DNA Study Sheds Light on the Heartland of Indo-European Languages

Research suggests a family of languages now spoken from Europe to India originated between the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia. But identity of first Indo-Europeans remains a mystery

A new DNA analysis, published on Thursday, August 26th, on 777 ancient genomes from across the so-called Southern Arc, namely Southern Europe and West Asia, redirects the cradle of Indo-Europeans and sheds light on the Proto-Greek prehistoric past.

The new study, published this Thursday, August 26, 2022 in Science, reports on genetic data extracted from 777 individuals who lived across the so-called Southern Arc, namely Southern Europe and West Asia. According to other more recent DNA data of ancient Anatolians, which raised new questions about the “spread” of Indo-European languages, it seems that Anatolians did not mix with steppe pastoralists during the early Bronze Age. It’s the only place where Indo-European-related languages were spoken even though there was no steppe ancestry.

Ancient Anatolian peoples spoke the now-extinct Anatolian languages of the Indo-European language family, which were largely replaced by the Greek language during classical antiquity as well as during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. The major Anatolian languages included Hittite, Luwian, and Lydian while other, poorly attested local languages included Phrygian, Palaic, Luwic, and Mysian.

Many partings, many meetings: How migration and admixture drove early language spread.

Westward and northward migrations out of the West Asian highlands split the Proto-Indo-Anatolian language into Anatolian and Indo-European branches. Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe by a fusion of newcomers and locals, admixed again as they expanded far and wide, splitting the Proto-Indo-European language into its daughter languages across Eurasia. Border colors represent the ancestry and locations of five source populations before the migrations (arrows) and mixture (pie charts) documented here.

The new Indo-European DNA research also shows that between five and seven thousand years ago there was a gradual increase of ancestry from the Caucasus in the Anatolian genome, probably by a series of migrations from the east, at the end of which about a third of the ancestry of Anatolians could be traced to somewhere in the Caucasus.

The fact that the same Caucasus component found in Anatolia comprises roughly fifty percent of the Yamnaya pastoralist genome further implicates the riddle of Indo-European languages. Given that this mysterious Caucasian link is the only ancestral commonality between the Yamnaya and the ancient Anatolians, it seems plausible that this enigmatic migration from the Caucasus brought the ancestral form of Indo-European to both of these peoples. Therefore, the homeland and the “first language” of Indo-Europeans must be placed somewhere in the Caucasus.

We must point out that these conclusions seem to primarily justify the eminent archaeologist Colin Renfrew and his Anatolian hypothesis, and they do line up quite well with contemporary archeological indications. The British archeologist compares the spread of the Indo-European languages to the spread of the Neolithic way of life from its Anatolian source in the seventh millennium BC (possibly the Caucasus).

Pylos Combat Agate” found in the Grave of the Griffin WarriorCredit: Photo Jeff Vanderpool. Courtesy

Renfrew also identifies this Neolithic demic diffusion with the spread of the Proto-Indo-European language and its subsequent differentiation into the daughter branches, i.e., the different Early Neolithic cultural phases across Europe.

The most interesting conclusion about prehistoric Greek populations comes from the new estimation of the Mycenaean steppe ancestry (about 1/10). The new study shows that this proportion is not uniform across the population. In fact, even among the elites, it was possible to find people who were not genetically related to Yamnaya (such as the genome of the so-called Griffin Warrior of Pylos).

According to experts, steppe migrants did not establish a rule over the natives and kept to themselves. Rather, they admixed with them, and there were still people without steppe ancestry with elite roles in mainland Greece, especially in Peloponnese. This means that during the later Mycenaean period in Greece, the new data suggest Yamnaya descendants had little impact on Greek social structure.

This explanation also once again confirms C. Renfrew and many other scholars, who have insisted throughout the last decades that the picture of the Proto-Indo-Europeans as warlike mounted nomads has been based not only on the misuse of linguistic paleontology but also on serious anachronism.

Study: Vikings were not the first to settle the Faroe Islands

For a long time, scientists believed that the Vikings were the first people to settle the Faroe Islands. However, recent research indicates otherwise.

