No abstract

The mitochondrial haplotype U5a1 was identified from an Eneolithic grave associated with the Afanasievo archaeological culture in Bayankhongor Province, Erdenetsogt Township, at the site of Shatar Chuluu. This is the earliest appearance of a mtDNA haplotype associated with modern European populations on the Mongol Steppe. This evidence demonstrations that people with "western" mtDNA lived on the Mongol Steppe east of the Altai Mountains before the Bronze Age and refutes the notion that the Altai Mountains were a substantial barrier to gene flow and definitively expands the acknowledged range of the Afanasievo archaeological culture.

No abstract

Recent research has shown evidence of ancient admixture from both eastern and western Eurasian genetics in the human populations of Mongolia going back to at least the Eneolithic Afanasievo archaeological culture (ca. 3000 BCE). Eastern mtDNA lineages found in ancient and living Mongolians in the past and present have greatest affinity with Neolithic populations from the Transbaikal region of southern Siberia, suggesting that people from this region were likely the first to colonize northern and eastern Mongolia after the last glacial maximum (ca. 24,500-17,000 BCE), while western Eurasian groups probably migrated to the steppe in association with the earliest forms of pastoralism. While some studies suggest the contribution of these ancient western lineages to the modern populations in Mongolia was minimal, this research demonstrates that western mtDNA lineages were particularly prominent among the burial populations of the Early Iron and Iron Ages in the region. This is most notable among the burial population associated with slab burials and the burial population of their successors, the people associated with the Xiongnu polity . Similarities between mtDNA haplogroup frequencies of the slab burial and Xiongnu burial populations also strongly support the proposal that the builders of the slab burials were the principal ancestors of the Xiongnu people. Objectives: The objective of this research is to increase understanding of human population change on the Mongolian steppe during the first millennium BCE and how it may be associated with cultural change and the creation of early eastern steppe empires. It examines the mtDNA haplogroup frequencies of the burial population from slab burials in Mongolia and compares it with frequencies from various other populations to determine population affinities. Methods: This study was primarily based on Sanger sequencing the HV1 of the mtDNA of ancient individuals from Mongolia during the Early Iron Age for haplogroup determination and then comparing mtDNA haplogroup frequencies with previously published data including 110 ancient and modern populations. The 21 samples used in this study were selected based on region, dating, and availability.

This study considers the historical importance of the dowry, or inǰe, in outer Mongolia during the Qing period (1636–1911), focusing on the developments of the legal system towards women’s rights over their dowry using archival legal case documents from the Mongolian archives. Previous studies argue that the dowry system was of little importance among the steppe populations; however, the Mongolian archival documents make it clear that the dowry played a very important role in society for establishing prestige and for acquisition of property for families during the Qing period. They also show that the courts in Mongolia consistently ruled in favour of women, particularly in the case of their ownership and compensation for dowry livestock during divorce cases, including livestock born from dowry livestock, demonstrating that pre-modern Mongol women were considered autonomous social agents with distinct personal rights, and not thought of as property.