A trio of scientific papers published at the same time in the journal Science makes up the vast paleogenetic study that reveals new insights on the migration patterns, expansion of agriculture, and language development from the Caucasus in western Asia and southeastern Europe during the early Copper Age to late Middle Ages.
SciTech Daily reported that researchers presented a comprehensive genomic history of the so-called "Southern Arc" that encompasses these areas that have long been considered to be the "cradle of Western civilization."
This photograph taken on October 9, 2020 shows an aerial view of the Caucasus mountains in Russia with the mount Elbrus (5642 m) in the background.
Origins of the Indo-European Language
The first paper, titled "The Genetic History of the Southern Arc: A Bridge Between West Asia and Europe," investigates the origins and development of the Anatolian and Indo-European languages. EurekAlert! reported that the study focused its genetic analysis on the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages, revealing large genetic exchanges between the Eurasian Steppe and the Southern Arc.
All spoken Indo-European languages, such as Greek, Armenian, and Sanskrit can be traced back to Yamnaya steppe herders who are descendants of Caucasus hunter-gatherers and Eastern hunter-gatherers. Their ancestors initiated a chain of migrations across Eurasia around 5,000 years ago.
For example, their southern expansions in the Balkans and Greece and then in the east across Caucasus and Armenia left a trace of their DNA in the region during the Bronze Age.
Moreso, the emergence of Greek, Paleo-Balan, and Albanian languages in Southeastern Europe and Armenian languages in West Asia is due to the Indo-European migrants interacting with local people. In other words, the Yamnaya impact was so profound that people are just full of Yamnaya ancestry.
On the other hand, Anatolia was hardly affected by Yamnaya migrations as researchers find no link between Anatolian language speakers and the steppe. This is because of the absence of Eastern hunter-gatherer ancestry in Anatolia which is different in regions where Indo-European languages were spoken.
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Expansion of Agriculture
The second paper, titled "Ancient DNA From Mesopotamia Suggests Distinct Pre-pottery and Pottery Neolithic Migrations Into Anatolia," presents evidence of the earliest Neolithic populations.
Science Daily reported that it provides the first ancient DNA data for Pre-Pottery Neolithic farmers from northern Mesopotamia, a prime location of the origins of agriculture. Also, it discusses the first ancient DNA from Pre-Pottery farmers from Cyprus that witnessed the earliest maritime expansion of farmers from the eastern Mediterranean.
Additionally, the paper provides data for early Neolithic farmers from the Northwest Zagros and the first data from Neolithic Armenia. These data fill gaps that enable scientists to conduct a genetic study to trace the histories of societies. Their findings reveal a mixture of pre-Neolithic sources linked to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers.
DNA Analysis on the Recorded History of the Southern Arc
The third paper, titled "A Genetic Probe Into the Ancient and Medieval History of Southern Europe and West Asia," focuses on ancient DNA analysis during the recorded history of the Southern Arc. It highlights the less understood demographics and geographic origins of Myceneans, Urartians, and Romans.
As SciTech Daily reported, the results reveal that the ancestry of people who lived in Imperial Rome was almost identical to Roman/Byzantine people from Anatolia, but Italians prior to the Imperial period had a very different pattern of genetic variations. The findings show that the Roman Empire had a diverse but similar population perhaps because of their Anatolian pre-Imperial sources.
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