Reconstruction of early Neolithic/Bronze Age population diversity in the Shamanka II cemetery at Lake Baikal using mtDNA polymorphism

Mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (mtDNA) polymorphisms were examinedin bone samples of individuals buried inan early Neolithic (c. 5800–4900 BCE) hunter-gatherer cemetery, Shamanka II, located atthe southwestern tip of Lake Baikal, Siberia. The mainobjective was to compare the mtDNA polymorphisms observed at Shamanka II to those previously reportedfrom the Lokomotiv (early Neolithic) and Ust'-Ida (Bronze Age) cemeteries in the same general region also known asthe Cis-Baikal. All three cemetery populations comprised remains containingmtDNAhaplogroupscharacterized as being of Asian origin (haplogroups A, C, D, F, G2a, and U5a). The results confirmed that haplogroup frequency distributions amongNeolithic populations in southern Siberiawere similar, and differed significantly fromhaplogroup frequency distributionsamongthe Bronze Agepopulations.? 2011 Progress in Biological Sciences. Vol. 1, No. 2, 29-35.