Based on archeological evidence, the long-standing consensus among scientists was that the Faroe Islands, located between Iceland, Norway, and the British Isles, were settled by Norse explorers, The Viking Herald reports.

However, in a study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, researchers put forward unequivocal evidence, based on the analysis of ancient feces, that the Vikings were not, in fact, the first people to settle the Faroe Islands. 

Researchers used an advanced technique to date the oldest settlement to 500 CE, roughly 300 years before the Norse raiders developed the sailing technology that would help them fuel their maritime expansion. 

Human presence

Lorelei Curtin of American Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the lead author of the study, and colleagues collected the evidence from sediment cores taken from the Eiðisvatn catchment, home to the remains of an old Norse summer farm settlement called Argisbrekka. 

Based on these sediment cores, researchers identified the presence of lipid molecules, also called fecal biomarkers, that come from feces.

The Argisbrekka fecal biomarkers have a distinct signature originating from the digestive tracts of sheep. As all mammals of the Islands were initially introduced there by humans, traces of sheep poo are a clear indicator of human presence. 

The researchers dated the sediments in which the markers were identified, which enabled them to date the arrival of sheep to the Islands several centuries before what was previously believed.

“The initial appearance of sheep DNA and increased fecal biomarkers predates the first documented usage of the Argisbrekka site by the Norse by approximately 300 years,” the team noted. 

New research techniques

The researchers also confirmed the earlier settlement date through the use of advanced DNA sequencing technology, which helped them put together a profile of the DNA in the sediment cores. 

The sampling detected increasing concentrations of both sheep and grass DNA coinciding with the disappearance of woody plants.

This change in vegetation was previously attributed to climate change in the late Holocene, but now it seems that widespread grazing was the dominant driver of landscape transition from shrublands to grasslands and peatlands in the Faroe Islands, according to the study.

These new findings validate certain doubts related to the Norse-settlement narrative, which was primarily based on the dating of archaeological structures. 

The earliest structures on the Islands date between 800 and 900 CE, consistent with the timing of the Norse expansion to Iceland, Greenland, and North America.

New evidence

“While the nature of archaeological records causes them to be temporally fragmentary, sedimentary archives provide continuous records of the environmental history of a landscape,” the researchers accentuated.

These results have opened up the discussion regarding pre-existing lines of evidence that have cast doubt on the established narrative and timeline.

Multiple place names in the Faroe Islands derive from Celtic words, and a number of Celtic grave markings have been identified across the Faroes. Some of the most convincing evidence can be found in the genetics of modern Faroese people. 

The Cosmos writes that there is “a strong asymmetry between paternal and maternal ancestry, with the paternal lineage dominantly Scandinavian, while the maternal lineage is primarily from the British Isles.”

Although this suggests an existing population, none of the aforementioned evidence is directly conclusive.

“By 800 CE, the Vikings were already active in the British Isles… They were already influenced by Celtic culture and could have brought wives from the British Isles to the Faroe Islands,” the researchers pointed out.

The mystery of the first inhabitants

Thus, the current research concretely establishes the existence of human presence on the Faroe Islands long before Norse explorers and raiders took up sailing – somewhere between 750 and 820 CE – which leads to the conclusion that it is unlikely that the first settlers of the Faroe Islands were Vikings. 

But if they weren’t Vikings, who were they? 

At the moment, that remains a mystery. Genetic profiles, the etymology of place names, and grave markings point toward a Celtic population. Still, direct DNA evidence can’t confirm these indications.

Source: The Viking Herald / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayTravel

New DNA analysis shed light to Indo-European homeland

Credit: PeopleOfAr

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BY THE ARCHAEOLOGIST EDITOR GROUP

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Detailed paleogenetic research sheds light on Southern Arc migration, farming, and language evolution.

