The
information about the origin and ethnic association of haplogroups on this
website should not be read as hard facts, but, as is often the case in science,
as a model in constant evolution based on the present knowledge and
understanding (of the authors). Whenever the advancement of genetics couldn't
provide irrefutable answers, we have attempted to provide the most likely and
logical hypothesis based on archeological, historical and linguistic evidence.
This page is being updated regularly to keep up with recent studies giving
additional insights or rectifying possibly erroneous theories. Feel free to add
comments or share your opinion on theforum.
Introduction
to genetic genealogy
DNA
studies have permitted to categorise all humans on Earth in genealogical groups
sharing one common ancestor at one given point in prehistory. They are calledhaplogroups. There are two kinds of
haplogroups: the paternally inheritedY-chromosome
DNA(Y-DNA) haplogroups, and the
maternally inheritedmitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) haplogroups. They
respectively indicate the agnatic (or patrilineal) and cognatic (or
matrilineal) ancestry.
Y-DNA haplogroupsare useful to determine whether two apparently unrelated individuals
sharing the same surname do indeed descend from a common ancestor in a not too
distant past (3 to 20 generations). This is achieved by comparing the
haplotypes through theSTR markers.Deep SNPtesting allows to go back much
farther in time, and to identify the ancient ethnic
group to which one's ancestors belonged (e.g. Celtic, Germanic, Slavic,
Greco-Roman, Basque, Iberian, Phoenician, Jewish, etc.).
In Europe,mtDNA haplogroupsare quite evenly spread over the
continent, and therefore cannot be associated easily with ancient ethnicities.
However, they can sometimes reveal some potential medical conditions (seediseases associated with mtDNA
mutations). Some mtDNA subclades are
associated with Jewish ancestry, notably K1a1b1a, K1a9,d
K2a2a and N1b.
DNA Facts
·Nucleotides are the alphabet of DNA. There
are four of them : adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine
(G) and cytosine (C). They always go by pairs, A with T, and G with C. Such
pairs are called "base pairs".
·The 46 chromosomes of human DNA are
composed of a total of 3,000 million base pairs.
·The Y-chromosome possess 60 million base pairs,
against 153 million for the X chromosome.
·Mitochondrial DNA is found outside the
cell's nucleus, and therefore outside of the chromosomes. It consists only of
16,569 base pairs.
·A SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) is a
mutation in a single base pair. At present, only a few hundreds SNP's define
all the human haplogroups for mtDNA or Y-DNA.
Y-DNA Haplogroups
Chronological
development of Y-DNA haplogroups
K
=> 40,000 years ago (probably arose in northern Iran)
T
=> 30,000 years ago (around the Red
Sea)
J
=> 30,000 years ago (in the Middle
East)
R
=> 28,000 years ago (in the Central
Asia)
E1b1b
=> 26,000 years ago (in southern Africa)
I
=> 25,000 years ago (in the Balkans)
R1a1 => 21,000 years ago (in southern Russia)
R1b
=> 20,000 years ago (around the Caspian
Sea or Central Asia)
E-M78
=> 18,000 years ago (in north-eastern Africa)
G
=> 17,000 years ago (between India and
the Caucasus)
I2 =>
17,000 years ago (in the Balkans)
J2
=> 15,000 years ago (in northern Mesopotamia)
I2b
=> 13,000 years ago (in Central
Europe)
N1c1
=> 12,000 years ago (in Siberia)
I2a
=> 11,000 years ago (in the Balkans)
R1b1b2
=> 10,000 years ago (north or south of the Caucasus)
J1
=> 10,000 years ago (in the Arabian
peninsula)
E-V13
=> 10,000 years ago (in the Balkans)
I2b1
=> 9,000 years ago (in Germany)
I2a1
=> 8,000 years ago (in Sardinia)
I2a2
=> 7,500 years ago (in the Dinaric
Alps)
E-M81
=> 5,500 years ago (in the Maghreb)
I1
=> 5,000 years ago (in Scandinavia)
R1b-L21
=> 4,000 years ago (in Central or Eastern
Europe)
R1b-S28
=> 3,500 years ago (around the Alps)
R1b-S21
=> 3,000 years ago (in Frisia or Central
Europe)
I2b1a
=> less than 3,000 years ago (in Britain)
Map of early
Bronze Age cultures in Europe around 4,500 to 5,000 years ago
R1a is thought to have been the
dominant haplogroup among the northern and eastern Indo-European speakers who
evolved into the Indo-Iranian, Mycenaean Greek, Macedonian, Thracian, Baltic
and Slavic branches. The Proto-Indo-Europeans originated in the Yamna culture (3300-2500 BCE), in the Pontic-Caspian steppe
between modern Ukraine and south-west Russia. Their expansion is linked to the
domestication of horses in the Eurasian steppes, and the invention of the
chariot (see R1b above).
The eastern part of the Pontic-Caspian
steppes is strongly associated with the Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic branches
of Indo-European languages. Based on archeological, linguistic and genetic
data, it is possible to say that the pastoralist nomads who lived in the
northern Russian steppes and forest-steppes 5,000 years ago carried
predominantly R1a paternal lineages.
Nowadays, high frequencies
of R1a are found in Poland (56% of the population), Ukraine (50 to 65%),
European Russia (45 to 65%), Belarus (45%), Slovakia (40%), Latvia (40%),
Lithuania (38%), the Czech Republic (34%), Hungary (32%), Croatia (29%), Norway
(28%), Austria (26%), Sweden (24%), north-east Germany (23%) and Romania (22%).
Hypothetical map of Y-DNA haplogroup distribution in Europe about 2,000 years ago
This
map was composed by calculatingmodern regional
densitiesand
withdrawing the supposed influence of migrations that took place in the last
2000 years. Only the main/dominant haplogroups are represented for each region.
Haplogroup E and R1b encompass various subclades if the subclade not specified.
Large font = over 25% of the population Small font = between 10 and 25% of the
population
R1a1a7b:
the "Polish" haplogroup
A new subclade ofR1a1a7has come out of the shadows during the
past few weeks, recognized by theISOGGas R1a1a7b. It's defined by the SNP
L260 and apparently largely confined to Poland. Indeed, it's about
as close as we're probably going to get to seeing a
"Polish" haplogroup, because it also correlates very well with
Peter Gwozdz'sP
STR typewithin R1a1a. That
type seems to be linked to a population expansion within Poland at about the same
time as the formation of the Polish state.
Exciting stuff, and I'm sure things will get even more exciting over
the next few months as more data comes in. FYI, R1a1a7a was announced a few
months ago, at the same time as R1a1a7. It's defined by the SNP M334, but has
only been found in one Estonian sample to date. For some more background
reading, see these earlier blog entries...
Genetyka okazuje
się bardzo pomocna archeologii. Męski chromosom Y jest dziedziczony
zawsze z ojca na syna i na tej podstawie można zbadać kto ma
wspólnego przodka. Chromosom ten podlegał róznym mutacjom. Od mutacji
zaczyna się nowa populacja, tzw. haplogrupa.
Słowianie
należą do haplogrupy R1a1a, z tym, że w listopadzie 2009 r.
naukowcy odkryli nową haplogrupę tzw. zachodniosłowiańską:
R1a1a7b. Powstanie tej haplogrupy datuje się
na 1.900 lat p.n.e. i umieszcza na terenie Polski. Poniżej podaję
link do strony, która obszernie zajmuje się tym tematem:
R1bis the most common haplogroup in Western Europe, reaching over
80% of the population in Ireland, the ScottishHighlands, western Wales,
the Atlantic fringe of France
and the Basque country. It is also common in Anatolia and around the Caucasus,
in parts of Russia and in Central and South Asia. Besides the Atlantic and
North Sea coast of Europe, hotspots include the Po valley in north-central
Italy (over 70%), the Ossetians of the North Caucasus (over 40%) and nearby
Armenia (35%), the Bashkirs of the Urals region of Russia (50%), Turkmenistan
(over 35%), the Hazara people of Afghanistan (35%), the Uyghurs of North-West
China (20%) and the Newars of Nepal (11%). R1b-V88, a subclade specific to
sub-Saharan Africa, is found in 60 to 95% of men in northern Cameroon.
Anatolian or Caucasian origins
?
The origins of R1b are not entirely clear to this day.
Some of the oldest forms of R1b are found in the Near East and around the
Caucasus. Haplogroup R1* and R2* might have originated in southern Central Asia
(between the Caspian and the Hindu Kush). A branch of R1 would have developed
into R1b* then R1b1* in the northern part of the Middle East during the Ice
Age. It presumptively moved to northern Anatolia and across the Caucasus during
the early Neolithic, where it became R1b1b. The Near Eastern leftovers evolved
into R1b1a (M18), now found at low frequencies among the Lebanese and the
Druze.The Phoenicians (who came from modern day Lebanon) spread this R1b1a and
R1b1* to their colonies, notably Sardinia and the Maghreb.
The subclades R1b1b1 and R1b1b2 (the most common form
in Europe) are closely associated with the spread of Indo-European languages,
as attested by its presence in all regions of the world where Indo-European
languages were spoken in ancient times, from the Atlantic coast of Europe to
the Indian subcontinent, including almost all Europe (except Finland and
Bosnia-Herzegovina), Anatolia, Armenia, Europan Russia, southern Siberia, many
pockets around Central Asia (notably Xinjiang, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and
Afghanistan), without forgetting Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal. The history
of R1b and R1a are intricately connected to each others. Whereas R1b1 is found is such places as the Levant or Cameroon, R1b1b mostly likely originated in north-eastern Anatolia.
The North Caucasus
and the Pontic-Caspian steppe : the Indo-European link
Modern linguists have placed the Proto-Indo-European
homeland in the Pontic-Caspian steppe, a distinct geographic and archeological
region extending from the Danube estuary to the Ural mountains
to the east and North Caucasus to the south. The Neolithic, Eneolithic and early Bronze Age cultures
in Pontic-Caspian steppe has been called theKurgan culture(7000-2200 BCE) byMarija
Gimbutas, due to the lasting practice of
burying the deads under mounds ("kurgan") among the succession of
cultures in that region. Horses were first domesticated around 4000 BCE in the
steppe, perhaps somewhere around the Don or the lower Volga, and soon became a
defining element of steppe culture. During the Bronze-age period, known as theYamna horizon(3300-2500 BCE), the cattle and
sheep herders adopted wagons to transport their food and tents, which allowed
them to move deeper into the steppe, giving rise to a new mobile lifestyle that
would eventually lead to the great Indo-European migrations.
The Pontic-Caspian steppe cultures can be divided in a
western group, ranging from the Don River to the Dniester (and later Danube),
and an eastern one, in the Volga-Ural region. The Pontic steppe was probably
inhabited by men of mixed R1a and R1b lineages, with higher densities of R1b
just north of the Caucasus, and more R1a in the the northern steppes and the
forest-steppes.
R1b almost certainly crossed over from northern
Anatolia to the Pontic-Caspian steppe. It is not clear whether this happened
before, during or after the Neolithic. A regular flow of R1b across the
Caucasus cannot be excluded either. The genetic diversity of R1b being greater
around the Caucasus, it is hard to deny that R1b settled and evolved there
before entering the steppe world. Does that mean that Indo-European languages
originated in the steppes with R1a people, and that R1b immigrants blended into
the established culture ? Or that Proro-Indo-European
language appear in northern Anatolia or in the Caucasus, then spread to the
steppes with R1b ? Or else did Proro-Indo-European
first appear in the steppe as a hybrid language of Caucasian/Anatolian R1b and
steppe R1a ? This question has no obvious answer, but
based on the antiquity and archaic character of the Anatolian branch (Hittite,
Palaic, Luwian, Lydian, and so on) an northern
Anatolian origin of Proto-Indo-European is credible. Furthermore, there is
documented evidence of loan words from Caucasian languages in Indo-European
languages. This is much more likely to have happened if Proto-Indo-European
developed near the Caucasus than in the distant steppes. R1b would consequently
have been the spreading factor of PIE to the steppes, and from there to Europe,
Central Asia and South Asia.
The Maykop culture, the R1b link to the steppe ?
TheMaykop
culture(3700-2500 BCE), in the North Caucasus, was culturally
speaking a sort of southern extension of the Yamna horizon. Although not
generally considered part of the Pontic-Caspian steppe culture due to its
geography, the North Caucasus had close links with the steppe, as attested by
numerous ceramics, gold, copper and bronze weapons and jewelry in the
contemporaneous cultures ofMikhaylovka,Sredny StogandKemi
Oba. The link between the North Pontic and
North Caucasus is older than the Maykop period. Its predecessor, the Svobodnoe culture
(4400-3700 BCE), already had links to the Suvorovo-Novodanilovka and early
Sredny Stog cultures, and the even older Nalchik settlement (5000-4500 BCE) displayed a similar culture asKhvalynskon the Volga. This may be the period when R1b started interracting and blending with
the R1a population of the steppes.
