Okunev culture, sometimes also Okunevo culture, was a south Siberian archaeological culture of pastoralists of the early Bronze Age dated from the end of the 3rd millennium BC to the early of the 2nd millennium BC in the Minusinsk Basin on the middle and upper Yenisei. It was formed from the local Neolithic Siberian forest cultures, who also show evidence of admixture from Western Steppe Herders and pre-existing Ancient North Eurasians.
Ceramics of the Okunev Culture on the Yenisei River Siberia. First half of the II millennium BC. Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Okunev pottery
Okunev culture standing stone. "Saralinskaya stone maiden", late 3rd millennium, early 2nd millennium BCE
Bone comb from grave 1, mound No. 1 of the Krasny Kamen burial ground, Okunev culture, circa 2200 BCE
In archaeogenetics, the term Ancient North Eurasian (ANE) is the name given to an ancestral component that represents the lineage of the people of the Mal'ta–Buret' culture and populations closely related to them, such as the Upper Paleolithic individuals from Afontova Gora in Siberia. Genetic studies also revealed that the ANE are closely related to the remains of the preceding Yana Culture, which were dubbed as 'Ancient North Siberians' (ANS), and which either are directly ancestral to the ANE, or both being closely related sister lineages, sharing a common ancestral source population. The Ancient North Eurasians are deeply related to Paleolithic and Mesolithic European hunter-gatherers, but also derive a small amount of their ancestry from a deep East Eurasian source, which they received in Siberia. Their 'Ancient West Eurasian' ancestry is represented by a lineage closer to Kostenki-14, while their 'Ancient East Eurasian' ancestry is represented by a lineage closer to the Tianyuan man.
Ancient North Eurasian
Mal'ta–Buret' culture ivory figurines (c. 24,000 BP-c. 15,000 BP). Some of the figurines wear hooded overalls with decorative stripes.
The Mal'ta boy (MA-1), dated 24,000 BP, with tomb artifacts, Hermitage Museum (Hall 11), Saint-Petersburg.
A qpGraph model by Maier et al. 2023, showing the possible formation of Ancient North Siberians/Eurasians (ANS/ANE) and their subsequent contribution to the Ancient Paleo-Siberians and Native Americans.