In a trio of papers, published simultaneously in the journal Science, Ron Pinhasi from the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS) at the University of Vienna and Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg from the University of Vienna and Harvard University, Iosif Lazaridis and David Reich at Harvard University—together with 202 co-authors—report a massive effort of genome-wide sequencing from 727 distinct ancient individuals with which it was possible to test longstanding archaeological, genetic and linguistic hypotheses. They present a systematic picture of the interlinked histories of peoples across the Southern Arc Region from the origins of agriculture, to late medieval times.

Credit: University of Vienna

The first article by the international team looked at the origins and dissemination of Indo-European and Anatolian languages. The Indo-Anatolian language family's ancestral home is thought to have been in West Asia, according to genetic evidence, with secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the Eurasian steppe. People with Caucasian origin came into Anatolia in the west and the steppe in the north during the first stage, which took place between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago. These people may have spoken Anatolian and Indo-European languages in their ancestry.

Around 5,000 years ago, Yamnaya steppe herders with Caucasus hunter-gatherer and Eastern hunter-gatherer heritage set off a series of migrations across Eurasia that may be traced to all currently spoken Indo-European languages (such as Greek, Armenian, and Sanskrit). Their southern excursions into the Balkans and Greece, as well as their eastern expansions across the Caucasus into Armenia, left a mark on the region's Bronze Age inhabitants.

The Yamnaya herders' descendants mixed differently with the local people as they grew. Several types of genetic evidence can be used to pinpoint how Indo-European-speaking immigrants from the steppe interacted with locals to create the Greek, Paleo-Balkan, and Albanian (Indo-European) languages in Southeastern Europe and the Armenian language in West Asia. The Yamnaya had a significant influence on Southeastern Europe, as individuals with nearly pure Yamnaya heritage arrived shortly after the Yamnaya migrations began.

The Southern Arc's Anatolia core region, where large-scale data offers a rich picture of change—and lack of change—over time, yields some of the most startling findings. According to the findings, Anatolia was not significantly affected by the Yamnaya migrations, in contrast to the Balkans and the Caucasus. Due to the absence of Eastern hunter-gatherer ancestors in Anatolia, in contrast to all other places where Indo-European languages were spoken, no connection to the steppe can be established for speakers of Anatolian languages (such as Hittite and Luwian).

The southern Caucasus was impacted numerous times, even before the Yamnaya migrations, in contrast to Anatolia's startling impermeability to steppe migrations. "I was surprised to learn that the Areni Chalcolithic people, who were discovered 15 years ago in the excavation I co-led, had ancestry from gene flow from the north to areas of the southern Caucasus more than 1,000 years before the Yamnaya expanded, and that this northern influence would disappear in the area before reappearing a few thousand years later. This demonstrates that there is still a lot of information to be learned through new digs and fieldwork in Eastern Western Asia "Ron Pinhasi says.

"Anatolia was home to varied communities descending from both local hunter-gatherers and eastern populations of the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, and the Levant," states Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg

"Variations of the same types of ancestry were shared by the inhabitants of the Marmara region, Southeastern Anatolia, the Black Sea, and the Aegean regions."

Credit: University of Vienna

The interconnections of the first farming societies

The second research project investigates the origins of the world's oldest Neolithic populations, which date to around 12,000 years ago. "The genetic findings support the idea that early farming groups had a network of pan-regional relationships. In addition, they offer fresh proof that the Neolithic transition was a difficult process that took place not just in one central region but also in Anatolia and the Near East, "Ron Pinhasi said.

It gives the first ancient DNA data for Pre-Pottery Neolithic farmers from the Tigris side of northern Mesopotamia, which is a critical region for the origins of agriculture and can be found in both eastern Turkey and northern Iraq. The island of Cyprus, which saw the earliest maritime migration of farmers from the eastern Mediterranean, also contains the first ancient DNA from Pre-Pottery farmers. Together with the first information from Neolithic Armenia, it also offers fresh information on early Neolithic farmers from the Northwest Zagros.

