After discovering the first kurgans in the steppes, the archaeologists were faced with the need to determine the social status of buried persons and the relationship between people buried within the same necropolis. Archaeology has developed its methods and criteria for assessing the social status of buried persons, such as the size of the burial kurgans, the location of burials in the center or on the periphery of the kurgan, the wealth of implements, etc. With the introduction of paleogenetic methods into archeology, new opportunities for research in this direction are opening up. The analysis of ancient DNA is a tool that allows you not to assume but to establish consanguinity.

This study presents the archaeological and molecular analysis of human remains from the East-Manych variant of the Catacomb culture. Catacomb culture dominated eastern Ukraine and southern Russia in the 3rd millennium BCE. The skeletons were recovered from kurgans of the Ergeninskii kurgan group in Kalmykia (Russia) that were radiocarbon dated the Bronze Age (25th–23rd century BCE). Y-chromosome STR analysis revealed that both individuals belonged to haplogroup R1b. This paternal lineage appears at high frequency in central, western, and northern Europe, and commonly appears among the Yamnaya. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA variation revealed the Catacomb males to belong to haplogroups H and N, respectively, both of which also appeared in the Yamnaya. These genetic data suggest a possible relationship between the Catacomb and Yamnaya cultures and contribute to our understanding of the cultural and historical processes occurring in the steppes of Eastern Europe during the Bronze Age.

在发现了草原上的第一个kurgans之后，考古学家面临着确定被埋葬者的社会地位以及被埋葬在同一大墓地中人与人之间关系的需求。考古学发展出了评估埋葬者社会地位的方法和标准，例如埋葬古根的规模，埋葬在古尔甘中心或周边的位置，工具的财富等。在将古遗传学方法运用于考古学方面，这方面的新研究机会正在打开。对古代DNA的分析是一种工具，它使您无需假设而是可以确定血缘。

这项研究提出了地下墓穴文化中East-Manych变种中人类遗骸的考古学和分子分析。公元前3世纪，地下墓穴文化主导了乌克兰东部和俄罗斯南部。骨骼是从卡尔梅克（俄罗斯）的Ergeninskii kurgan组的kurgan中回收的，它们的放射性碳可追溯到青铜时代（公元前25至23世纪）。Y染色体STR分析表明，这两个人都属于单倍型R1b。这种父系血统在中欧，西欧和北欧的频率很高，通常出现在Yamnaya中。线粒体DNA变异的分析表明，地下墓穴的雄性分别属于单倍群H和N，它们也都出现在Yamnaya中。