s (ANE), and a smaller admixture of WHGs Haak et al. (2015) identified the EHG as a distinct genetic cluster in two males only. The EHG male of
Samara (dated to ca. 5650–5550 BC) carried
Y-haplogroup R1b1a1a* and
mt-haplogroup U5a1d. The other EHG male, buried in
Karelia (dated to ca. 5500-5000 BC) carried Y-haplogroup
R1a1 and mt-haplogroup
C1g. The authors of the study also identified a WHG cluster and an SHG cluster, intermediate between WHG and EHG. They suggested that EHGs harbored mixed ancestry from
Ancient North Eurasians (ANEs) and WHGs. Researchers have proposed various admixture proportion models for EHGs from WHGs and ANEs. Posth et al. (2023) found that most EHG individuals carried c. 70% ANE ancestry and c. 30% WHG ancestry. The WHG-like ancestry was most likely not derived from the Oberkassel and Villabruna clusters directly, but from a related and yet unsampled
Epigravettian population. The high contribution from Ancient North Eurasians is also visible in a subtle affinity of the EHG to the 40,000-year-old
Tianyuan man from
Northern China and other East/Southeast Asians, which can be explained by geneflow from a Tianyuan-related source into the ANE lineage (represented by Malta and Afontova Gora 3), which later substantially contributed to the formation of the EHG. The formation of the EHG ancestral component is estimated to have happened 13,000–15,000 years BP. EHGs may have mixed with "an Armenian-like Near Eastern source", which formed the Yamnaya culture, as early as the
Eneolithic (5200-4000 BC). The people of the
Yamnaya culture were found to be a mix of EHG and a "Near Eastern related population". During the 3rd millennium BC, the Yamnaya people embarked on a massive expansion throughout
Europe, which significantly altered the genetic landscape of the continent. The expansion gave rise to cultures such as
Corded Ware, and was possibly the source of the distribution of
Indo-European languages in Europe. The people of the Mesolithic
Kunda culture and the
Narva culture of the eastern
Baltic were a mix of WHG and EHG, showing the closest affinity with WHG. Samples from the
Ukrainian Mesolithic and
Neolithic were found to cluster tightly together between WHG and EHG, suggesting genetic continuity in the
Dnieper rapids for a period of 4,000 years. The Ukrainian samples belonged exclusively to the maternal haplogroup
U, which is found in around 80% of all European hunter-gatherer samples. The people of the
Pit–Comb Ware culture (PCW/CCC) of the eastern Baltic bear 65% EHG ancestry. This is in contrast to earlier hunter-gatherers in the area, who were more closely related to WHG. This was demonstrated using a sample of Y-DNA extracted from a Pit–Comb Ware individual. This belonged to
R1a15-YP172. The four samples of mtDNA extracted constituted two samples of
U5b1d1, one sample of
U5a2d, and one sample of
U4a. Günther et al. (2018) analyzed 13 SHGs and found all of them to be of EHG ancestry. Generally, SHGs from western and northern Scandinavia had more EHG ancestry (ca 49%) than individuals from eastern Scandinavia (ca. 38%). The authors suggested that the SHGs were a mix of WHGs who had migrated into Scandinavia from the south, and EHGs who had later migrated into Scandinavia from the northeast along the
Norwegian coast. SHGs displayed higher frequences of genetic variants that cause light skin (
SLC45A2 and
SLC24A5), and
light eyes (
OCA/Herc2), than WHGs and EHGs. , between 7.5 ka and 5 ka BP () Members of the Kunda culture and Narva culture were also found to be more closely related with WHG, while the Pit–Comb Ware culture was more closely related to EHG. Northern and eastern areas of the eastern Baltic were found to be more closely related to EHG than southern areas. The study noted that EHGs, like SHGs and Baltic hunter-gatherers, carried high frequencies of the derived
alleles for SLC24A5 and SLC45A2, which are codings for
light skin. Mathieson et al. (2018) analyzed the genetics of a large number of skeletons of prehistoric Eastern Europe. Thirty-seven samples were from Mesolithic and Neolithic Ukraine (9500-6000 BC). These were classified as intermediate between EHG and SHG. The males belonged exclusively to
R haplotypes (particularly subclades of
R1b1 and
R1a) and
I haplotypes (particularly subclades of
I2). Mitochondrial DNA belonged almost exclusively to
U (particularly subclades of
U5 and
U4). A large number of individuals from the
Zvejnieki burial ground, which mostly belonged to the Kunda culture and Narva culture in the eastern Baltic, were analyzed. These individuals were mostly of WHG descent in the earlier phases, but over time EHG ancestry became predominant. The Y-DNA of this site belonged almost exclusively to haplotypes of
haplogroup R1b1a1a and
I2a1. The mtDNA belonged exclusively to
haplogroup U (particularly subclades of
U2,
U4 and
U5). Forty individuals from three sites of the
Iron Gates Mesolithic in the
Balkans were estimated to be of 85% WHG and 15% EHG descent. The males at these sites carried exclusively
R1b1a and
I (mostly subclades of
I2a) haplotypes.
mtDNA belonged mostly to
U (particularly subclades of
U5 and
U4). People of the
Cucuteni–Trypillia culture were found to harbor about 20% hunter-gatherer ancestry, which was intermediate between EHG and WHG. Narasimshan et al. (2019) coined a new ancestral component,
West Siberian Hunter-Gatherer (WSHG). WSHGs contained about 20% EHG ancestry, 73% ANE ancestry, and 6% East Asian ancestry. According to Irving-Pease et al. (2024), EHG ancestry peaks in present populations from Finland, Estonia, Mongolia and Central Asia.
Possible association with Early Indo-European The EHG have been argued by some to represent a possible source for the
Pre-Proto-Indo-European language (see also
Father Tongue hypothesis). Unlike the
Yamnaya culture people (or closely related groups), which are associated with speakers of Proto-Indo-European, the EHG-rich
Dnieper–Donets culture people show no evidence of
Caucasus Hunter-Gatherer (CHG) or
Early European Farmer (EEF) ancestry. Both Dnieper-Donets males and Yamnaya males carry the same paternal haplogroups (R1b and I2a), suggesting that the CHG and EEF admixture among the Yamnaya came through EHG males mixing with EEF and CHG females. According to
David W. Anthony, this suggests that the
Indo-European languages were initially spoken by EHGs living in Eastern Europe. Others have suggested that the Indo-European language family may have originated not in Eastern Europe, but among CHG-rich West Asian populations South of the Caucasus which later absorbed EHG-rich groups North of the Caucasus. It was noted that haplogroups may not correlate with autosomal ancestry components and historical language dispersals. ==Physical appearance==