The Yamna and Maykop people both used kurgan burials,
with their deads in a supine position with raised knees and oriented in a
north-east/south-west axis. Graves were sparkled with red ochre on the floor,
and sacrificed dometic animal buried alongside humans. They also had in common
horse riding, wagons, a cattle- and sheep-based economy, the use of
copper/bronze battle-axes (both hammer-axes and sleeved axes) and tanged
daggers. In fact, the oldest wagons and bronze artefacts are found in the North
Caucasus, and spread from there to the steppes.
Maykop was an advanced Bronze Age culture, actually
one of the very first to develop metalworking, and therefore metal weapons. The
world's oldest sword was found at a late Maykop grave in Klady kurgan 31. Its
style is reminiscent of the long Celtic swords, though less elaborated. Horse
bones and depictions of horses already appear in early Maykop graves,
suggesting that the Maykop culture might have been founded by steppe people or
by people who had close link with them. However, the presence of cultural
elements radically different from the steppe culture in some sites could mean
that Maykop had a hybrid population. Without DNA testing it is impossible to
say if these two populations were an Anatolian R1b group and a G2a Caucasian
group, or whether R1a people had settled there two. The two or three etnicities
might even have cohabited side by side in different settlements. Typical
Caucasian Y-DNA lineages (such as G2a) do not follow the pattern of
Indo-European migrations, so intermarriages must have been limited, or at least
restricted to Indo-European men taking Caucasian wives rather than the other
way round.
Maykop people are the ones credited for the
introduction of primitive wheeled vehicles (wagons) from Mesopotamia to the
steppes. This would revolutionise the way of life in the steppe, and would
later lead to the development of (horse-drawn) war chariots around 2000 BCE.
Cavalry and chariots played an vital role in the
subsequent Indo-European migrations, allowing them to move quickly and defeat
easily anybody they encountered. Combined with advanced bronze weapons and
their sea-based culture, the western branch (R1b) of the Indo-Europeans from
the Black Sea shores are excellent candidates for being the mysteriousSea Peoples, who raided the eastern shores of the Mediterranean during the second
millennium BCE.
The rise of the IE-speaking Hittites in Central
Anatolia happened a few centuries after the disappearance of the Maykop
culture. A back migration from the North Caucasus to northern Anatolia is very
likely in this age of expansion. What is certain is that the Hittites used
chariots, invented in the Volga-Ural steppes. R1a being found a low frequencies
in Armenia and northern Anatolia, it is not unreasonable to imagine that a
hybrid group of R1a-R1b from the Volga-Ural region migrated to this region
sometime between 2000 BCE and 1650 BCE. The Maykop and Yamna cultures were
succeeded by theSrubna
culture(1600-1200 BCE), possibly representing an advance of R1a1a people from
the northern and eastern steppes towards the Black Sea shores.
The European branch
The Indo-Europeans' bronze weapons and horses would
have given them a tremendous advantage over the autochthonous inhabitants of
Europe, namely the native haplogroup I (descendant of Cro-Magnon), and the
early Neolithic herders and farmers (G2a, J2, E-V13 and T). This allowed R1a
and R1b to replace (=> seeHow did R1b come to
replace most of the older lineages in Western Europe ?most of the native male lineages, although female lineages seem to have
been less affected.
A comparison with the Indo-Iranian invasion of South
Asia shows that 40% of the male linages of northern India are R1a, but less
than 10% of the female lineages could be of Indo-European origin. The impact of
the Indo-Europeans was more severe in Europe because European
society 4,000 years ago was less developed in terms of agriculture, technology
(no bronze weapons) and population density than that of theIndus
Valley civilization. This is particularly
true of the native Western European cultures where farming arrived much later
than in the Balkans or central Europe. Greece, the Balkans and the Carpathians
were the most advanced of European societies at the time and were the least
affected in terms of haplogroup replacement. Native European Y-DNA haplogroups
(I1, I2a, I2b) also survived better in regions that were more difficult to
reach or less hospitable, like Scandinavia, Brittany, Sardinia or the Dinaric
Alps.
The first forrays of steppe people into the Balkans
happened between 4200 BCE and 3900 BCE, when horse riders crossed the Dniester
and Danube and apparently destroyed the towns of the Gumelnita, Varna and
Karanovo VI cultures in Eastern Romania and Bulgaria. A climatic change
resulting in colder winters during this exact period probably pushed steppe
herders to seek milder pastures for their stock, while failed crops would have
led to famine and internal disturbance within the Danubian and Balkanic
communities. The ensuingCernavoda
culture(4000-3200 BCE) andEzero culture(3300-2700 BCE) seems to have had
a mixed population of steppe immigrants and people from the old tell
settlements. These steppe immigrants were likely a mixture of both R1a and R1b
lineages. Many Danubian farmers would also have migrated to the
Cucuteni-Tripolye towns in the Eastern Carpathians, causing a population boom
and a north-eastward expansion until the Dnieper valley, bringing Y-haplogroups
E-V13, J2b and T in what is now central Ukraine. This precocious Indo-European
advance westward was fairly limited, due to the absence of Bronze weapons and
organised army at the time, and was indeed only possible thanks to climatic
catastrophes. The Carphatian, Danubian, and Balkanic cultures were too densely
populated and technologically advanced to allow for a massive migration.
The Bronze Age annnounces a very different
development. R1a people appear to have been
the first to successfully penetrate into the heart of Europe, with theCorded Ware (Battle
Axe) culture(3200-1800 BCE) as a natural
western expansion of theYamna culture. They went as far west as Germany and Scandinavia.DNA analysis from the Corded Ware culture site of Eulauconfirms the presence of R1a (but not R1b) in central Germany around 2600 BCE. The Corded Ware migrants might well have expanded from
the forest-steppe, or the northern fringe of the Yamna culture, where R1a
lineages were prevalent over R1b ones.
R1b1b2 is thought to have arrived in central and western Europe around 2500 BCE, by going up the Danube from the Black Sea coast. The
archeological and genetic evidence (distribution of R1b subclades) point at
several consecutive waves towards the Danube between 2800 BCE and 2300 BCE
(beginning of the Unetice culture). It is interesting to note that this also
corresponds to the end of the Maykop culture (2500 BCE) and Kemi Oba culture
(2200 BCE) on the northern shores of the Black Sea, and their replacement by
cultures descended from the northern steppes. It can therefore be envisaged
that the (mostly) R1b population from the northern half of the Black Sea
migrated westward due to pressure from other Indo-European people (R1a) from
the north, like the burgeoning Proto-Indo-Iranian branch, linked to the
contemporary Poltavka and Abashevo cultures.
It is doubtful that theBeaker
culture(2800-1900 BCE) was already Indo-European (although they were influenced
by the Corded Ware culture), because they were the continuity of the native
Megalithic cultures. It is more likely that the beakers and horses found across
western Europe during that period were the result of
trade with neighbouring Indo-European cultures, including the first wave of R1b
into central Europe. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the followingUnetice(2300-1600 BCE),Tumulus(1600-1200 BCE),Urnfield(1300-1200 BCE) andHallstatt(1200-750) cultures were linked to the spread of R1b to Europe, as they
abruptly introduce new technologies and a radically different lifestyle.
Did the
Indo-Europeans really invade Western Europe ?
Proponents of the Paleolithic or Neolithic continuity model argue that
bronze technology and horses could have been imported by Western Europeans
from their Eastern European neighbours, and that no actual Indo-European
invasion need be involved. It is harder to see how Italic, Celtic and
Germaniclanguageswere adopted by Western and Northern
Europeans without at least a small scale invasion. It has been suggested that
Indo-European (IE) languages simply spread through contact, just like
technologies, or because it was the language of a small elite and therefore
its adoption conferred a certain perceived prestige. However people don't
just change language like that because it sounds nicer or more prestigious.
Even nowadays, with textbooks, dictionaries, compulsory language courses at
school, private language schools for adults and multilingual TV programs, the
majority of the people cannot become fluent in a completely foreign language,
belonging to a different language family. The linguistic gap between pre-IE
vernaculars and IE languages was about as big as between modern English and
Chinese. English, Greek, Russian and Hindi are all related IE languages and
therefore easier to learn for IE speakers than non-IE languages like Chinese,
Arabic or Hungarian. From a linguistic point of view, only a wide-scale migration
of IE speakers could explain the thorough adoption of IE languages in Western
Europe - leaving only Basque as a remnant of the Neolithic languages.
One importantarcheologicalargument in favour of the
replacement of Neolithic cultures by Indo-European culture in the Bronze Age
comes frompotterystyles. The sudden appearance of
bronze technology in Western Europe coincides with ceramics suddenly becoming more
simple and less decorated, just like in the Pontic steppes. Until
then, pottery had constantly evolved towards greater complexity and details
for over 3,000 years. People do not just decide like that to revert to a more
primitive style. Perhaps one isolated tribe might experiment with something
simpler at one point, but what are the chances that distant cultures from Iberia, Gaul, Italy and Britain all
decide to undertake such an improbable shift around the same time ? The best explanation is that this new style was
imposed by foreign invaders. In this case it is not mere speculation; there
is ample evidence that this simpler pottery is characteristic of the steppes
associated with the emergence of Proto-Indo-European speakers.
Besides pottery, archeology provides ample evidence that the early
Bronze Age in Central and Western Europe coincides with a radical shift infood
production. Agriculture experiences an abrupt reduction in exchange for
an increased emphasis on domesticates. This is also a period when horses
become more common and cow milk is being consumed regularly. The oeverall
change mimicks the steppe way of life almost perfectly. Even after the
introduction of agriculture around 5200 BCE, the Bug-Dniester culture and
later steppe cultures were characterized by an economy dominated by herding,
with only limited farming. This pattern expands into Europe exactly at the
same time as bronze working.
Religious beliefs and artsundergo a complete reversal in Bronze Age Europe. Neolithic societies
in the Near East and Europe had always worshipped female figurines as a form
of fertility cult. The steppe cultures, on the contrary, did not manufacture
female figurines. As bronze technology spreads from the Danube valley to
Western Europe, symbols of fertility and fecundity progressively disappear
and are replaced by scultures of domesticated animals.
Another clue that Indo-European steppe people came in great number to
Central and Western Europe is to be found inburial practices. Neolithic
Europeans either cremated their dead (e.g. Cucuteni-Tripolye culture) or
buried them in collective graves (this was the case of Megalithic cultures).
In the steppe, each person was buried individually, and high-ranking graves
were placed in a funeral chamber and topped by a circular mound. The body was
typically accompanied by weapons (maces, axes, daggers),
horse bones, and a dismantled wagon (or later chariot). These characteristic
burial mounds are known askurgansin the Pontic steppe. Men were given more sumptuous tombs than women,
even among children, and differences in hierarchy are obvious between
burials. The Indo-Europeans had a strongly hierarchical and patrilinear
society, as opposed to the more egalitarian and matrilinear cultures of Old
Europe. The proliferation of ststus-conscious male-dominant kurgans (or
tumulus) in Central Europe during the Bronze Age is a clear sign that the
ruling elite had now become Indo-European. The practice also spread to
Central Asia and Southern Siberia, two regions where R1a and R1b lineages are
found nowadays, just like in Central Europe. The ceremony of burial is one of
the most emotionally charged and personal aspect of a culture. It is highly
doubtful that people would change their ancestral practice "just to do
like the neighbours". In fact, different funerary practices have
co-existed side by side during the European Neolithic and Chalcolithic. The
ascendancy of yet another constituent of the Pontic steppe culture in the
rest of Europe, and in this case one that does not change easily through contact
with neighbours, adds up to the likelihood of a
strong Indo-European migration. The adoption ofsomeelements of a
foreign culture tends to happen when one civilization overawes the
adjacent cultures by its superiority. This process is called'acculturation'.
However there is nothing that indicates that the steppe culture was so
culturally superior as to motivate a whole continent, even Atlantic cultures
over 2000 km away from the Pontic steppes, to abadndon so many fundamental symbols
of their own ancestral culture, and even their own language. In fact, Old
Europe was far more refined in its pottery and jewellery than the rough
steppe people. The Indo-European superiority was cultural but military,
thanks to horses, bronze weapons and an ethic code valuing individual heroic
feats in war (these ethic values are known from the old IE texts, like the
Rig Veda, Avesta, or the Mycenaean and Hittite literature).
