07-22-2012, 08:59 AM
mtDNA haplogroup M in Bronze Age Syria
Uncategorized No Responses û
Jun
21
2012
Science Magazine highlights a presentation in the Bioarchaeology session of the 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (DNA of people living in the middle Euphrates valley 2.5-4.5 Kyrs ago):
But at the meeting, biologist Henryk Witas of the University of à Âódà º in Poland presented preliminary evidence of ancient mitochondrial DNA from human teeth from a half-dozen skeletons at two sites in eastern Syria dated to various times in the 3rd millennium B.C.E. Most of the DNA was related to [haplogroup] M, which is not found in people living in the Middle East today but is common among those now living in northern Pakistan, India, and Tibet. Witas concluded that people migrated from the northern part of the Indian subcontinent along trade routes to the west as early as 2500 B.C.E.
This surprising conclusion was hotly disputed by others who suspect that the M group once existed in the Near East but has been diluted since. ââ¬ÅThere is no archaeological evidence of Central Asian migrationââ¬Â before medieval times, notes archaeologist Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault of the Sorbonne University in Paris, who excavated the Syrian sites. ââ¬Åit is way too premature to make any conclusions from this,ââ¬Â adds Reinhard Bernbeck of the Free University in Berlin.
Bad reporting aside, M is a huge and extremely diverse clade with divisions on every inhabited continent, not just South Asia (and itââ¬â¢s definitely not completely unknown from the modern Near East ââ¬â see here ââ¬â though, yes, it only holds a minority share, and owes something to relatively recent gene flow from South Asia). I assume the sequences in question belong to characteristically South Asian branches of M ââ¬â among them, perhaps, M6, though thatââ¬â¢s just speculation on my part (see left for isofrequency map from Metspalu et al. (2005) ââ¬Â¦ it probably actually drops off much more steeply north of the Himalayas).
This more recent article in the Polish press presents some additional details:
Analysis by Prof. Henryk Witas from the Department of Molecular Biology, Medical University of à Âódà º, showed that people from the Indian subcontinent had lived among the inhabitants of the area of Mesopotamia.
The scientist isolated mitochondrial DNA from the human remains found by Dr. Jacek Tomczyk, anthropologist from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyà âski University in Warsaw, at the Syrian archaeological sites Tell Mesaikh and Terqa in the valley of the middle Euphrates. These people lived in different periods between 2500 BC and 500 AD [typo in congress title, or additional samples?].
ââ¬ÅIt turned out that among the analyzed individuals some represented clades [...] of macro-haplogroup M that is [sic?] not found in todayââ¬â¢s Syria. We also know that they originated in the Indian subcontinent (Tibet, Pakistan, India) at least 30 thousand years agoââ¬Â ââ¬â explained Prof. Witas.
The researcher suggested that while one of the test subjects from the beginning of our era could have come to Mesopotamia on silk route, the presence of people from the East in the third millennium BC may indicate the existence of trade routes as early as the Bronze Age.
ââ¬ÅIt is also possible that examined remains belonged to the descendants of the founders of the first civilization in the region. It should be emphasized that so far there is no other evidence to support this theoryââ¬Â ââ¬â added Prof. Witas.
Polish scientists plan to collect a much larger number of specimens by extending the study to other periods and regions of Mesopotamia, which may help to explain the puzzling findings.
Uncategorized No Responses û
Jun
21
2012
Science Magazine highlights a presentation in the Bioarchaeology session of the 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (DNA of people living in the middle Euphrates valley 2.5-4.5 Kyrs ago):
But at the meeting, biologist Henryk Witas of the University of à Âódà º in Poland presented preliminary evidence of ancient mitochondrial DNA from human teeth from a half-dozen skeletons at two sites in eastern Syria dated to various times in the 3rd millennium B.C.E. Most of the DNA was related to [haplogroup] M, which is not found in people living in the Middle East today but is common among those now living in northern Pakistan, India, and Tibet. Witas concluded that people migrated from the northern part of the Indian subcontinent along trade routes to the west as early as 2500 B.C.E.
This surprising conclusion was hotly disputed by others who suspect that the M group once existed in the Near East but has been diluted since. ââ¬ÅThere is no archaeological evidence of Central Asian migrationââ¬Â before medieval times, notes archaeologist Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault of the Sorbonne University in Paris, who excavated the Syrian sites. ââ¬Åit is way too premature to make any conclusions from this,ââ¬Â adds Reinhard Bernbeck of the Free University in Berlin.
Bad reporting aside, M is a huge and extremely diverse clade with divisions on every inhabited continent, not just South Asia (and itââ¬â¢s definitely not completely unknown from the modern Near East ââ¬â see here ââ¬â though, yes, it only holds a minority share, and owes something to relatively recent gene flow from South Asia). I assume the sequences in question belong to characteristically South Asian branches of M ââ¬â among them, perhaps, M6, though thatââ¬â¢s just speculation on my part (see left for isofrequency map from Metspalu et al. (2005) ââ¬Â¦ it probably actually drops off much more steeply north of the Himalayas).
This more recent article in the Polish press presents some additional details:
Analysis by Prof. Henryk Witas from the Department of Molecular Biology, Medical University of à Âódà º, showed that people from the Indian subcontinent had lived among the inhabitants of the area of Mesopotamia.
The scientist isolated mitochondrial DNA from the human remains found by Dr. Jacek Tomczyk, anthropologist from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyà âski University in Warsaw, at the Syrian archaeological sites Tell Mesaikh and Terqa in the valley of the middle Euphrates. These people lived in different periods between 2500 BC and 500 AD [typo in congress title, or additional samples?].
ââ¬ÅIt turned out that among the analyzed individuals some represented clades [...] of macro-haplogroup M that is [sic?] not found in todayââ¬â¢s Syria. We also know that they originated in the Indian subcontinent (Tibet, Pakistan, India) at least 30 thousand years agoââ¬Â ââ¬â explained Prof. Witas.
The researcher suggested that while one of the test subjects from the beginning of our era could have come to Mesopotamia on silk route, the presence of people from the East in the third millennium BC may indicate the existence of trade routes as early as the Bronze Age.
ââ¬ÅIt is also possible that examined remains belonged to the descendants of the founders of the first civilization in the region. It should be emphasized that so far there is no other evidence to support this theoryââ¬Â ââ¬â added Prof. Witas.
Polish scientists plan to collect a much larger number of specimens by extending the study to other periods and regions of Mesopotamia, which may help to explain the puzzling findings.