were early Slavs just mongrel/watered down Balts?

[War Chef]

Well Slavs also were isolated, it just seems that Slavs mixed with some southern element at the begging and than became the stabilised mix.

A lot of Scythians on GEDmatch are almost indistinguishable from Ukrainians.
Slavs could easily be 50% Scythian 50% Baltic hybrid

[Not a Cop]

A lot of Scythians on GEDmatch are almost indistinguishable from Ukrainians.
Slavs could easily be 50% Scythian 50% Baltic hybrid

Could be, but Scythians were very heterogenous.

[War Chef]

Could be, but Scythians were very heterogenous.

yeah i guess you would have to see the original andronovo/sintashta/arkaim GEDmatch results.......theres a few but i dont remember who they resemble

[Daos777]

A lot of Scythians on GEDmatch are almost indistinguishable from Ukrainians.
Slavs could easily be 50% Scythian 50% Baltic hybrid

This is what I believe too, although it’s probably not 50/50 the Baltic/Slavic element is more dominant in Ukrainians. Probably like 30-40% Scythian.

[Sarmatian]

Well Slavs also were isolated, it just seems that Slavs mixed with some southern element at the begging and than became the stabilised mix.

Even while being relatively isolated overall Slavs were exposed to Iranic and Turkic influences far more than Balts.

[vbnetkhio]

Slavs could easily be 50% Scythian 50% Baltic hybrid

Slavs show Celtic and Germanic influence compared to Balts.
since some Scythian samples were Celtic-like and Germanic-like, it might as well be from them, autosomally.

but the problem is Slavs don't have any Scythian haplogroups in large numbers (r1a-z93, r1b-z2103)

[Peterski]

Slavs show Celtic and Germanic influence compared to Balts.

Slavs are intermediate between Balts and Germanics but question is if it is due to admixture or just very ancient pattern dating back to Early Indo-European times (for example this is what we would expect if the Proto-Slavic homeland was located between the Proto-Baltic homeland and the Proto-Germanic homeland).

[Mingle]

This is what I believe too, although it’s probably not 50/50 the Baltic/Slavic element is more dominant in Ukrainians. Probably like 30-40% Scythian.

The Scythians of Eastern Europe are genetically very distant to the Scythians from Central Asia where they originated. The ones in EE are probably mostly Slavic genetically with minor original Scythian DNA. Considering how genetically close Ukrainians are to Poles (and the average Pole has insignificant Scythian ancestry), we can't blame Scythians for the southern shift of Slavs. It's most likely from mixing with Germanics and Celtics as another user said.

[vbnetkhio]

The Scythians of Eastern Europe are genetically very distant to the Scythians from Central Asia where they originated. The ones in EE are probably mostly Slavic genetically with minor original Scythian DNA. Considering how genetically close Ukrainians are to Poles (and the average Pole has insignificant Scythian ancestry), we can't blame Scythians for the southern shift of Slavs. It's most likely from mixing with Germanics and Celtics as another user said.

how could Scythians be mostly Slavic, if Slavs formed, as a relatively small group, around 200-300 bc, when Scythians were already fading and being replaced by Sarmatians?

yes, Scythians probably originated in Andronovo(modern Kazakhstan) ,migrated west and absorbed the remains of Yamnaya people, who weren't genetically Slavic-like

[vbnetkhio]

Slavs are intermediate between Balts and Germanics but question is if it is due to admixture or just very ancient pattern dating back to Early Indo-European times (for example this is what we would expect if the Proto-Slavic homeland was located between the Proto-Baltic homeland and the Proto-Germanic homeland).

that period was the early Corded ware, when Corded ware extended from Volga to France. but then the early Slav sample would get , for example, Baltic Corded ware + German Corded Ware in oracles, right? we have samples of both. but it doesn't get that , it get's Baltic + Celtic or Celtic-like + Scandinavian iron/bronze age samples.

maybe Slavs were originally just Baltic + Celtic, Celtic was brought by this Veneti group hypothesized by some Archaeologists and linguists, who also brought the i2a1 haplogroup with them, and then the Germanic influence was brought afterwards by the Goths?