Abstract: Reconstructing population history is harder in South Asia than in many other world regions due to a paucity of ancient DNA. We report genome-wide data for 10 individuals from Old Lady Spider Cave, which lies 4000 meters above sea level in the Himalayan region of Ladakh and dates to around 1500 years before the present (B.P.). These individuals were genetically homogeneous and had an ancestry signature rare in South Asians today: admixed in roughly 50–50% proportions between a population well proxied by present-day North Indians and another genetically similar to ancient Tibetans. By analyzing the typical sizes of segments of DNA inherited from each of these ancestral populations, we find that admixture of these groups began at least 50 generations before the date of the individuals, that is, by around 2800 B.P.

High-resolution archaeometallurgical analysis of production debris offers a direct means of reconstructing ancient metalmaking traditions, yet remains underexplored relative to the study of finished artefacts. By integrating slag morphology, microstructure and compositional data from Late Bronze Age Taldysai, this study reconstructs, for the first time in Eurasian Steppe archaeology, a continuous 300-year tradition of copper-alloy production. The results reveal technological continuity alongside innovation, including advanced furnace designs, shared metallurgical knowledge and episodes of experimentation. The authors state that these findings position local semipastoralist communities not as peripheral adopters but as active innovators at the heart of Bronze Age Eurasian metallurgical developments.

Abstract: The nomadic cultures of the Iron Age played an important role in shaping the genetic and cultural landscape of Eurasian populations. Yet despite its key geographical location, the Central Eurasian region remains underrepresented in ancient DNA studies of humans. We address this gap through genomic analysis of 12 individuals from the Boz-Barmak burial site in Kyrgyzstan associated with Saka pastoralists (4th−2nd centuries BCE), 9 of which yielded low-coverage genomes (on average 0.7-fold coverage). Genetic clustering analysis placed these individuals within the genetic variation of ancient and modern Central Eurasian and Siberian populations. We found no evidence of first-degree relatives in a kinship analysis, however a network of second- and third-degree relationships seems to be present. Notably, all male individuals share the same Y-chromosomal haplotype, common in present-day Kyrgyz groups, while mitochondrial DNA showed comparably high diversity, with distinct haplogroups observed across the analysed individuals. These findings are in line with archaeological and ethnographic evidence of patrilocality in Early Iron Age Saka, where male lineages remained stable across generations, while female mobility contributed to genetic diversity. Our study complements our understanding of the interplay between kinship, social organisation and population history in nomadic cultures.

Abstract: This article will argue that the Indo-European s-aorist is an ancient verbal category, and thus can be reconstructed for the earliest reconstructable stage of Proto-Indo-European. Moreover, it will argue that evidence from Vedic Sanskrit indicates that its active paradigm originally had radical *ē-grade in its 2sg. and 3sg. forms only, whereas its other forms (including 1sg.) showed *e-grade. Furthermore, it will argue that s-aorists formed to roots of the structure *CeCH-, which are the ancestors of the Sanskrit iṣ-aorists, originally had *e-grade throughout their active paradigm, and did not contain any *ē-grade forms. The article will furthermore discuss the possibility that this specific distribution of *ē-and *e-grade forms in the s-aorist is the result of a pre-PIE monosyllabic lengthening rule. It will argue that additional evidence in favor of this sound law can be found in other domains of the Vedic verbal system as well as in certain distributional patterns in the Tocharian verbal system.

The historicity of Hezekiah’s reforms is a hotly debated topic, and as the historical credibility of the biblical texts gradually eroded, so the reliance on archaeological data increased. Drawing on the high-resolution excavations of a large residency at Tel ‘Eton, this article presents evidence for cult-related changes at the site. During the building’s first phase, a large standing stone was erected in the largest and one of the innermost rooms of the building. It was positioned so that it was visible to anyone standing at the entrance to the structure and in most of the courtyard. At some point before the end of the 8th century BCE, the standing stone was laid down and “concealed” within a stone platform that was built around it. The article reviews this concealment within the broader cultic landscape of 8th-century BCE Judah, and its possible association with Hezekiah’s reform. The information from Tel ‘Eton not only provides an additional example of cultic changes in the 8th century BCE, but also underscores a relatively under-researched type of setting—that of domestic cult—which could hold the key to the debate over the religious history of Judah.

