Sredni Stih 6 high quality files in 23andme format

The Sredni Stog culture, circa 45 to 35 centuries before the common era, was a pivotal archaeological culture of the Pontic-Caspian steppe, known for its contributions to the development of Indo-European societies. Situated between the Dnieper and Don rivers, it represents a transitional phase in the prehistory of the Eurasian steppes, preceding the Yamnaya culture.

The Sredni Stog people lived in small, semi-nomadic communities, combining subsistence strategies of farming, herding, and hunting. They raised cattle, sheep, and goats while practicing early forms of agriculture. Fishing and hunting supplemented their diet. Settlements were typically small, consisting of a few extended family groups. Evidence suggests an egalitarian society, though burial practices hint at emerging social stratification. Sredni Stog is one of the earliest cultures associated with horse domestication. Their use of horses likely facilitated mobility and the spread of their cultural and genetic legacy across the steppe.

The Sredni Stog people are widely considered early speakers of a Proto-Indo-European language, though it is unclear how closely their language resembled later Indo-European dialects.

Genetic studies have revealed an abundance of mitochondrial haplogroups U5a and U2e among individuals associated with the Sredni Stog culture. Two of the oldest European lineages, U5a and U2e, are linked to Paleolithic and Mesolithic European hunter-gatherers, reflecting the deep roots of Sredni Stog ancestry in Europe.

The Sredni Stog population showed a blend of European hunter-gatherer (EHG) and Caucasus hunter-gatherer (CHG) ancestry. This genetic mixture is believed to have formed the basis of the Yamnaya genetic profile, which later spread across Eurasia during the Indo-European expansions.

Sredni Stog ceramics were utilitarian but exhibited regional stylistic variations, linking them to both steppe and early agricultural traditions.

Early evidence of wheeled vehicles and tools associated with animal husbandry suggests a culture on the cusp of transformative technological change.

For this video, I gathered the raw DNA of 6 sredni stog individuals, 5 of them from Russia and 1 from Ukraine. I ran their raw DNA through my Trait Predictor tool for DNA analysis.