The various hunter-gatherer ancestries are not homogeneously distributed amongst modern populations (Fig. 5). WHG-related ancestry is highest in present-day individuals from the Baltic States, Belarus, Poland, and Russia; EHG-related ancestry is highest in Mongolia, Finland, Estonia and Central Asia; and CHG-related ancestry is maximised in countries east of the Caucasus, in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Iran, in accordance with previous results92. The CHG-related ancestry likely reflects both Caucasus hunter-gatherer and Iranian Neolithic signals, explaining the relatively high levels in south Asia93. Consistent with expectations94,95, Neolithic Anatolian-related farmer ancestry is concentrated around the Mediterranean basin, with high levels in southern Europe, the Near East, and North Africa, including the Horn of Africa, but is less frequent in Northern Europe. This is in direct contrast to the Steppe-related ancestry, which is found in high levels in northern Europe, peaking in Ireland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, but decreases further south. There is also evidence for its spread into southern Asia. Overall, these results refine global patterns of spatial distributions of ancient ancestries amongst modern populations.
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