After linguistics and archeology, the third category of evidence comes
fromgeneticsitself. It had first been
hypothetised that R1b was native to Western Europe, because this is where it
was most prevalent. It has since been proven that R1b haplotypes displayed
higher microsatellite diversity in Anatolia and in the Caucasus than in
Europe. European subclades are also more recent than Middle Eastern or
Central Asian ones. The main European subclade, R-P312/S116, only dates back
to approximately 3500 to 3000 BCE. It does not mean that the oldest common
ancestor of this lineage arrived in Western Europe during this period, but
that the first person who carried the mutation R-P312/S116 lived at least
5,000 years ago, assumably somewhere in the lower Danube valley or around the
Black Sea. In any case this timeframe is far too recent for a Paleolithic
origin or a Neolithic arrival of R1b. The discovery of what was thought to be
"European lineages" in Central Asia, Pakistan and India hit the
final nail on the coffin of a Paleolithic origin of R1b in Western Europe,
and confirmed the Indo-European link.
All the elements concur in favour of a large scale migration of
horse-riding Indo-European speakers to Western Europe between 2500 to 2100
BCE, contributing to the replacement of the Neolithic or Chalcolithic
lifestyle by a inherently new Bronze Age culture, with simpler pottery, less
farming, more herding, new rituals (single graves) and new values
(patrilinear society, warrior heroes) that did not evolve from local
predecessors.
These Proto-Italo-Celto-Germanic R1b people had
settled around the Alps by 2300 BCE, and judging from the spread of bronze
working, reached Iberia by 2250 BCE, Britain by 2100 BCE and Ireland by 2000
BCE. This first wave of R1b assumably carriedR1b-L21lineages in great number, as these are
found everywhere in western, northern and central Europe. A second R1b
expansion took place from the Urnfield/Hallstatt culture around 1200 BCE,
pushing west to the Atlantic, north to Scandinavia, and as far east as Greece
and Anatolia (=> see Dorian invasion below).
The new Bronze Age culture flourished around the Alps (Unetice to early
Hallstatt) thanks to the abundance of metal in the region, and laid the
foundation for the classical Celtic culture. The Celtic Iron Age (late
Halstatt, from 800 BCE) may have been brought through preserved contacts with
the the steppes and the North Caucasus, notably theKoban culture(1100-400 BCE).
The Alpine Celts of the Hallstatt culture are
associated with theS28
(a.k.a. U152)mutation,
although not exclusively. The Italic branch (also S28/U152) is thought to have
entered Italy by 1200 BCE, but there were certainly several succesive waves, as
attested by the later arrival of the Cisalpine Celts. The Belgae were another
S28/U152 branch, an extension of the La Tène culture northward, following the Rhine, Moselle and Meuse rivers.
One common linguistic trait between Italic and
Gaulish/Brythonic Celtic languages linked to the Hallstatt expansion is that
they shifted the oiginal IE*kwsound into*p. They are known to linguists
as theP-Celticbranch. It is thought that this change occured due to the inability to
pronounce the*kwsound
by the pre-Indo-European population of central Europe, Gaul and Italy, who were speakers of Afro-Asiatic dialects that had evolved from a
Near-Eastern language. The Etruscans, although later incomers
from the Levant,
also fit in this category. It hasrecently been acknowledgedthat Celtic languages borrowed part of their grammar from Afro-Asiatic
languages. This shift could have happened when the Proto-Italo-Celtic speakers
moved from the steppes to the Danube basin and mixed with
the population of Near-Eastern farmers belonging to haplogroups E-V13, T, G2a
and J2b. However, such an early shift would not explain why Q-Celtic languages
developed in Ireland
and Iberia. It is more plausible that the shift happened after the Italo-Celts had
first expanded across all western Europe. The S28/U152
connection to P-Celtic suggests that the shift took place around the Alps and Italy after 1200 BCE.
R1b-S21 (a.k.a. U106)is found at high concentrations in the Netherlands and northern Germany.
Its presence in other parts of Europe can be attributed to
the 5th- and 6th-century Germanic migrations. The Frisians and Saxons spread
this haplogroup to the British Isles, the Franks to Belgium
and France, and the Lombards to Austria and northern Italy.
The high concentration of S21/U106 around Austria hints that it could have originated there in the Hallstatt period, or
originated around the Black Sea and moved there during the Hallstatt period. In fact, southern Germany and Austria
taken together have the highest diversity of R1b in Europe. Besides S21, the three
major first level subclades of R1b1b2a1b (L21, S28, M167) are found in this
area at reasonable frequencies to envisage a spread from the Unetice to
Hallstatt homeland to the rest of western Europe.
How did R1b come to replace most of the older lineages in Western Europe ?
Until recently it was believed that R1b originated in Western Europe due to its strong
presence in the region today. The theory was that R1b represented the
Paleolithic Europeans (Cro-Magnon) that had sought refuge in the
Franco-Cantabrian region at the peak of the last Ice Age, then recolonised
Central and Northern Europe once the ice sheet receded. The phylogeny of R1b proved that this
scenario was not possible, because older R1b clades were consistently found
in Central Asia and the Middle East, and the youngest in Western and Northern
Europe. There was a clear gradient
from East to West tracing the migration of R1b people (see map above). This
age of the main migration from the shores of the Black Sea to Central Europe also happened to match
the timeframe of the Indo-European invasion of Europe, which coincides with the
introduction of the Bronze-Age culture in Western
Europe, and the spread of Italo-Celtic
and Germanic languages.
Historians and archeologists have long argued whether the
Indo-European migration was a massive invasion, or rather a cultural
diffusion of language and technology spread only by a small number of
incomers. The answer could well be "neither". Proponents of the
diffusion theory would have us think that R1b is native to Western Europe, and R1a alone represent
the Indo-Europeans. The problem is that haplogroup R did arise in Central Asia, and R2 is still
restricted to Central and South
Asia, while R1a and the older subclades of R1b
are also found in Central Asia. The age of R1b subclades in Europe coincide with the Bronze-Age. R1b must consequently have replaced
most of the native Y-DNA lineages in Europe from the Bronze-Age onwards.
However, a massive migration and nearly complete anihilation of the
Paleolithic population can hardly be envisaged. Western Europeans do look
quite different in Ireland, Holland, Aquitaine or Portugal, despite being all regions where R1b is dominant. Autosomal DNA
studies have confirmed that the Western European population is far from
homogeneous. A lot of maternal lineages (mtDNA) also appear to be of
Paleolithic origin (e.g. H1, H3, U5 or V) based on ancient DNA tests. What a
lot of people forget is that there is also no need of a large-scale exodus
for patrilineal lineages to be replaced fairly quickly. Here is why.
Polygamy. Unlike women, men are not
limited in the number of children they can procreate. Men with power
typically have more children. This was all the truer in primitive
societies, where polygamy was often the norm for chieftains and kings.
Status & Power. Equipped with
Bronze weapons and horses, the Indo-Europeans would have easily
subjugated the Neolithic farmers and with even greater ease Europe's
last hunter-gatherers.If they did not exterminate the indigenous men,
the newcomers would have become the new ruling class, with a multitude
of local kings, chieftains and noblemen (Bronze-Age Celts and Germans
lived in small village communities with a chief, each part of a small
tribe headed by a king) with higher reproductive opportunities than average.
Gender imbalance. Invading armies
normally have far more men than women. Men must therefore find women in
the conquered population. Wars are waged by men, and the losers suffer
heavier casualties, leaving more women available to the winners.
Aggressive warfare. The Indo-Europeans
were a warlike people with a strong heroic code emphasising courage and
military prowess. Their superior technology (metal weapons, wheeled
vehicles and warhorses) and attitude to life would have allowed them to
slaughter any population that did not have organised armies with metal
weapons (i.e. anybody except the Middle-Eastern civilizations).
Genetic predisposition to conceive boys. The main role of the Y-chromosome in man's body is to create
sperm. Haplogroups are determined based on mutations differentiating
Y-chromosomes. Each mutation is liable to affect sperm production and
sperm motility. Preliminary research has already established a link
between certain haplogroups and increased or reduced sperm motility. The
higher the motility, the higher the chances of conceiving a boy. It is
absolutely possible that R1b could confer a bias toward more male
offspring. Even a slightly higher percentage of male births would
significantly contribute to the replacement of other lineages with the
accumulation effect building up over a few millennia. Not all R1b
subclades might have this boy bias. The bias only
exist in relation to other haplogroups found in a same
population. It is very possible that the fairly recent R1b subclades of Western Europe
had a significant advantage compared to the older haplogroups in that
region, notably haplogroup I2 and E-V13.Read more
Replacement of patrilineal lineages following this model
quickly becomes exponential. Imagine 100 Indo-European men conquering a tribe
of 1000 indigenous Europeans (a ratio of 1:10). War casualties have resulted
in a higher proportion of women in the conquered population. Let's say that
the surviving population is composed of 700 women and 300 men. Let's suppose
that the victorious Indo-European men end up having twice as many children
reaching adulthood as the men of the vanquished tribe. There is a number of reason for that. The winners would take more wives, or
take concubines, or even rape women of the vanquished tribe. Their higher
status would garantee them greater wealth and therefore better nutrition for
their offspring, increasing the chances of reaching adulthood and procreating
themselves. An offspring ratio of 2 to 1 for men is actually a conservative
estimate, as it is totally conceivable that Bronze-Age sensibilities would
have resulted in killing most of the men on the losing side, and raping their
women (as attested by the Old Testament). Even so, it would only take a few
generations for the winning Y-DNA lineages to become the majority. For
instance, if the first generation of Indo-Europeans had two surviving sons
per man, against only one per indigenous man, the number of Indo-European
paternal lineages would pass to 200 individuals at the second generation, 400
at the third, 800 at the fourth and 1600 at the fifth, and so on. During that
time indigenous lineages would only stagnate at 300 individuals for each
generation.
Based on such a scenario, the R1b lineages would have quickly
overwhelmed the local lineages. Even if the Indo-European conquerors had only
slightly more children than the local men, R1b lineages would become dominant
within a few centuries. Celtic culture lasted for over 1000 years in
Continental Europe before the Roman conquest putting an end to the
priviledges of the chieftains and nobility. This is more than enough time for
R1b lineages to reach 50 to 80% of the population.
The present-day R1b frequency forms a gradient from the Atlantic
fringe of Europe (highest percentage) to Central and Eastern Europe (lowest), the rises
again in the Anatolian homeland. This is almost certainly because agriculture
was better established in Eastern, then Central Europe, with higher densities
of population, leaving R1b invadors more outnumbered than in the West.
Besides, other Indo-Europeans of the Corded Ware culture (R1a) had already
advanced from modern Russia and Ukraine as far west as Germany and Scandinavia. It would be difficult for R1b
people to rival with their R1a cousins who shared similar technology and
culture. The Pre-Celto-Germanic R1b would therefore have been forced to settled further west, first around the Alps, then overtaking the then
sparsely populated Western Europe.
The Greco-Anatolian branch
TheHittites(2000-1200 BCE) were the first Indo-Europeans to defy (and defeat) the
mighty Mesopotamian and Egyptian empires. The Hittite ruling class was
plausibly an offshoot of the late Maykop culture that conquered the Hattian
kingdom. The northern Anatolians may also have been the original Indo-European speakers people who later founded the Maykop culture and
spread their language and culture to the Pontic-Caspian steppes. Whichever way,
northern Anatolian Bronze-Age Indo-European speakers would surely have belonged
in great part to haplogroup R1b1b (and subclades). The Hattians might have had
some older Middle-Eastern R1b mixed with the other haplogroups common in Anatolia nowadays (E-M78, G2a
and J2).
Troycould well have been a Indo-European colony
securing the trade routes between the Black Sea and the Aegean. The Trojans were
Luwian speakers related to the Hittites (hence Indo-European), with proven
cultural ties to the culture of the Pontic-Caspian steppe. The first city of Troy
dates back to 3000 BCE, right in the middle of the Maykop period, and exatly at
the time the first galleys were made. Considering the early foundation of Troy,
the most likely of the two Indo-European paternal
haplogroups would be R1b1b, not R1a1a.
The great
upheavals circa 1200 BCE
1200 BCE was a turning point in European and Near-Eastern history. In
central Europe, the Urnfield culture evolved into theHallstatt culture, traditionally associated
with the classicalCeltic
civilization, which was to have a crucial
influence on the development of ancient Rome. In Italy, the
Terramare culture comes to and end with the Italo-Celtic invasions. A
distinct new culture emerges in Etruria with
the arrival of settlers from the Near
East, theEtruscans. In the Pontic steppes, the Srubna culture let place to theCimmerians, a
nomadic people speaking an Iranian or Thracian language. The Iron-ageColchian culture(1200-600 BCE) starts in the North
Caucasus region. Its
further expansion to the south of the Caucasus correspond to the
first historical mentions of the Proto-Armenian branch of Indo-European
languages (circa 1200 BCE). In the central Levant thePhoeniciansstart establishing themselves as significant maritime powers and
building their commercial empire around the southern Mediterranean.
