R.Rocca
11-05-2014, 09:38 PM
I'm trying to consolidate some thoughts on recent Ancient DNA findings and what they potentially mean for R1b. Here are some things that stand out in my opinion:
1. Some (including myself) have left open the possibility that R1b was already present in the cultures immediately proceeding Bell Beaker in Central and Western Europe. Here's another look at some ancient DNA from some of those cultures, none of which belong to R1b:
3350-3100 BC Ötztal Alps (Otzi), Y-haplogroup: G2a1b2
3000 BC Treilles, Y-haplogroups: G2a and I2a1
2750-2725 BC Dolmen of La Pierre Fritte, Y-haplogroup: I2a1
These look like typical Early and Middle Neolithic Y-haplogroups of Europe, so that is not a surprise. However, the automsomal DNA makeup of the following individual really puts at least some doubt into the existence of R1b prior to around 2700 BC in Central Europe:
2900-2700 BC Late Baden Culture, Hungary, Apc-Berekalja I
Autosomally, this person is almost identical to any other Central European Neolithic individual, even those that are thousands of years older. Just like Otzi, this Copper Age individual only plots with modern Sardinians. If the Baden Culture was indeed "Kurganized" at some point, it didn't have any genetic impact on this individual's autosomal DNA in relation to her ancestors.
2. Could it be that some Late Neolithic Balkan cultures like Baden were "Kurganized" by a first wave of westernmost people of the collapsed Cucuteni-Tripolye culture who themselves were Kurganized only a few generations earlier? We know that the earliest Corded Ware Kurgans from Poland (2800 BC) so far have not carried R1a nor R1b. The lack of R1a was interesting due to some similar anthropological differences between early and late Corded Ware skulls:
"Since Yamna and Catacomb series resemble the later German Corded Ware series more than the earlier series, this raises the possibility that Kurgan or Kurgan-influenced groups entered central Europe after the Corded Ware complex had begun. But, as Menk admits, this would be hard to prove (1980:389)."
John V. Day (2001). Indo-European Origins: The Anthropological Evidence. The Institute for the Study of Man, p.207
Could the difference between the early Bell Bell Beaker skulls and the later Bell Beaker skulls also represent a difference between non-R1b Neolithic Europeans and Bronze Age R1b people from the deeper Steppe?
3. The lack of Eastern Mediterranean autosomal DNA in any of the relatively late Hinxton Iron Age samples, including the two R1b males, is the final nail in the coffin of Anatole Klyosov's wandering R1b tribe. He posited that an R1b lead migration founded the Sumerian Culture then made their way into the Eastern Mediterranean where they hopped along the African coast. Finally, they reached Iberia, where they repopulated most of Western Europe. I think we can safely put that one to rest.
1. Some (including myself) have left open the possibility that R1b was already present in the cultures immediately proceeding Bell Beaker in Central and Western Europe. Here's another look at some ancient DNA from some of those cultures, none of which belong to R1b:
3350-3100 BC Ötztal Alps (Otzi), Y-haplogroup: G2a1b2
3000 BC Treilles, Y-haplogroups: G2a and I2a1
2750-2725 BC Dolmen of La Pierre Fritte, Y-haplogroup: I2a1
These look like typical Early and Middle Neolithic Y-haplogroups of Europe, so that is not a surprise. However, the automsomal DNA makeup of the following individual really puts at least some doubt into the existence of R1b prior to around 2700 BC in Central Europe:
2900-2700 BC Late Baden Culture, Hungary, Apc-Berekalja I
Autosomally, this person is almost identical to any other Central European Neolithic individual, even those that are thousands of years older. Just like Otzi, this Copper Age individual only plots with modern Sardinians. If the Baden Culture was indeed "Kurganized" at some point, it didn't have any genetic impact on this individual's autosomal DNA in relation to her ancestors.
2. Could it be that some Late Neolithic Balkan cultures like Baden were "Kurganized" by a first wave of westernmost people of the collapsed Cucuteni-Tripolye culture who themselves were Kurganized only a few generations earlier? We know that the earliest Corded Ware Kurgans from Poland (2800 BC) so far have not carried R1a nor R1b. The lack of R1a was interesting due to some similar anthropological differences between early and late Corded Ware skulls:
"Since Yamna and Catacomb series resemble the later German Corded Ware series more than the earlier series, this raises the possibility that Kurgan or Kurgan-influenced groups entered central Europe after the Corded Ware complex had begun. But, as Menk admits, this would be hard to prove (1980:389)."
John V. Day (2001). Indo-European Origins: The Anthropological Evidence. The Institute for the Study of Man, p.207
Could the difference between the early Bell Bell Beaker skulls and the later Bell Beaker skulls also represent a difference between non-R1b Neolithic Europeans and Bronze Age R1b people from the deeper Steppe?
3. The lack of Eastern Mediterranean autosomal DNA in any of the relatively late Hinxton Iron Age samples, including the two R1b males, is the final nail in the coffin of Anatole Klyosov's wandering R1b tribe. He posited that an R1b lead migration founded the Sumerian Culture then made their way into the Eastern Mediterranean where they hopped along the African coast. Finally, they reached Iberia, where they repopulated most of Western Europe. I think we can safely put that one to rest.