reich said. “And then there was a demographic explosion, with these people going everywhere.”
New research identifies the prehistoric progenitors of Uralic languages in northeastern Siberia, about 4,500 years ago, challenging previous theories that placed their origins near the Ural Mountains.
A pair of landmark studies published in Nature have identified the origin of the Indo-European family of over 400 languages, spoken by more than 40% of the world's population, to the Caucasus Lower Volga people in present-day Russia around 6,500 years ago.
Harvard researchers traced the origins of the vast Indo-European language family to the Caucasus-Lower Volga region, identifying the ancestral population known as the Yamnaya, who appeared around 3300 BCE and spread from Hungary to western China.