But the most important event of the period was incontestably the
destruction of the Near-Eastern civilizations, possibly by theSea Peoples. Thegreat
catastrophethat ravaged the whole Eastern Mediterranean from Greece to Egypt circa
1200 BCE is a subject that remains controversial. The identity of the Sea
Peoples has been the object of numerous speculations. What is certain is that
all the palace-based societies in the Near-East were abruptly brought to an
end by tremendous acts of destruction, pillage and razing of cities. The most
common explanation is that the region was invaded by technologically advanced
warriors from the north, probably Indo-Europeans descended from the steppes
via the Balkans.
The Hittite capital Hattusa was destroyed in 1200 BCE, and by 1160 BCE
the Empire had collapsed. The Mycenaean cities were ravaged and abandoned
throughout the 12th century BCE, leading to the eventual collapse of
Mycenaean civilization by 1100 BCE. The kingdom ofUgaritin Syria was anihilated and its capital never resettled. Other cities in the Levant, Cyprus and Crete were burned and left abandoned
for many generations. The Egyptians had to repel assaults from thePhilistinesfrom the East and theLibyansfrom the West - two tribes of supposed Indo-European origin. The Lybian
were accompanied by mercenaries from northern lands (the Ekwesh, Teresh,
Lukka, Sherden and Shekelesh), whose origin is uncertain, but has been placed
in Anatolia, Greece and/or southern Italy.
The devastation of Greece
followed the legendaryTrojan War(1194-1187 BCE). It has been postulated that theDorians, and
Indo-European people from the Balkans (probably coming from modern Bulgaria or Macedonia),
invaded a weakened Mycenaean Greece after the Trojan War, and finally settled
in Greece as one of the three major ethnic groups.
Another hypothesis is that the migration of the Illyrians from
north-east Europe to the Balkans displaced previous Indo-European tribes, namely the
Dorians to Greece, the Phrygians to north-western Anatolia and the Libu to Libya (after
a failed attempt to conquer the Delta region of Egypt). The
Philistines, perhaps displaced from Anatolia, finally settled in Palestine around 1200 BCE, unable to enter Egypt.
Greek R1b comes in many varieties: R1b1 from the
Near-East, R1b1b from Anatolia, and the European R1b1b2, including the Proto-Celtic S116/P312 and
Hallstatt Celtic S28/U152. The presence of R1b1b2 in Greece could be attributed to the Dorian invasion, thought to have happened in
the 12th century BCE. The Dorians could have been related to the Trojans and
the Hittites belonging to the oldest Indo-European linguistic branch, or to the
Proto-Celts of central Europe and the Danube valley. One way of the other, their Y-DNA lineages would have been
predominantly R1b1b or R1b1b2. The Dorians could be the descendants of the
first (R1b) steppe nomads who settled in the Eastern Balkans (Cernavoda and
Ezero cultures) and did not continue their migration up the Danube to central and western Europe.
Greek and Anatolian R1b-S28 lineages could be
attributed to the Celtic invasions of the 3rd century BCE, but more probably to
the Roman occupation. Older clades of R1b, such as R1b1 or R1b1a are only a
small minority and would have come along E1b1b and J2 with the Neolithic
farmers from the Levant. The Mycenaeans could have brought some R1b1b2 to Greece, but their origins can be traced back to the Seima-Turbino culture of
the northern forest-steppe, which would make them primarily an R1a1a tribe.
The Central Asian branch
An early group of R1b1b people is thought to have
migrated from Caspian Sea region to Central Asia, where it evolved into the R1b1b1 (M73) branch. This variety of R1b
occurs almost exclusively in very specific Central Asian populations. The
highest percentages were observed among theUyghurs(20%) of Xinjiang in north-west China, theHazarapeople of Afghanistan
(32%), and theBashkirs(55%) of the Abzelilovsky district of Bashkortostan in Russia (border of Kazakhstan).
Central Asian R1b1b1 could correspond to theTocharianbranch of the Indo-Europeans. It is possible that the Tocharians split
from the main R1b body as early as 7,000 BCE. Over the centuries some groups of
these nomadic tribes ended up around the southern Urals, others in the TarimBasin (Xinjiang) or in southern Central Asia. Another theory is
that a group of early horse riders from the Repin culture (3700-3300 BCE)
migrated from the Don-Volga region to the Altai mountain, founding theAfanasevo
culture(c. 3600-2400 BCE), then moved south to the Tarim Basin.
Mummies of fair-haired
Caucasian peoplewere found in the TarimBasin, the oldest of which date back to 1800 BCE. The modern inhabitants of
the TarimBasin, the Uyghurs, belong both to this R1b-M73 subclade (about 20%) and to
R1a1 (about 30%). This could mean that they had become a hybrid R1b-R1a society
by the time they reached the TarimBasin. But R1a1 could also have arrived independently during the later Indo-Iranian
migrations (approx. 2000 BCE), or much later through some nomadic
Scytho-Iranian tribes (after 700 BCE).
The
earliest known back migration of R1b was from Asia to Africa and took place around 15,000 years
ago. A group of R1b1* people moving from the Levant to Egypt, Sudan and spreading
in different directions inside Africa to Rwanda, South Africa, Namibia, Angola,
Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau.
The hotspot is Cameroon. R1b1* was observed at a frequency of up to 95% in some
tribes of northern Cameroon(like theKirdi), and about 15% nationwide. It is
in all likelihood where the early R1b people first settled, then spread south
and east along the coast.
Other back migrations occured from Europe to the Near East and Central Asia during the Antiquity and Middle Ages. R1b-S28 was found in Romania, Turkey
and at the border of Kazakhstan
and Kyrgyzstan. Some of it was surely brought by the Alpine Celts (Hallstatt/La Tène
culture), known to have advanced along the Danube, and created theGalatian kingdomin central Anatolia. The rest could just as
well be Roman, given that R1b-S28 is the dominant form of R1b in the Italian
peninsula. Some have hypothetised that Roman legions went as far as Central Asia or China and never came back, leaving their genetic marker in isolated pockets.
See alsoWere the Romans and the Alpine
Celts close cousins ?
A small percentage of Western European R1b subclades
were also found among Christian communities in Lebanon. They are most likely descendants of the crusaders.
Subclades of R1b
Defining mutation
Subclade (previous
name)
Time of origin
(approximate)
Place of highest frequency
Most prevalent ancient ethnic group
M18
R1b1a(R1b1a)
11,000 ybp
Levant,
Sardinia
Phoenician,
Druze
M73
R1b1b1(R1b1b)
9,500 ybp
Central
Asia
Eastern
Indo-Europeans, Tocharian
M269
R1b1b2(R1b1c)
9,500 ybp
Western
Europe
Western
Indo-Europeans, Anatolians
L23/S141
R1b1b2a
7,000 ybp
Western
Europe
Western Indo-Europeans (Centum + Anatolian branches)
L11/S127, P311/S128, P310/S129
R1b1b2a1
6,000 ybp
Western
Europe
Western
Indo-Europeans (Italo-Celto-Germanic branch)
M405/S21/U106
R1b1b2a1a(R1b1c9)
3,500 ybp
Frisia, Benelux, England, Austria,
northern Italy
West Germanic (Frisian, Anglo-Saxon, Lombard)
M467/S29/U198
R1b1b2a1a1(R1b1c9b)
1,800 ybp
Southern
England + northern Germany
Germanic
(Anglo-Saxon)
P107
R1b1b2a1a2
1,800 ybp
Germanic
L1/S26
R1b1b2a1a3(R1b1c9a)
1,800 ybp
Southern & eastern England, Norway,
southern Germany, and Spain
Germanic
L48
R1b1b2a1a4
Germanic
L44 => L47
R1b1b2a1a4a
Germanic
L5
R1b1b2a1a5
1,800 ybp
Germanic
L6
R1b1b2a1a6
1,800 ybp
Germanic
P312/S116
R1b1b2a1b
5,300 ybp
Western
Europe
Italo-Celtic
M65
R1b1b2a1b1(R1b1c2)
3,500 ybp
Basque
country
Basque
M153
R1b1b2a1b2(R1b1c4)
3,350 ybp
Basque country
and Gascony
Basque
M167/SRY2627
R1b1b2a1b3(R1b1c6)
2,850 ybp
Spain (esp. Catalonia), western France, south-western Germany
Atlantic
Celts, Suebi
S28/U152
R1b1b2a1b4(R1b1c10)
3,500 ybp
Rhine & Meuse region, Alps, northern Italy
Alpine
Celts (Hallstatt-La Tène), Italics
M126
R1b1b2a1b4a(R1b1c3)
2,500 ybp
Found in Germany, England and Ireland
Celtic
M160
R1b1b2a1b4b(R1b1c5)
2,000 ybp
Found in Germany and Switzerland
Alpine
Celtic
L2/S139
R1b1b2a1b4c
2,500 ybp
Found in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Britain, Ireland, Norway
Alpine
Celtic
L20/S144
R1b1b2a1b4c1
1,800 ybp
Found in England, France and Italy
Alpine
Celtic
M228
R1b1b2a1b4c1a
Found
in northern Italy
Alpine Celtic
L3
R1b1b2a1b4c2
Found in Germany and England
Alpine
Celtic
L4
R1b1b2a1b4d
Found in Latvia and Poland
L165/S68
R1b1b2a1b5(R1b1c11)
3,500 ybp
Sweden
and Scotland
Germanic
L21/S145
R1b1b2a1b6
4,000 ybp
Ireland, Britain, France, Germany, Benelux, south-west Norway
Brythonic, Gaelic and Gaulish Celtic, West Germanic
M37
R1b1b2a1b6a(R1b1c1)
3,000 ybp
Ireland,
Britain, France, Germany
Celtic
M222
R1b1b2a1b6b(R1b1c7)
3,000 ybp
North-west Ireland and
west Scotland
Scottish
Irish
P66
R1b1b2a1b6c(R1b1c8)
2,500 ybp
?
?
Haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA)
Distribution of haplogroup R1a in Eurasia
R1ais thought to have been the dominant haplogroup among the northern and
eastern Indo-European speakers who evolved into the Indo-Iranian, Mycenaean
Greek, Macedonian, Thracian, Baltic and Slavic branches. The
Proto-Indo-Europeans originated in theYamna culture(3300-2500 BCE), in the Pontic-Caspian steppe between modern Ukraine and south-west Russia.
Their expansion is linked to the domestication of horses in the Eurasian
steppes, and the invention of the chariot (see R1b above).
The eastern part of the Pontic-Caspian steppes is
strongly associated with the Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic branches of
Indo-European languages. Based on archeological, linguistic and genetic data,
it is possible to say that the pastoralist nomads who lived in the northern
Russian steppes and forest-steppes 5,000 years ago carried predominantly R1a
paternal lineages.
Nowadays, high frequencies of R1a are found in Poland
(56% of the population), Ukraine (50 to 65%), European Russia (45 to 65%),
Belarus (45%), Slovakia (40%), Latvia (40%), Lithuania (38%), the Czech
Republic (34%), Hungary (32%), Croatia (29%), Norway (28%), Austria (26%),
Sweden (24%), north-east Germany (23%) and Romania (22%).
The Germanic branch
The first expansion of R1a took place with the
westward propagation of theCorded Ware (or Battle
Axe) culture(3200-1800 BCE) from the Yamna
homeland. This was the first wave of R1a into Europe, one that is
responsible for the presence of this haplogroup in Scandinavia, Germany, and a portion of the R1a in the Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Hungary or Poland.
The high prevalence of R1a in Balto-Slavic countries nowadays is not only due
to the Corded Ware expansion, but also to a long succession of later migrations
from Russia, the last of which took place from the 5th to the 1th century CE.
