Geneticists from the Sirius Scientific Center, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Moscow State University studied the DNA of a 12th- and 13th-century woman from the Polovtsy hill in the Don River region.
A study published in the journal "Moscow University - Series 23: Anthropology" revealed the results of DNA analysis of a woman from the Kipchak (Polovtsian) tribes, who lived in the Don River region during the 12th and 13th centuries AD, and showed that she had mixed genetic origins combining East Asian and West Eurasia.
The remains of the woman, estimated to have been between 25 and 35 years old at the time of her death, were found inside a burial mound alongside valuable artifacts reflecting her high social status. Analysis of her skull revealed a mix of European and Mongolian features, a finding confirmed by genetic analysis.
The Polovtsians are known in Russian chronicles, while Arabic and Persian sources refer to them as the Kipchaks, and Byzantine and Western European sources call them the Cumans. These nomadic Turkic tribes dominated the Eurasian steppes between the 11th and 13th centuries and played a prominent role in the region's history before the Mongol invasion, although their origins remain a subject of debate.
Whole-genome analysis showed that the woman is genetically related to nomadic groups from the Eurasian steppes, the early Avars, medieval Mongolians, and Central Asian populations, supporting the hypothesis that the Kipchaks originated as an independent group in Central Asia.
In contrast, analysis of mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited through the mother, showed that the woman belongs to a rare Western Eurasian genetic lineage, linked to ancient and modern populations of the Middle East and Europe.
Researchers believe that these results provide clear evidence of the mixed origins of the Kipchak elite, and confirm that the history of the Eurasian steppes was not only based on wars and migrations, but also witnessed continuous interaction and intermingling between peoples.
