English: Scythian genetic makeup and formation of the Xiongnu (compilation) Scythian/Saka - Slab Grave merger: "Arguably, these Iranian-speaking groups were assimilated over time by the predominant Turkic-speaking part of the Xiongnu population. ... The Altai_MLBA group contains seven individuals from the Altai-Sayan region (BER002, BIL001, ULZ001, ARS026, SBG001, ULI001, ULI003), who are admixed between the Western Steppe gene pool associated with Srubnaya/Sintashta/Andronovo cultures (“steppe_MLBA”) and the one associated with Khövsgöl_LBA/Baikal_EBA. ... We observe two distinct demographic processes that contributed to the formation of the early Xiongnu. First, half of the early individuals (n = 6) form a genetic cluster (earlyXiongnu_west) resembling that of Chandman_IA of the preceding Sagly/Uyuk culture from the Altai-Sayan region (Figure 2). They derive 92% of their ancestry from Chandman_IA with the remainder attributed to additional Iranian-related ancestry, which we model using BMAC as a proxy (Figures 3D and 4D; Table S5F). This suggests that the low-level Iranian-related gene flow identified among the Chandman_IA Sagly/Uyuk during the EIA likely continued during the second half of the first millennium BCE, spreading across western and northern Mongolia. Second, six individuals (“earlyXiongnu_rest”) fall intermediate between the earlyXiongnu_west and Ulaanzuukh_SlabGrave clusters; four carry varying degrees of earlyXiongnu_west (39%–75%) and Ulaanzuukh_SlabGrave (25%–61%) related ancestry, and two (SKT004, JAG001) are indistinguishable from the Ulaanzuukh_SlabGrave cluster (Figure 3D; Tables S5F and S5G). This genetic cline linking the earlyXiongnu_west and Ulaanzuukh_SlabGrave gene pools signifies the unification of two deeply diverged and distinct lineages on the Eastern Steppe—between the descendants of the DSKC, Mönkhkhairkhan, and Sagly/Uyuk cultures in the west and the descendants of the Ulaanzuukh and Slab Grave cultures in the east. Overall, the low-level influx of Iranian-related gene flow continuing from the previous Sagly/Uyuk culture and the sudden appearance of a novel east-west mixture uniting the gene pools of the Eastern Steppe are the two defining demographic processes associated with the rise of the Xiongnu."