The Germanic branch of Indo-European languages
probably evolved from a merger of Corded-Ware R1a (Proto-Slavic language) and
the later arrival of Italo-Celtic R1b from Central Europe. This is
supported by the fact that Germanic people are hybrid R1a-R1b,
that these two haplogroups came via separate routes at different times,
and also on the linguistics of Proto-Germanic language, which shares
similarities with Italic, Celtic and Slavic languages. The Corded Ware R1a
people would have mixed with the pre-Germanic I1 aborigines to create theNordic
Bronze Age(1800-500 BCE). R1b presumably reached Scandinavia later as a northward
migration from the contemporaryHallstatt
culture(1200-500 BCE). The first genuine Germanic tongue has been estimated by
linguists to have come into existence around (or after) 500 BCE. This would
confirm that it emerged as a blend of Hallstatt Proto-Celtic and the
Corded-Ware Proto-Slavic. The uniqueness of some of the Germanic vocabulary
points at borrowing from native pre-Indo-European languages. Celtic language
itself is known to have borrowed from Afro-Asiatic languages spoken by
Near-Eastern immigrants to Central Europe. The fact that present-day Scandinavia is composed of
roughly 40% of I1, 20% of R1a and 40% of R1b reinforces the idea that Germanic
ethnicity and language had acquired a tri-hybrid character by the Iron Age.
The Baltic branch
The Baltic branch is thought to have evolved from theFatyanovo
culture(3200-2300 BCE), the northeastern extension of the Corded Ware culture.
Early Bronze Age R1a nomads from the northern steppes and forest-steppes would
have mixed with the indigenous Uralic-speaking inhabitants (N1c1 lineages) of
the region. This is supported by a strong presence of both R1a and N1c1
haplogroups from southern Finland to Lithuania
and the adjacent part of Russia.
The Slavic branch
The origins of the Slavs goes
back to circa 3000 BCE. The Slavic branch differentiated itself when the Corded
Ware culture (see Germanic branch above) absorbed theCucuteni-Tripolye
culture(5200-2600 BCE) of western Ukraine and north-eastern Romania, which
appears to have been composed primarily of I2a2 lineages descended directly
from Paleolithic Europeans, with a small admixture of Near-Eastern immigrants
(notably E-V13 and T). Thus emerged the hybridGlobular
Amphora culture(3400-2800 BCE) in what is now Ukraine, Belarus
and Poland. It is surely during this period that I2a2, E-V13 and T spread (along
with R1a) around Poland, Belarus and western Russia, explaining why eastern and
northern Slavs (and Lithuanians) have a considerable incidence of haplogroups
I2a2 with a bit of E and T. After just a few centuries, this hybridised culture
faded away into the dominant Corded Ware culture.
The Corded Ware period was followed by theTrzciniec(1700-1200 BCE),Lusatian(1300-500 BCE),Chernoles(1025-700 BCE) andMilograd(600 BCE-100 CE) cultures in north-east Slavic countries. The last
important Slavic migration is thought to have happened in the 6th century CE,
from Ukraine to Poland,
the CzechRepublic and Slovakia,
filling the vacuum left by eastern Germanic tribes who invaded the Roman Empire.
Historically, no other part of Europe was invaded a higher
number of times by steppe peoples than the Balkans. Chronologically, the first
R1a invaders came with the westward expansion of the Corded Ware culture (from
about 3200 BCE), then the Mycenaean invasion (1600 BCE), followed by the
Thracians (1500 BCE), the Illyrians (around 1200 BCE), the Huns and the Alans
(400 CE), the Avars, the Bulgars and the Serbs (all around 600 CE), and the
Magyars (900 CE), among others. These peoples originated from different parts
of the Eurasian steppes, anywhere between Eastern Europe and Central Asia, which is why such
high STR diversity is found within Balkanic R1a nowadays. It is not yet
possible to determine the ethnic origin for each variety of R1a, apart from the
fact that about any R1a is associated with tribes from Eurasian steppe at one
point in history.
The Indo-Iranian branch
Proto-Indo-Iranian speakers, the people who later
called themselves 'Aryans' in theRig Vedaand theAvesta, originated in the Sintashta-Petrovka culture (2100-1750 BCE), in the
Tobol and Ishim valleys, east of the Ural Mountains. It was founded by
pastoralist nomads from theAbashevo
culture(2500-1900 BCE), ranging from the upper Don-Volga to the Ural Mountains, and thePoltavka
culture(2700-2100 BCE), extending from the lower Don-Volga to the Caspian
depression. The Sintashta-Petrovka culture was the first Bronze Age advance of
the Indo-Europeans west of the Urals, opening the way to the vast plains and
deserts of Central Asia to the metal-rich Altai mountains.
The Aryans quickly expanded over all Central Asia, from the shores of
the Caspian to southern Siberia and the Tian Shan, through trading, seasonal herd migrations, and looting raids.
Horse-drawn war chariots seem to have been invented by
Sintashta people around 2100 BCE, and quickly spread to the mining region of
Bactria-Margiana (modern border of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan and Afghanistan).
Copper had been extracted intensively in the Urals, and the Proto-Indo-Iranians
from Sintashta-Petrovka were exporting it in huge quantities to the Middle East. They appear to have
been attracted by the natural resources of theZeravshan
valleyfor a Petrovka copper-mining colony was established in Tugai around 1900
BCE, and tin was extracted soon afterwards at Karnab and Mushiston. Tin was an
especially valued resource in the late Bronze Age, when weapons were made of
copper-tin alloy, stronger than the more primitive arsenical bronze. In the
1700's BCE, the Indo-Iranians expanded to the lowerAmu Daryavalley and settled in irrigation farming communities (Tazabagyab
culture). By 1600 BCE, the old fortified towns of Margiana-Bactria were
abandoned, submerged by the northern steppe migrants. The group of Central
Asian cultures under Indo-Iranian influence is known as theAndronovo
horizon, and lasted until 800 BCE.
TheIndo-Iranian
migrationsprogressed further south across the Hindu Kush.
By 1700 BCE, horse-riding pastoralists had penetrated into Balochistan
(south-west Pakistan).
The Indus valley succumbed circa 1500 BCE, and the northern and central parts of
the Indian subcontinent were taken over by 500 BCE. Westward migrations led Old
Indic Sanskrit speakers riding war chariots to Assyria, where they became
theMitannirulers from circa 1500 BCE. TheMedes,ParthiansandPersians,
all Iranian speakers from the Andronovo culture, moved into the Iranian plateau
from 800 BCE. Those that stayed in Central Asia are remembered by
history as theScythians, while the Yamna descendants who remained in the Pontic-Caspian steppe
became known as theSarmatiansto the ancient Greeks and Romans.
The Indo-Iranian migrations have resulted in high R1a
frequencies in southern Central Asia, Iran
and the Indian subcontinent. The highest frequency of R1a (about 65%) is
reached in a cluster around Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
and northern Afghanistan.
In India and Pakistan,
R1a ranges from 15 to 50% of the population, depending on the region, ethnic
group and caste. R1a is generally stronger is the North-West of the
subcontinent, and weakest in the Dravidian-speaking South (Tamil Nadu, Kerala,
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh) and from Bengal eastward. Over 70% of
the Brahmins (highest caste in Hindusim) belong to R1a1, due to a founder
effect.
Maternal lineages in South Asia are, however,
overwhelmingly pre-Indo-European. For instance, India has over 75% of "native" mtDNA M and R lineages and 10% of
East Asian lineages. In the residual 15% of haplogroups, approximately half are
of Middle Eastern origin. Only about 7 or 8% could be of "Russian"
(Pontic-Caspian steppe) origin, mostly in the form of haplogroupU2andW(although the origin of U2 is still debated). European mtDNA lineages
are much more common in Central Asia though, and even in Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.
This suggests that the Indo-European invasion of India was conducted mostly by men through war, and the first major settlement
of women was in northern Pakistan, western India
(Punjab to Gujarat) and northern India
(Uttar Pradesh), where haplogroups U2 and W are the most common.
Turkic speakers
and R1a
The present-day inhabitants of Central Asia, from Xinjiang to Turkey and
from the Volga to the Hindu Kush, speak in overwhelming majorityTurkic languages. This
may be surprising as this corresponds to the region where the Indo-Iranian
branch of Indo-European speakers expanded, the Bronze-Age Andronovo culture,
and the Iron-Age Scythian territory. So why is it that Indo-European
languages only survives in Slavic Russia or in the southern part of Central Asia, in places like Tajikistan, Afghanistan or some
parts of Turkmenistan ? Why don't the Uyghurs,
Uzbeks, Kazakhs and Kyrgyzs, or the modern Pontic-Caspian steppe people
(Crimean Tatars, Nogais, Bashkirs and Chuvashs) speak Indo-European vernaculars ? Genetically these people do carry
Indo-European R1a, and to a lesser extent also R1b, lineages. The explanation
is that Turkic languages replaced the Iranian tongues of Central Asia between the 4th and 11th
century CE.
Proto-Turkic originated in Mongolia and
southern Siberia with such nomadic tribes as theXiongnu. It belongs to the Altaic linguistic family, like Mongolian and
Manchu (some also include Korean and Japanese, although they share very
little vocabulary in common). It is unknown when Proto-Turkic first emerged,
but its spread started with theHunnic migrationswestward through the Eurasian steppe and all the way to Europe, only stopped by the boundaries
of the Roman Empire.
The Huns were the descendants of the Xiongnu.Ancient DNA testshave revealed that the Xiongnu were already a hybrid Eurasian people
2,000 years ago, with mixed European and North-East Asian Y-DNA and mtDNA. Modern
inhabitants of the Xiongnu homeland have approximately 90% of Mongolian
lineages against 10% of European ones. The oldest identified presence of
European mtDNA around Mongolia and LakeBaikal dates back toover 6,000 years ago.
It appears that Turkic quickly replaced the Scythian and other Iranian
dialects all over Central Asia. Other migratory waves brought more Turkic speakers to Eastern and Central Europe, like the Khazars, the
Avars, the Bulgars and the Turks (=> see5000 years of
migrations from the Eurasian steppes to Europe). All of them were in fact Central Asian nomads who had adopted
Turkic language, but had little if any Mongolian blood. Turkic invasions
therefore contributed more to the diffusion of Indo-European lineages
(especially R1a1) than East Asian ones.
Turkic languages have not survived in Europe outside the Pontic-Caspian
steppe. Bulgarian language, despite being named after a Turkic tribe, is
actually a Slavic tongue with a mild Turkic influence. Hungarian, sometimes
mistaken for the heir of Hunnic because of its name, is in reality an Uralic language (Magyar). the
The dozens of Turkic languages spoken in the world today have a high degree
of mutual intelligibility due to their fairly recent common origin and the
nomadic nature of its speakers (until recently). Its two main branchesOghuzandOghurcould be seen as two languages about as distant as Spanish and
Italian, and languages within each branch like regional dialects of Spanish
and Italian.
The Greek branch
Little is known about the arrival of Proto-Greek
speakers from the steppes. The Mycenaean culture commenced circa 1650 BCE and is
clearly an imported steppe culture. The close relationship between Mycenaean
and Proto-Indo-Iranian languages suggest that they split fairly late, some time
between 2500 and 2000 BCE. Archeologically, Mycenaean chariots, spearheads,
daggers and other bronze objects show striking similarities with the
Seima-Turbino culture (c. 1900-1600 BCE) of the northern Russian
forest-steppes, known for the great mobility of its nomadic warriors
(Seima-Turbino sites were found as far away as Mongolia). It is therefore
likely that the Mycenaean descended from Russia to Greece
between 1900 and 1650 BCE, where they intermingled with the locals to create a
new unique Greek culture.
Haplogroup I (Y-DNA)
Iis the oldest haplogroup in Europeand in all probability the only
one that originated there (apart from deep subclades of other haplogroups). It
is thought to have arrived from the Middle East as haplogroup IJ around 35,000
years ago, and developed into haplogroup I approximately 25,000 years ago. This
means that Cro-Magnons most probably belonged (exclusively ?)
to IJ or I. Nowadays haplogroup I accounts for 10 to 45% of the population in
most of Europe. It
is divided in four main subclades.
The megalithic structures (5000-1200 BCE) of Europe were built by I people.
HaplogroupI1(formerly I1a) is the most common I
subclade. It is found mostly in Scandinavia and Northern Germany, where it can
represent over 35% of the population. Associated with the Norse ethnicity, it
is found in all places invaded by the ancient Germanic tribes and the Vikings.
During the Neolithic period, pre-I1 and I1 people were
part of the sucessiveErtebølle
culture(5300-3950 BCE) andFunnelbeaker culture(4000-2700 BCE). TheCorded Ware period(3200-1800 BCE) marks the arrival of the Indo-European R1a people from
the Ukrainian steppes.
I1 is identified by at least 15 unique mutations,
which indicates that this lineage has been isolated for a long period of time,
or experienced a serious population bottleneck. Although the first mutation
splitting I1 away from I2 may have arisen as long as 20,000 years ago, people
belonging to this haplogroup all descend from a single man who lived less than
5,000 years ago. This corresponds to the arrival of the Indo-European,
suggesting that a high percentage of the indigenous I1 mencouldpossibly have been killed by the new
immigrants.
