The Middle Bronze Age (2400-1500BCE) in South Caucasus

 The Middle Bronze Age (2400-1500BCE) in South Caucasus

Now that DNA files from Skourtanioti et al. 2025 paper about Georgia and South Caucasus are available we can take a closer look on them. The subject of this thread will be the crucial period of Middle Bronze Age (MBA) when the new Y DNA of steppe origin (R1b-Z2103, I2a2b) appear in South Caucasus and all over historic Armenia.

The data from Georgia MBA shows that only eastern Georgia was affected by Steppe migrants. The blue dots shows the sites where the Steppe ancesrtry and YDNA was present, while red dots show the sites where it was mostly absent. On the second chart You can see the same in numbers. This pattern is possible only if Steppe migrants crossed the Caucasus via the Dagestan and eastern Caucasian pass.

Theoretically a migration via the Central Caucasus is also possible but in that case the migrants would acquire extra CHG which is not the case. In contrary MBA samples both from Georgia and Armenia have extra shift toward Anatolian farmers which is possible only if they have crossed the modern Azerbaijan where Anatolian farmer rich population was present since at last Late Chalcolithic and apparently persisted in Early Bronze Age also.

This scenario explains two findings of this paper.

1. The reason why steppe average is lower in MBA Georgia than in MBA Armenia. Its due to geographic heterogdneity. The western Georgia lacking or having very low levels of steppe harbored a non-IE population which almost certainly were the Kartvelian tribes.

2. The paper also notes an excessive shift toward Anatolia in MBA. This can be explained by a migration via the lands where Anatolian shifted population lived. The best candidate is the Leyla tepe culture in what is now the Azerbaijan Republic. Which can also explain the presence of E1b in MBA Armenia.

PS. Thanks to Tigran Sg for the labeled G25 coordinates and for first noticing this pattern.