Open Access Edited Volume on Zoroastrianism.

“Although Zoroastrians in the contemporary world are numerically few – estimated recently at less than 150,000 across the globe – their ancient Iranian ancestors ruled vast areas of the Near East for over a millennium. From the mid‑sixth century BCE to the mid‑seventh century CE, the historical contribution of the ‘Mazda-worshipping’ religion to the intellectual, cultural, and political development of the region was momentous. The migration of some Zoroastrians to north-western India also had a significant social and economic impact on early modern and modern India. From the mid-seventeenth century until the present, Zoroastrianism has also played an important role in European discourse.
Written by a distinguished team of international contributors, including many Zoroastrians, The Zoroastrian World presents a global guide to Zoroastrianism from the earliest period to the modern day, offering original perspectives through substantial thematic contributions on the lived experience of Zoroastrian communities across the world. This volume is organised into five distinct sections:
Imagining Zoroastrianism
The Developing Zoroastrian World
Living Realities: Zoroastrian Narrative and Symbol in the Modern World
Contemporary Challenges in the Zoroastrian World
Creative Contributions from the Zoroastrian World
The Zoroastrian World provides an authoritative and accessible source of information on topics relating to the Zoroastrian religion, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary connections. The volume is essential reading for students engaged in studies of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics; Ancient and Modern Iran; the Near and Middle East; Central Asia; South Asian Religions; and Cultural History. The Zoroastrian World is intended for all curious readers, who seek to know more about this ancient, enduring religion.”

“This book contains papers based on some of the talks presented in the workshop Areal Effects in Prehistoric Contacts between Uralic and Indo-European at the international congress of Finno-Ugric studies, Congressus  XIII Internationalis Fenno-Ugristarum, held in Vienna in August 2022. The volume at hand highlights different viewpoints on Indo-European–Uralic contacts and hopefully serves as an interesting take on the present state of the field, as well as an inspiration and starting point for future research. One of the most important aims of the volume is to stimulate discussion and produce further conferences and volumes, as well as more concrete research cooperation between scholars working with the history of Uralic and Indo-European language families. Many of the papers open new paths of research rather than provide definite answers to all of the issues that are addressed. The aim of the workshop was to bring scholars of Uralic and Indo-European studies together. The different topics included in the volume highlight the wide span of diachronic contact linguistics. Also, different branches of both language families (Samoyed, Permic, Finnic, Saami; Tocharian, Indo-Iranian, Baltic, Germanic) are well represented here, which gives a representative snapshot of the varied research problems that our field is dealing with. The papers present new etymologies, discuss new (or recently discovered) loanword layers, and also revisit old ideas.”

• DOI/PMID/ISBN: https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2026.10215
• [URL] https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2026.10215

Abstract: “Recent advances in ancient DNA and isotope analysis have enabled archaeologists to detect migration events in the distant past. Yet, novel approaches evaluating the cultural impact of these migrations are lacking. As a result, archaeologists continue to debate problematic culture-historical scenarios in which migrants rapidly supplant passive indigenous communities. This study outlines a bottom-up, quantitative approach to prehistoric migrations. This approach uses Bayesian chronological modelling to investigate whether migrating and indigenous communities co-existed. In addition, a novel probabilistic comparison of ceramic technology traces whether cultural knowledge is exchanged between potters in these communities. This approach is applied to the emergence of Corded Ware communities in the Netherlands during the 3rd millennium BC. The outcomes demonstrate that this process was not a rapid replacement of indigenous groups by migrants, as sometimes stated. Instead, migrants likely co-existed with indigenous communities for centuries, learned ceramic production from them, and incorporated this knowledge into the production of characteristic Corded Ware ceramics. Furthermore, the outcomes suggest this scenario was likely commonplace for prehistoric migration in the 3rd and 4th millennia BC. As such, this study provides new approaches and insights which enable archaeologists to shed light on prehistoric migration, talk back to archaeogenetics on an equal footing, and contribute to broader societal debates on migration.”