Distribution of haplogroup I1 in Europe
HaplogroupI2might have originated in southeastern Europe some 17,000 years ago
and developed into four main subgroups : I2a1, I2a2,
I2b1 and I2b2.
I2a1(formerly I1b2) is found chiefly
among the Sardinians and the Basques, and is rarely found outside Iberia,
Western France, the West coast of Italy and the Mediterranean coast of the
Maghreb. It accounts for approximately 40% of all Y-DNA haplogroups among the
Sardinians. I2a1 is estimated to be 8,000 years old.
I2a2(formerly I1b) is typical of the
Dinaric Slavs (Croats, Serbs and Bosniaks). Its highest density is observed
around ex-Yugoslavia and Moldova, but it is also common to a lower extent in Albania, Northern Greece, Bulgaria,
Romania, Ukraine,
Belarus, and southwestern Russia. The high concentratio of I2a2 in north-east Romania, Moldova
and central Ukraine
reminds of the maximum spread of theCucuteni-Tripolye
culturebefore it was swallowed by the
Indo-European Corded Ware culture. This could mean that the Cucuteni-Tripolye
culture was a native European group of hunter-gatherers who adopted farming
after coming in contact (with perhaps some intermarriages)
with the Levantine farmers who settled in the Balkans (haplogroups E-V13, J2b
and T).
The modern territory of I2a1 and I2a2 (Illyria, Italy, Sardinia, Mediterranean coast of France and Spain)
matches the extent of the NeolithicPrinted-Cardium
Pottery culture(5000-1500 BCE), that is believed
to have started with the arrival of E-V13 and G2a farmers and herders from Thessaly (northern Greece). It was followed by theTerramare
culture(1500-1000 BCE) in the Bronze Age. The R1b Celto-Italic people are
thought to have crossed the Alps and invaded the
Italian peninsula around 1,000 BCE, replacing most of the indigenous I2a, G2a
and E-V13 people (especially in the northern half).
I2b(formerly I1c) is associated with
the pre Celto-Germanic people of North-Western Europe, such as the megaliths
builders (5000-1200 BCE). The wide variety of STR markers within I2b could make
it as much as 13,000 years old.
I2b is found in all Western Europe, but
apparently survived better the Indo-European invasions (=> see R1b above) in
northern Germany,
and was reintroduced by the Germanic invasions during the late Roman period.
Nowadays, I2b peaks in central and northern Germany (10-20%), the Benelux (10-15%) as well as in northern Sweden. It is also found in 3 to 10% of the inhabitants of Denmark, East England, and Northern France. It is rare in Norway,
which concords with the fact that it hasn't been invaded by people from
northern Germany.
There are two major subclades :I2b1(M223+) andI2b2(L38/S154+), further subdivided in at
least 4 subclades each, although little is known about them yet. The subclade
I2b1a (M284+) occurs almost exclusively in Britain, where it seemingly developed about 3,000 years ago.
Distribution of haplogroup I2a in Europe
Near-Eastern haplogroups
Haplogroup G (Y-DNA)
Ghas its roots in around the Caucasus.
It is found mostly in mountainous regions between the Near East and India(Caucasus,Iran,Afghanistan,Kashmir), but
also inCentral Asia(Kazakhstan),Europeand North
Africa.
Most Europeans belong to theG2asubclade, and
most northern and western Europeans more specifically toG2a3b(or to a lower extendG2a3a).
About allG2cEuropeans are Ashkenazi Jews. The
discovery of G2c subclades around Afghanistan indicates that it could have originated in that part of the world.G1is found predominantly in Iran, but is also found in Central Asia (Kazakhstan). A famous members of haplogroup G was Joseph
Stalin (G2a1), who was of Georgian origin.
G2a makes up 5 to 10% of the population of
Mediterranean Europe, but is fairly rare in Northern Europe. The only
places where haplogroup G2 exceeds 10% of the population in Europe are Cantabria, Switzerland, the Tyrol, south-central Italy
(Molise, Central and Southern Apennine), Sardinia, northern Greece
(Thessaly) and Crete - all mountainous and relatively isolated regions.
There are several theories regarding the origin of G2a
in Europe. There are doubtlessly cumulative rather than exclusive.
Neolithic mountain herders
Chronologically, the first hypothesis is the advance
of Neolithic farmers and herders from Anatolia to Europe between 9,000 and
6,000 years ago. In this scenario the Caucasian migrants would have brought
with them sheep and goats, which were domesticated south of the Caucasus arbout 12,000 years
ago. This would explain why haplogroup G is more common in mountainous areas,
be it in Europe or in Asia.
The geographic continuity of G2a from Anatolia to Thessaly to the Italian
peninsula, Sardinia, south-central France
and Iberia suggests that G2a could be connected to thePrinted-Cardium
Pottery culture(5000-1500 BCE). The most likely
candidate subclades matching a Neolithic migration to Europe are those found in
higher densities in southern Europe and Anatolia, namely G2a2, G2a3*, G2a3a. It
may also include some G2a* and G2a1a.
G2a3b1a, metalsmiths of the Indo-Europeans
Haplogroup G2a3 has been linked to the spread of
metalworking from the Caucasus or Anatolia to places like Sardinia or the Alps. If the Indo-European homeland of R1b1b was indeed in northern Anatolia and/or the North Caucasus, some
Caucasian G2a3b1a could well have travelled to Europe alongside R1b1b2a1.
The Caucasus being one of the very first places in the world where metallurgy
developed, the expertise of Caucasian copper and tin workers could have been
valuable to Indo-European warlords.
Early central and western European bronze age
societies did develop around metal-rich regions, such as Ireland, Wales,
Cornwall, Brittany, northern Spain, Portugal, and of course the Alps. Many of
these regions have surprisingly high levels of G2a - for instance North Portugal (12%),
Cantabria (over 10%), Asturias
and Galicia (5%) in northern Spain, Switzerland
(10%), Austria (8%) and the mountains of Bohemia (5 to 10%), and Wales
(4%). This is much more than can be expected from the distance from its source
in the Caucasus. The average for Anatolia is only of 11%. Furthermore, the Balkans and Carpathians standing in
between Anatolia and the Alps have a remarkably low percentage of G2a (0 to 2%). G2a is the only
haplogroup from the Middle-East or Eurasian steppe that does not have a
substantial presence anywhere in Eastern Europe. G2a migrants
must therefore have moved directly from Anatolia or the Caucasus to central and western Europe, in all likelihood invited by Indo-European
rulers. G2a may also have come to Greece and Italy
only after the Indo-Europeans took control of these regions.
A Neolithic or Bronze-Age introduction of G to Europe would undeniably
correspond to G2a3b1a and its most common subclade G2a3b1a1a. These two
haplogroups are by far the most common forms of G in central and northern Europe, and are also present
around the Caucasus. G2a3b1a is found as far as India, at low frequencies like R1b1b2, proving the Indo-European connection
beyond reasonable doubt. The age of G2a3b1a has been estimated to be about
4,500 years old, which is far too young for a Neolithic spread, but just right
for a Bronze Age dispersal.
It
is most likely that G2a arrived in Europe during the Neolithic or the Bronze
Age and that the Romans helped spread it around, the whole of Italy being relatively rich in G2a.
Migrations within the Roman Empire probably contributed to a moderate
increase of G2a northward to Gaul and Britain,
Indeed, the frequency of haplogroup G decreases with the distance from the boundaries of the Roman
Empire. Haplogroup G is extremely rare Nordic and Baltic countries
nowadays, despite the fact that agriculture reached those regions around the
same time as Britain or Ireland.
This may just be a coincidence, because the forested lowlands of northern Germany,Poland and northern Europe happen to be poor in metals and
would not have attracted Bronze-Age workers from the Caucasus.North-East
Europealso has a fairly modest frequency of R1b, which further reinforces the
correlation between the two haplogroups.
Alanic G2a1
The
only ethnic group that has a majority of haplogroup G nowadays are the
Ossetians in the Caucasus, in
the modernRussianRepublicof North Ossetia-Alania.
They are thought to
descend directly from theAlans, a Central Asian tribe related to
the ancient Samartians. The medievalKingdom
of Alaniawas
located in the northern Caucasus, in
present-dayGeorgiaand Ossetia.
G2a has been observed at a slightly
higher frequencies in Picardy and Flanders than in surrounding
regions. It has been hypothetised that G2a was brought to northern France and Belgium
by the Alans, who traversed all continental Europe during the barbarian
invasions in the 5th century and founded a short-lived kingdom in northern France.
Nonetheless, if there is Alanic G in Europe it must certainly
belong to other subclades than those from the Neolithic or Bronze Age period
(namely G2a3).G2a1being the most common variety in the Caucasus nowadays, the fairly
recent Alanic migration (from a genetic point of view) could have carried that
particular subclade. In fact, G2a1 has been found all along the Alanic
migration route (Hungary,
France, Spain),
as well as in Britain
(Samartian element ?), but hardly anywhere else.
Scythian G1
Romans
were known to recruitScythianorSarmatianhorsemen in their legions.
According to C. Scott Littleton in his bookFrom
Scythia to Camelot, several Knights of the Round Table were of Scythian origin, and the
the legend of Holy Grail itself originated in ancient Scythia. This hypothesis
was also taken up in the 2004 movieKing
Arthur,
which opens with the arrival of Scytho-Roman cavalry in Britain. However,
Scythians were steppe people more likely to belong to haplogroup R1a. If any of them did
belong to G, they presumably were G1, not G2a. This would explain the scattered
cases ofG1in north-western Europethough. G2a2, which also been
found in Britainand Anatolia, is
another potential candidate.
Haplogroup J (Y-DNA)
Jis a Middle Eastern haplogroup,
divided into the northern J2 and the southern J1. J2 is by far the most common
variety in Europe.
Haplogroup J2
J2originated in northern Mesopotamia, and spread westward
to Anatolia and southern Europe, and eastward to Persia and India.
J2 is related to the Ancient Etruscans, (Minoan) Greeks, southern Anatolians,
Phoenicians, Assyrians and Babylonians.
In Europe, J2 reaches its
highest frequency in Greece
(especially in Crete, Peloponese and Thrace),
southern and central Italy,
southern France,
and southern Spain.
The ancient Greeks and Phoenicians were the main driving forces behind the
spread J2 around the western and southern Mediterranean.
J2 is thought to have arrived in Greece from Anatolia in the early Neolithic, or possibly even earlier.J2bperhaps originated in Greece (or in Anatolia
?), like haplogroup E-V13 (see below) to
which it is closely linked. The propagation of J2b and E-V13 (as well as a
minority of T) follows the diffusion of agriculture across the Balkans, the Danube basin, and until the
north of France
to the west, and Moldova to the east. Apart from south-east Europe, J2b is also found
all around India,
but only at moderate levels in between Europe and India.
The world's maximum concentrations
ofJ2ais in Crete (32% of the
population). The subclade J2a8 appears to be native to Crete. J2a also reaches
high frequencies in Anatolia and the southern Caucasus. A likely place of origin is northern Mesopotamia.
Interestingly, J2a* is found as far as India and is largely confined to the upper castes. The Brahmin (priest) caste
is made up almost exclusively of haplogroups R1a1, R2, and J2a (although R1a1
makes up two thirds of the lineages). These 3 haplogroups have Bronze Age
coalescence time and are thought to represent the gene flow of theIndo-Aryan
invasionof the Indian subcontinent about 3,500 years ago.
Haplogroup J1
J1is a typically Semitic haplogroup, making up most of the population of
the Arabian peninsula. Its highest density is observed in Yemen (72%), which could be its native place. The Muslim conquest of the Middle East, North Africa, and to a lower
extent also to Sicily and southern Spain,
spread J1 far beyond Arabia, creating a new Arabic world.
A considerable part of Jewish people belong to J1 and
J2, although J2 is more common. J1 is theCohen
Modal Haplotype, meaning that about
three quarters of the people called Cohen, Kohen, or avariantbelong to a specific J1 haplotype. In the Hebrew Bible the common
ancestor of all Cohens is identified as Aaron, the brother of Moses.
Haplogroup E1b1b (Y-DNA)
HaplogroupE1b1b(formerly E3b) represents the last
major migration out of Africainto Europe. It is
believed to have first appeared in the Horn of Africa or southern Africaapproximately 26,000 years ago and
dispersed to the Middle Eastduring the Upper Paleolithic and
Mesolithic periods.
On the European continent it has the highest
concentration in north-west Greece, Albania
and Kosovo, then fading around the Balkans, the rest of Greece and Western Turkey. Outside Europe, it is also found in most of the Middle East, northern and eastern
Africa, especially in Morocco,
Lybia, EgyptYemen,
Somalia, Ethiopia
and South Africa.
