# They descended from Afanasievo herders of the Altai, themselves derived from the Yamnaya of the…

> Disputed: They descended from Afanasievo herders of the Altai, themselves derived from the Yamnaya of the Pontic-Caspian steppe.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies/answers/ANS0D90E41M0WR4/they-descended-from-afanasievo-herders-of-the-altai  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Tarim Basin mummies (Xiaohe)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies)[Where did the people buried in the earliest Tarim Basin cemeteries come from?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies/questions/QST0D90E32C1HN0/where-did-the-people-buried-in-the-earliest-tarim-basin)Answer

Answer · Tarim Basin mummies (Xiaohe)

# They descended from Afanasievo herders of the Altai, themselves derived from the Yamnaya of the…

They descended from Afanasievo herders of the Altai, themselves derived from the Yamnaya of the Pontic-Caspian steppe.

**Disputed** Answers **1** questionPublished0

## Where it stands

**Disputed** One piece of evidence for, two against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- Tarim genomes carry substantial Yamnaya/Afanasievo-related ancestry.
- Y chromosomes and mtDNA match those of Afanasievo individuals.

## What would rule it out

- Genome-wide data from the founders with no Afanasievo-related ancestry.

## Evidence 1 for · 2 against

[Males of the lowest Xiaohe layer carry Y haplogroup R1a1a, read in 2010 as a western link.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies/evidence/EVD0D90E4S25A05/males-of-the-lowest-xiaohe-layer-carry-y-haplogroup-r1a1a)

Suggestive

FOR

[Contemporary Dzungarian individuals to the north were 50-70% Afanasievo, so the migrants were in Xinjiang but…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies/evidence/EVD0D90E4H857ZG/contemporary-dzungarian-individuals-to-the-north-were-50-70)

Established

AGAINST

[No Afanasievo-related ancestry in any of the 13 Tarim individuals; qpAdm models with steppe sources fail.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies/evidence/EVD0D90E49E2RZ6/no-afanasievo-related-ancestry-in-any-of-the-13-tarim)

Established

AGAINST

## The questions it answers

[Where did the people buried in the earliest Tarim Basin cemeteries come from?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies/questions/QST0D90E32C1HN0/where-did-the-people-buried-in-the-earliest-tarim-basin)

AnsweredNo answer ahead

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). They descended from Afanasievo herders of the Altai, themselves derived from the Yamnaya of the… [Answer ANS0D90E41M0WR4]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0D90E41M0WR4
```

Key

**ANS** 0D90E41M0WR4

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Origin

Published

Version

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