People buried in stone-cist graves based on ancient DNA

We currently know the

of people buried in Estonian, Finnish and Latvian Bronze Age stone graves only from Estonia – the remains of nineteen individuals from the Iru, Jõelähtme, Muuksi, Napa, Rebala, Väo and Vehendi graves have been studied.

When studying the genetic material of those buried in Estonian stone-cist graves, it has become clear that similarly to the prior Corded Ware peoples, a large role in the genesis of this group of people has been in the migration waves from three essential sources, the influence of which is indicated by the

of the studied individuals that is studied through the that can be connected to their heritage. These originate from the , originating from the Near East and the of Eastern Europe. Even so, the genome of those buried in stone-cist graves differs from that of the Corded Ware peoples – the proportion of Western or Scandinavian Hunter-Gatherer heritage increased. It is interesting to note that the latest Estonian hunter-gatherer Comb Ceramic peoples belonged genetically to the slightly different Eastern Hunter-Gatherers, so that the genetic change that took place with the population of the Estonian territories building the stone-cist graves can rather be connected to Scandinavian influences that are visible also in the archaeological material.

It was also discovered that in the Estonian territory precisely during the Bronze Age, those genetic variants became widespread the markers of which are now considered characteristic of North Europeans – light hair, eyes and skin and

Tabel 1. Phenotypes of the Estonian younger Bronze Age individuals 

Individual	Date	Eye colour	Hair colour	Skin colour	Lactose tolerance	High cholesterol
Jõelähtme 7	1220–1010 calBCE	blue	brown/ dark brown	medium	+ -	+ +
Jõelähtme 34	1060–850 calBCE	brown	dark brown/ black	medium	- -	+ -
Muuksi Lõokese  skeleton 1	930–810 calBCE	blue	blond	medium	+ -	+ -
Muuksi Lõokese skeleton 3	1220–1020 calBCE	blue	brown/ dark brown	medium	- -	+ -
Muuksi Toomani 5	1280–1050 calBCE	brown	dark brown/ black	medium	+ -	+ -
Napa 3	1030–890 calBCE	blue	dark brown/ black	medium	+ -	+ -
Rebala Lastekangur 2	780–430 calBCE	blue	dark brown/ black	medium	+ +	+ -
Väo Jaani A  skeleton 1	730–390 calBCE	brown	dark brown/ black	medium	- -	- -
Väo Kangru 8 skeleton 1	930–810 calBCE	blue	brown/ dark brown	fair	+ -	- -
Vehendi 11 skeleton III	1210–1000 calBCE	blue	dark brown/ black	medium	+ -	+ -

Among the studied Bronze Age individuals, two

were found – probably an uncle and his nephew. Somewhat surprisingly, the relatives were not buried in the same site, but in Rebala and Väo burial sites 13 km apart. The discovery of close relatives from such a small selection and from different burial sites can indicate that only a certain part of the population was buried in the stone-cist graves (the so-called elite).

Still noteworthy is one individual who was buried in a stone-cist grave, but at a significantly later date – during a later Iron Age burial. This person buried in the Loona burial site differs from the prior stone-cist grave burials also genetically – similarly to the ones buried in Iron Age tarand-graves, a fourth ancestral component can be found in his genome, apparently originating from Siberia, that has likely been accrued during the arrival of a new Early Iron Age migration wave.