E1b1b1a(or E-M78, formerly E3b1a) is the
most common variety of haplogroup E among Europeans and Near Easterners. E-M78
is thought to have migrated out of Egypt in the early Neolithic to colonise the Levant, Anatolia and Greece, where it mixed with the J2 inhabitants. Near-Eastern farmers settled
in northern Greece
circa 8,500 years ago, launching the Thessalian Neolithic (6500-2500 BCE).
Looking at a map of E1b1b1a, one would almost think that this lineage came
straight from Egypt
to Greece,
or at least from the southern Levant to Greece. The lower incidence of E1b1b1a in Syria and Anatolia is almost certainly due to the competition from the other major
Neolithic haplogroups : G2 and J2.
E-M78 is divided into 4 main branches
: E1b1b1a1 (E-V12), E1b1b1a2 (E-V13), E1b1b1a3 (E-V22) and E1b1b1a4
(E-V65), each further subdivided in "a" and "b" subclades.
E-V13is one of the major markers of the Neolithic diffusion of farming
from the Levant. Like all the other subclades of E1b1b1a, E-V13 originated in North-East Africa
around the end of the last Ice Age. Its frequency is now far higher in
Greece, South Italy and the Balkans than anywhere else due to afounder
effect, i.e. the migration of a
small group of settlers carrying mostly this lineage (but also a small amount
of other North-East African lineages, notably E-M123 and T). Archeological
evidence shows that the region of Thessaly, in northern Greece, was
the starting point (circa 6,000 BCE) for the diffusion of agriculture
through the Balkans and the Danube basin, as far as northern France to
the west and Russia to the east. The modern distribution of E-V13 hints at a strong
correlation with the Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures ofOld Europe,
such as theVinča,Boian, Maritsa andKaranovo, cultures. Owing to this early introduction to Europe, E-V13 is now by far the
most common E subclade found among Europeans. E-V13 is also associated with
the ancient Greek expansion and colonisation. Outside of the Balkans and
Central Europe, it is particularly common in Southern Italy, Cyprus and
Southern France, all part of theClasscical ancient Greek world.
E-V22is the predominant subclade in the Levant and is therefore associated
with the Phoenicians and Jews, in addition to the spread of agriculture.
The Phoenicians could have spread E-V22 to Sicily, Sardinia, southern Spain and
the Maghreb, and the Jews to Greece and
mainland Italy and Spain. However, the Mediterranean route for the diffusion of agriculture
(see map below) went through the exact same regions. It is therefore
impossible to know at present which of the two periods (Neolithic or
Classical Antiquity) played the stronger role in the spread of V22 around
the Mediterranean.
E-V12is the most common subclade of M78 in Egypt. Its
low presence around Greece and Anatolia indicates that it probably
already existed when E moved there in the early Neolithic.
E-V65is found in North Africa, with a maximum frequency in Lybia, then Morocco. It
is also likely to have originated in Egypt. In Europe it is found at low
frequencies in Greece and Sicily, but interestingly makes up one fourth of Sardinian E. It could be
due to immigration from the Phoenician colonies in the Maghreb to Sardinia
(the Sardinian haplogroup I2a1 is also present at low frequencies along
the coast of Algeria and Tunisia, confirming exchanges of population
between the two regions, maybe when both were Phoenician colonies).
E1b1b1b(E-M81, formerly E3b1b) is
characteristic of the Berbers of North-West Africa. In some parts of Morocco
E1b1b1b can peak at 80% of the population. This sub-hapolgroup is also found in
Iberia, Italy
and southern France,
with the highest concentrations in southern Portugal (12%) and decreasing as we move north.
E1b1b1c(E-M123) and its main branch
E1b1b1c1 (E-M34) is also associated with the diffusion of agriculture. This
haplogroup peaks in the southern Levant (10-12% in Palestine and Lebanon), from
where it expands in all directions over the Middle East, North Africa, South
Asia and South-East Europe. The distribution of E-M123 matches almost exactly the
expansion of farming (see map below) during the Neolithic period. E-M123 seems
to go hand in hand with haplogroup G and J2, with the difference that G and J2
both reach their maximum frequencies around the Caucasus and Anatolia, where
cattle, pigs and goats where first domesticated. Inside Europe, E-M123 follows
more or less the distribution of E-V13, with the highest frequency (1 to 5%)
observed in Greece, South Italy, the Balkans and the Danube basin, then fading
towards Germany, Poland, Ukraine and Russia, where its frequency is under 1%.
Expansion of haplogroup E from Africa to Europe from the pre-Neolithic
to the Phoenician colonization (9500-800 BCE)
Expansion of agriculture from the Middle East to Europe (9500-3800 BCE)
Haplogroup T (Y-DNA)
Tis a rare haplogroup in Europe(less than 1% of the population).
It originated around the Red Sea(maybe in Ethiopia) at
least 30,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest haplogroups found in Eurasia. It is
most common in north-eastAfricaand the west coast of the Arabianpeninsula, where
it accounts for
approximately 5 to 8% of the male lineages. Besides these regions and Europe, T is
found as far as southernIndia,Russia,Tanzaniaand Cameroon. Its
highest density is actually found among the Fulbe people of Cameroon(18% of the population).
Within Europe there are a few
pockets with surprisingly high densities of haplogroup T, like the town of Sciacca in Sicily (18%) or on the Spanish island of Ibiza (17%). The populations of Italy, Portugal,
Greece, Macedonia,
Serbia and (oddly enough) Estonia, all have between 3 and 4% of haplogroup T.
The spread of haplogroup T in Europe is closely linked to
the expansion of E1b1b from Egypt and the Near East to the Balkans and Danube basin. Its presence around the Mediterranean can be attributed to
the Phoenicians colonisation (1200-800 BCE). The pocket in Estonia might be due to afounder
effectin the region's Jewish population. Among famous people, Thomas Jefferson
belonged to haplogroup T.
Other haplogroups found in Europe
Haplogroup N (Y-DNA)
Nis found among Uralic speakers,
from Finlandto Siberia, and
at minor frequencies as far as Koreaand Japan. InEurope,
haplogroup N is only found at high frequencies among modern Finns (58%), Lithuanians (42%), Latvians
(38%), Estonians (34%) and northern Russians.
Haplogroup N is believed to have originated in Southeast Asia approximately
15,000 to 20,000 years ago, but the N1c1 subclade found in Europe likely arose in Southern Siberia circa 12,000
years ago, and spread to North-East
Europe 10,000 years ago.
Haplogroup N is associated with theKunda culture(8000-5000 BCE) and theComb
Ceramic culture(4200-2000 BCE), which evolved
into Finnic and pre-Baltic people.The Indo-EuropeanCorded Ware culture(3200-1800 BCE) progressively took over the Baltic region and southern Finland
from 2,500 BCE. The merger of the two gave rise to the hybrid Kiukainen culture
(2300-1500 BCE). Modern Baltic people have a roughly equal proportion of
haplogroup N1c1 and R1a, resulting from this merger of Uralic and Slavic
cultures.
Haplogroup Q (Y-DNA)
Qis found predominantly in Central Siberia, Central Asia and among Native
Americans. In the latter case it is the specific subclade Q1a3a.
One hypothesis is that Q came to Europe with the Huns in the
5th century. The Huns are thought to have originated from Central Siberia, where
haplogroup Q is still common nowadays. Q is found in 2% of the people in Hungary and up to 5% in isolated pockets in the mountains of Slovakia, just north of Hungary.
It is historically attested that Hungarywas were most of the Hunnic invaders finally
settled after wreaking havoc around Europe. The Nordic and Baltic states have the second
highest frequency of Q in Europe. Based on the Hunnic hypothesis, it is possible that a group of Huns
settled in Sweden
and/or Norway along with their allies, the Goths. The Romans reported that the Huns
consisted of a small ruling elite and their armies
comprised mostly of Germanic warriors. An alternative scenario is that Nordic
and Baltic Q came through the Uralic-speaking population of Siberia via Finland and Lappland, but this is unlikely because Q is not more common in Finland and does not correlate with the densities of the Uralic haplogroup
N1c1.
Other Central Asian or Siberian migrations might have
brought Q to Ukraine
in the late Antiquity or Medieval period. For instance, the multi-ethnic
Central Asian troops of Genghis Khan could very well have carried some
haplogroup Q (along with C, G, O and R1a) to Eastern Europe, but not to Central Europe or Scandinavia.
Haplogroup C (Y-DNA)
HaplogroupC3in Europe is most likely of
Mongol origin. It is found everywhere at various concentrations in Genghis
Khan's former empire, although only sporadically on the European continent.
Other subclades of C come from ethnic groups too remote from Europe (Aboriginal
Australians, Polynesians, South-East Asians) to be found among Europeans (apart
from recent immigration).
Haplogroup P (Y-DNA)
Pis the parent group of Q and R
(including R1a and R1b). It has almost disappeared nowadays, except around its
place of origins in Central Asia. It is very rarely found in Europe. It may have been
brought to Europe by Central Asian invaders, like the Huns or the Mongols.
Haplogroup L (Y-DNA)
Lis found mostly in the Indian
subcontinent, but also at lower frequencies in Central Asia, Southwest Asia, and Southern Europe along the
coast of the Mediterranean Sea (notably in Italy).
L1 is typical of the Dravidian people of South India. Various subclades
are found in Europe (L1, L2, L3) without any real geographic
pattern. Europeans belonging to haplogroup L are likely to be descended from
Indian (L1, L3) or Persian (L2, L3) merchants in ancient times, maybe at the
time of the Roman Empire.
Haplogroup H (Y-DNA)
Gypsies
belong predominantly (about 50%) to haplogroup H1a. Haplogroup H is not
otherwise found in Europe, but
on the Indian subcontinent.
Haplogroup A (Y-DNA)
Ais the oldest of all Y-DNA
haplogroups and the closest to the Y-chromosomal Adam. It originated in Africa over 70,000 years ago,
most likely in the south-west, around modern Angola and Namibia.
Modern populations with the highest percentages of haplogroup A are theKhoisan(such as the Bushmen) and the
southern Sudanese. Isolated cases of individuals belonging to haplogroup A have
been found in Western Europe (notably Ireland,
Britain and Germany).
It is believed that these people descend in direct paternal line fromNubianswho probably came to Europe during the Roman period, probably as slaves (Nubian gladiators were popular
in Rome). It is unlikely that they descend from slaves from theAtlantic
slave trade(17th and 18th century) since
these came from a part of Africa where A is very rare.
MtDNA Haplogroups
All mtDNA haplogroups found in Europe descend from theN
group, which is thought to represent
one of the two initial migrations by modern humans out of Africa, some 60,000 to
80,000 years ago. Nowadays haplogroup N is only found at extremely low
frequencies in various parts of Eurasia.
Unfortunately, the tiny size of mitochondrial DNA
(approximately 16,500 base pairs as opposed to 60 million for Y-DNA) does not
allow a very accurate tracing of ancestry. Mitochondrial haplogroups all arose
during the Ice Age, a period when humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers, well
before the establishment of cities and civilizations. Mitochondrial haplogroups
are only linked to ethnicities at a continental level. Those associated with
European descent are H, I, J, K, T, U, V, W and X (except the branch X2a which
found among Native Americans). Deep subclades can be associated with more
specific regions, but do not necessarily match historical ethnic and linguistic
groups. One likely reason is that women, through whom mtDNA is passed, tended
to marry outside their ethnic group more often than men (e.g. to secure an
alliance between two tribes or kingdoms).
Chronological development of mtDNA haplogroups
Note
that the age of mitochondrial haplogroups is much more difficult to estimate
than Y-DNA haplogroups, due to the tiny sequence of mtDNA and the few number of mutations available. The error margin for
the dates below is typically of +-5,000 years, but could even exceed that for
older haplogroups.
