Western Steppe Herders
In archaeogenetics, the term Western Steppe Herders (WSH), or Western Steppe Pastoralists, is the name given to a distinct ancestral component that represents descent closely related to the Yamnaya culture of the Pontic-Caspian steppe. This ancestry is often referred to as Yamnaya Ancestry, Yamnaya-Related Ancestry, Steppe Ancestry or Steppe-Related Ancestry.

WSHs are considered descended from Eastern Hunter-Gatherers (EHGs) who received some admixture from South Asian Hunter-Gatherers (AASI) and Caucasus Hunter-Gatherers (CHGs) during the Neolithic. The Y-DNA of the WSHs was mostly types of R1a-M417 and R1b-M269. Around 3,000 BC, people of the Yamnaya culture, who belonged to the WSH cluster, embarked on a massive expansion throughout Eurasia, which is considered to be associated with the dispersal of Indo-European languages by the majority of scholars. WSH ancestry from this period is often referred to as Steppe Early and Middle Bronze Age (Steppe EMBA) ancestry.

This expansion led to the rise of the Corded Ware culture, whose members were of about 75% WSH ancestry, and the virtual disappearance of the Y-DNA of Early European Farmers (EEFs) from the European gene pool, significantly altering the cultural and genetic landscape of Europe. During the Bronze Age, Corded Ware people with admixture from Central Europe remigrated onto the steppe, forming a type of WSH ancestry often referred to as Steppe Middle and Late Bronze Age (Steppe MLBA) ancestry. Through the Sintashta culture, Andronovo culture and Srubnaya culture, Steppe MLBA was carried into Central Asia and South Asia along with Indo-Iranian languages, leaving a long-lasting cultural and genetic legacy.

The modern population of Europe can largely be modeled as a mixture of WHG (Western Hunter-Gatherer), EEF and WSH. In Europe, WSH ancestry peaks among Norwegians (ca. 50%), while in South Asia, it peaks among the Kalash people (ca. 50%), according to Lazaridis et al. (2016). , which employed a wider range of references in their ancestry models, found lower levels of steppe-derived ancestry among modern South Asians (e.g. ~30% among the Kalash).
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South Asia
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Western Hunter-Gatherer
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Norwegians
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Kalash people
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Western Steppe Herders
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