Fig. 1: Geographical and chronological overview of individuals analysed in this study.

a, Map of the wider Caucasus region showing the locations of the 38 sampled sites and 131 individuals from this study and published data⁵ (Supplementary Tables 1 and 5). The number in parentheses indicates the studied individuals per site. The inset shows a magnified view of the area marked by the rectangle in the main image. Scale bars, 100 km (main image) and 10 km (inset). b, Timeline of the median ¹⁴C ages of newly reported (black outline) and published individuals (no outline), separated on the x axis into main genetic and geographic clusters (Steppe, Intermediate and Caucasus), as well as other published individuals from south of the Greater Caucasus for comparison. Colours in the piecharts (a), and colours and symbols in the timeline (b) represent sampled individuals associated with different archaeological cultural complexes, and these are used consistently across all figures (see Figs. 2 and 3, Extended Data Fig. 1, Supplementary Table 1 and Supplementary Fig. 1 for full site names and individual symbols). Grey bars correspond to the chronological chapters in the results section. The map was generated using Base Relief: Mapzen, OpenStreetMap, and rivers, lakes and borders were added using free vector and raster map data from Natural Earth (https://www.naturalearthdata.com). OpenStreetMap is open data, licensed under the Open Data Commons Open Database Licence by the OpenStreetMap Foundation.