N => 75,000 years ago (arose in North-East Africa)
R
=> 70,000 years ago (in South-West Asia)
U
=> 60,000 years ago (in North-East
Africa or South-West Asia)
pre-JT
=> 55,000 years ago (in the Middle
East)
JT
=> 50,000 years ago (in the Middle
East)
U5
=> 50,000 years ago (in Western
Asia)
U6
=> 50,000 years ago (in North
Africa)
U8
=> 50,000 years ago (in Western
Asia)
pre-HV
=> 50,000 years ago (in the Near
East)
J
=> 45,000 years ago (in the Near East or Caucasus)
HV
=> 40,000 years ago (in the Near
East)
H
=> over 35,000 years ago (in the Near East or Southern Europe)
X
=> over 30,000 years ago (in north-east Europe)
U5a1
=> 30,000 years ago (in Europe)
I
=> 30,000 years ago (Caucasus or north-east Europe)
J1a
=> 27,000 years ago (in the Near
East)
W
=> 25,000 years ago (in north-east Europe or north-west Asia)
U4
=> 25,000 years ago (in Central
Asia)
J1b
=> 23,000 years ago (in the Near
East)
T
=> 17,000 years ago (in Mesopotamia)
K
=> 16,000 years ago (in the Near
East)
V
=> 15,000 years ago (arose in Iberia and
moved to Scandinavia)
H1b
=> 13,000 years ago (in Europe)
K1
=> 12,000 years ago (in the Near
East)
H3
=> 10,000 years ago (in Western
Europe)
Mitochondrial
DNA of prehistoric Europeans
The testing of ancient DNA helped understand how long
each haplogroup has been in Europe. Only a few such
tests have been successfully conducted so far. Mitochondrial DNA was extracted
from the skeleton of a28,000 year-old Cro-Magnonfrom southern Italy,
and the haplogroup was determined as HV or pre-HV. Still preceding the
Neolithic expansion from the Middle East, the 9,000 year-oldCheddar Manwas found to belong to haplogroup U5a. (=>More examples of ancient
mtDNA haplogroups).
Autochtonous (Cro-Magnoid) Europeans must have
therefore belonged at least to haplogroups HV (and its offspring H and V) as
well as U5a, which also happen to be the most common mitochndrial haplogroup
everywhere in Europe. It has been speculated that over half of the matrilineal lineages in Europe descend directly from
Paleolithic Europeans. Their male counterpart are
Y-DNA haplogroup I.
European mtDNA
haplogroups and their subclades
Haplogroup H & V (mtDNA)
Haplogroup
His by far the most common all over Europe, amounting to about
40% of the European population. It is also found (though in lower frequencies)
in North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Northern Asia, as well as along
the East coast of Africa as far as Madagascar.
H1,H3andVare the most common subclades of HV in
Western Europe.H1peaks in Norway (30% of the population) and Iberia (18 to 25%), and is also high among the Sardinians, Finns and Estonians
(16%), as well as Western and Central European in general (10 to 12%) and
North-West Africans (10 to 20%).H3is commonest in Portugal (12%), Sardinia (11%), Galicia
(10%), the Basque country (10%), Ireland (6%), Norway
(6%), Hungary (6%) and southwestern France (5%). HaplogroupVreaches its highest frequency in
northern Scandinavia (40% of the Sami), northern Spain, the Netherlands
(8%), Sardinia, the Croatian islands and the Maghreb. It is likely that
H1, H3 and V, along with haplogroup U5, were the main haplogroups of Western
European hunter-gatherers living in the Franco-Cantabrian refuge during the
last Ice Age, and repopulated much of Central and Northern Europe from 15,000
years ago.
HaplogroupH13is most common in Sardinia and around the Caucasus. Its distribution is
reminiscent of Y-DNA haplogroup G2a. The same is true ofH2to a lower extent. This would suggest
a Caucasian or Anatolian origin.
H5andH7are also common in the Caucasus, but their lower incidence
around the Mediterranean, and higher frequency from Anatolia to the Alps via the Danube suggest a possible
link with the spread of agriculture (YDNA E1b1b, J2 and T) or of the
Indo-Europeans (R1b1b2).
Haplogroup U & K (mtDNA)
Haplogroup U is extremely old. It originated some
60,000 years ago at the confine of North-East Africa and the Middle East, soon after the first
Homo Sapiens ventured out of Africa. This is why each of
its top-level subclade (U1, U2, U3...) can be seen as a haplogroup in its own
right. The main European subclades are U3, U4, U5 and U8/K.U1is mostly found in the Middle East,U6in North Africa,U7from the Near East to India, and the rareU9from Ethiopia and the Arabian peninsula
to Pakistan.
HaplogroupU2is found primarily in South Asia, but probably is of
Indo-European origin as it is found at low frequencies throughout the
Pontic-Caspian steppe and has been identified in a30,000 year-old Cro-Magnon
from the middle Don valleyin Russia.
It might have been the dominant haplogroup of the northern forest-steppe
foragers who later became the Proto-Indo-Iranian speakers (see R1a above) and
moved massively to Central and South Asia.
HaplogroupU3is centered around
the Black Sea, with a particularly strong concentration in the north-eastern part. It
could be related to the ancient Indo-Europeans, and probably more to R1b than
R1a.
HaplogroupU4are more common in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, northern South Asia (around Tajikistan for U4, and Pakistan
for W), which also suggests an affiliation with the Indo-Europeans (correlated
to Y-DNA haplogroup R1a). The same is true of haplogroups I, W, T2 and U2e to a
lower extent.
HaplogroupU5is the most common in Western and Northern Europe. DNA tests on
ancient skeletons have shown that U5 was the principal mitochondrial haplogroup
of Paleolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Northern Europe. Ancient DNA
tests conducted in Britain,
Germany and Scandinavia indicate that the frequency of U5 has progressively declined over time
through the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Middle Ages. Nowadays it
remains most common in the far north of Europe, where the Mesolithic
population has been least affected by subsequent migrations. For instance, 30
to 50% of the Sami people of northern Scandinavia belong to haplogroup
U5b (and about 40% to haplogroup V, which is also pre-Neolithic European
origin).
HaplogroupKis the main subclade of U8. It is
found throughout Europe and Western Asia, as far away as India.
Its highest concentration is in North-West and Central Europe, Anatolia and the southern Arabian peninsula. It is believed to have first arisen somewhere between Egypt and Anatolia approximately 16,000 years ago (estimates range from 22,000 years to as
little as 10,000 years before present). It has the largest number of subclades
of any haplogroup in spite of its fairly recent age. K1a is the largest
subclade. The relatively important presence of K1a in the Near East suggest
that it predates the Neolithic migration to Europe. Most K1a4, K1a10,
K1b, K1c and K2 subclades are typically European. K1a4 is also common in Anatolia and Greece, and could indeed have spread to the rest of Europe from there during the
Neolithic period, along with haplogroups J and T (and Y-DNA haplogroups E1b1b,
J2 and T). The Indo-Europeans from Anatolia could also have
contributed to the propagation of K. K1a1b1a and K1a9 are found primarily among
Ashkenazi Jews.
Haplogroup J & T (mtDNA)
Haplogroup J originated in the Middle East 45,000 years, making
it one of the oldest mitochondiral haplogroups in Europe and the Middle East. It is usually
associated with the spread of agriculture. Haplogroup J being so common in Central Asia and around the
Caspian and Black Sea, it is likely to have also a connection with the Indo-Europeans,
especially the migration of Y-DNA haplogroup R1b (see R1b history above).J1is common throughout the Middle East, as far as Central Asia and around Ukraine. In the rest of Europe it is mostly confined to Germanic countries (mimicking the distribution
of Y-DNA haplogroup I1).J2is much rarer than J1.J2ais found homogeneously across most of Europe.J2bis more frequent around Anatolia and in South-East Europe.
Haplogroup T is thought to have originated in the Middle East or North-East Africa at least
12,000 years ago. It is found throughout Europe, the northern half of
Africa to Central Asia and Siberia, with pockets in India and North-West China
(Xinjiang). The highest concentration ofT1has been observed in North-East Africa, Anatolia and Bulgaria, which suggests a Neolithic diffusion from Egypt to the Balkans.T2,
the most subclade of T in Europe, is particularly common in North-East Europe and around the
Aegean Sea. The overall distribution of haplogroup T points at an early Neolithic
migration from North-East Africa to Eastern Europe, then a dispersal following the migration pattern of the Indo-Europeans
(especially Y-DNA haplogroup R1a) to Europe and South Asia.
Haplogroup W (mtDNA)
Present
at low frequencies in most of Europe, in Anatolia, around the Caspian Sea, and
from the Indo-Pakistani border to Xinjiang, haplogroup W is one of the best
maternal markers of Indo-European ancestry (mtDNA equivalent ofR1aandR1b). Its highest frequency is in Ukraine,
European Russia, Baltic countries and Finland(3 to 5% overall), as well as in
northern Pakistan(15%), Punjab(9%) and Gujarat(12%). In Indian it is
considerably more common among the upper castes and among Indo-European
speakers (source).
Haplogroup I (mtDNA)
Haplogroup
I has a similar distribution to haplogroup W, ranging from Europeto Pakistanand North-West India, with
a characteristic presence in Pontic steppes and around the Caspian
Sea. Its origin very probably lies in the Proto-Indo-European cultures
(mtDNA mirror ofR1aandR1b). Haplogroup I is nearly absent
in parts of Europefrom distant from the
Pontic-Caspian steppes (Iberia,
South-WestFrance,Ireland) and
strongest inNorway,
southernFinland,Ukraine,Greeceand western Anatolia.
Haplogroup X (mtDNA)
Haplogroup X is a very old and scattered haplogroup
found all over Eurasia, North Africa as well as among Native North Americans. It frequency rarely exceeds 5%
of the population in any ethnic group, and is more often restricted to 1 or 2%.
X1 is found almost exclusively in North Africa, while X2b is the
only lineage present among Amerindians. X2a, X2c, X2d and X2e are found in Europe, Siberia and Central Asia. It is therefore
possible that the latter be of Indo-European origin (R1b1b).
The strong presence of X2 around the Caucasus, progressively fading
towards the Near East and Mediterranean , hints that it could be related to
the spread of Y-DNA haplogroup G2a. R1b1b and G2a both having origins around
the Caucasus it is unsurprising to find X2 alongside these two Y-DNA haplogroups.
Haplogroup R is the main subclade of N, the one that
was to generate the 6 most common European haplogroups (H, V, J, T, U, K). At the time of writing R subclades were numbered from R0
(a.k.a. pre-HV) to R31. Most of them are found in South Asia (R5, R6, R7, R8, R30,
R31), Southeast Asia (R9, R21, R22, R24), East Asia (R9/F, R11/B), and
even among Papuans (R14) and Australian aborigenes (R12).R0apeaks in the southern Arabian
peninsula is common among Arabs and Middle-Easterners.R1a(not to be confused with the homonymous
Y-chromosome haplogroup) is found among the Adygei people from the North
Caucasus (related to the Maykop culture => seeR1bsection), Brahmins from northern India, northwestern Russians and Poles
- basically all people closely related with the Indo-European expansion.R2is found from northwest India and Pakistan
to Iran, Georgia
and Turkey. It could be connected to the Indo-Iranians.
Finno-Uralic
mtDNA
Finno-Uralic people have an overall mtDNA admixture
similar to other Europeans, with a higher percentage ofWandU5b,
and a small percentage of Siberian haplogroups such as N or A. The Sami are
characterised by a high percentage of haplogroups U5b1 and V.
Berber mtDNA
The Berbers are the indigenous populationof north-west
Africa. Although their Y-DNA is almost perfectly homogenous, belonging to
haplogroup E-M81, Berber maternal lineages show a much greater diversity, as
well as regional disparity. At least half (and up to 90% in some regions) of
the Berbers belong to some Eurasian lineages, such as H, HV, R0, J, T, U, K,
N1, N2, and X2, mostly of Middle or Near Eastern origin. 5 to 45% of the
Berbers will have sub-Saharan mtDNA (L0, L1, L2, L3, L4, L5).
There are only three native North African lineages,U6,X1andM1,
representing 0 to 35% of the people depending on the region.
HaplogroupU6has been observed from the Iberia and the Canary Islands to Senegal
in the West, and from Syria
to Ethiopia and Kenya
in the East. It is also found at low density in Europe, though mostly
limited to Iberia.
Approximately 10% of all North Africans belong to this lineage.
Gypsy mtDNA
The Gypsies (Romani people) originated in the Indian
subcontinent and mixed with local population in the Middle East and Eastern Europe over the
centuries. About half of the Gypsy population belong to haplogroup M, and more
specificallyM5(reflected by Y-haplogroup H1a), which
is otherwise exclusive to South Asia. The other mtDNA haplogroups found among the Gypsy community are mostly
of Eastern European, Caucasian or Middle Eastern origin, such as H (H1, H2, H5,
H9, H11, H20, among others), J (J1b, J1d, J2b), T, U3, U5b, I, W et X (X1b1,
X2a1, X2f) (sources). The same diversity exist on the Y-DNA side
(45% of H1a, followed by I1, I2a, J2a4b, E1b1b, R1b1b, R1a1a).
Sources
The list below is non-exhaustive and
include many of the numerous references linked on these websites. Some
studies and databases not published on the Web were also used.
