The South Caucasus played a central role in human evolution and mobility since the Upper Palaeolithic, facilitating Neolithic agricultural dispersals from Anatolia and later interactions with northern Caucasus populations contributing to Steppe-related ancestries. During the Bronze Age, it acted as a crossroads between Anatolia, the Levant, Iran, and the Eurasian steppe.
Here, we present new ancient DNA data from 80 Bronze Age individuals, including 51 individuals from Armenia dating to the 3rd–2nd millennium BCE, and 29 from Georgia from 2nd–1st millennium BCE. Armenian individuals derive from five collective burials located along the shores of Lake Sevan, while Georgian individuals originate from five sites in central and western Georgia, extending to areas close to the Black Sea coast. Our aims are to characterize genetic structure and kinship relationships, shedding light on social organization and population dynamics, and to reconstruct past demographic events and ancestral genetic contributions.
DNA was extracted from teeth and petrous bones and consequently sequenced using Illumina technology. Preliminary results indicate generally good DNA preservation, with endogenous DNA contents ranging from ~20% to 75%. Authenticity was supported by characteristic ancient DNA damage patterns, as well as low contamination estimates. Preliminary population genetic analyses indicate that Bronze Age Armenian individuals cluster with previously published Middle–Late Bronze Age and Chalcolithic individuals in a genetic cline from Anatolian Neolithic and Steppe ancestry, reflecting the high genetic complexity of the South Caucasus. Ongoing work focuses on increasing genome-wide coverage beyond 0.5× to enable genotype imputation.

Acknowledgment
The last five authors that contributed to the preparation of this paper are: Samantha Rossini (University of Rome Tor Vergata), Paolo Abondio (University of Rome Tor Vergata), Francesca Bertoldi (University of Venice Ca' Foscari), Pier Francesco Fabbri (Florentine Museum and Institute of Prehistory) and Gabriele Scorrano (University of Rome Tor Vergata).

First Author: Cecilia Paradiso

Co-Authors: Ruzan Mkrtchyan, Hasmik Simonyan, Liana Bitadze, David Gagoshidze , Nikoloz Gobejishvili , Revaz Papuashvili , Kristine Shavlakadze , Nino Kobalia, Ashot Piliposyan

Keywords:
ancient DNA
South Caucasus
Bronze Age