By filling in these gaps, the authors were able to examine the genetic history of these societies, for which archaeological research had previously documented intricate economic and cultural interactions but was unable to track mating practices or interactions that did not leave visible material traces. The findings demonstrate pre-Neolithic roots from hunter-gatherers in the Caucasus, Levant, and Anatolia, and they demonstrate that these early farming cultures created a continuity of lineage that mirrored the topography of West Asia. The findings also show at least two waves of migration from the Fertile Crescent's core to Anatolia's ancient farmers.

The historic period

The third piece demonstrates how ancient Mediterranean political systems maintained differences in lineage from the Bronze Age while remaining connected by migration. The findings indicate that while Italians before the Imperial period had a totally diverse distribution, the ancestry of those who resided in and around Rome during the Imperial period was nearly identical to that of Roman and Byzantine inhabitants from Anatolia. This shows that the heterogeneous but comparable population of the Roman Empire, both in its longer-lasting eastern component focused on Anatolia and in its shorter-lasting western part, was plausible drawn to a significant extent from Anatolian pre-Imperial sources.

"Our findings are rather unexpected considering that in a Science study I co-authored in 2019 on the genetic heritage of people from Ancient Rome, we discovered a cosmopolitan pattern that we initially believed to be specific to Rome. Now that we can see it, other parts of the Roman Empire were just as multicultural as Rome itself, "Ron Pinhasi argues.

Ancient DNA study reveals large scale migrations into Bronze Age Britain

A major new study of ancient DNA has traced the movement of people into southern Britain during the Bronze Age. In the largest such analysis published to date, scientists examined the DNA of nearly 800 ancient individuals. Publication in Nature on December 22, 2021.

One of the DNA samples used in the study came from the human remains excavated in Wervershoof-Zwaagdijk by Professor Modderman in 1961.

Sustained contacts

The new study, led by the University of York, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Vienna, with input from Leiden researchers, shows that people moving into southern Britain around 1300‒800 BC were responsible for around half the genetic ancestry of subsequent populations.

The combined DNA and archaeological evidence suggests that, rather than a violent invasion or a single migratory event, the genetic structure of the population changed through sustained contacts between mainland Britain and Europe over several centuries, such as the movement of traders, intermarriage, and small scale movements of family groups.
The study finds evidence that the new migrants became thoroughly mixed in to the Southern British population in the period 1000‒875 BC.

33 individuals

In this study the results are reported of the analysis of 33 individuals from the Netherlands. The sampling of the Dutch Individuals is part of a research project by Prof. em. Harry Fokkens of the Leiden Faculty of Archaeology, and drs. Eveline Altena of the Leiden University Medical Centre in cooperation with a number of Dutch researchers. Most of the samples were provided by the National Museum of Antiquities (dr. Luc Amkreutz) and the Provincial depot of Noord-Holland (mr. Jean Roefstra). 

Extensive networks

One of the interesting results came from a Middle Bronze Age grave recently excavated at Westwoud-Binnenwijzend by a combined developer-led project of ARCHOLbv (Leiden, drs. Adrie Tol) and ADC (Amersfoort, dr. Wouter Roessingh). This female individual had a genetic signature that suggested possible provenance in Western France. Additional isotope research by dr. Lisette Kootker (VU University Amsterdam) also reported in the study, confirmed this hypothesis. 

“This indicates that migrants or social partners from France also reached Bronze Age West-Frisa. It is an clear indication of the extensive social and economic networks that existed in the Bronze Age” professor Fokkens stated. 

The Dutch contribution to this study was initiated by the Leiden University Bakels Fund (Harry Fokkens, Eveline Altena and Barbara Veselka). The isotope study was co-funded by the Province of Noord-Holland and by the Farmers of the Coast project led by prof. Harry Fokkens and prof. Corrie Bakels of the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University (NWO project 360-60-100).

New Study Reveals Close Genetic Links Across Advanced Aegean Civilizations

Unveiling Shared Ancestral Roots: Genetic Insights into the Aegean Civilizations

In the realm of archaeology and genetics, the intricate tapestry of the past continues to unravel, revealing fascinating insights into the origins and interconnectedness of ancient civilizations. A recent groundbreaking study conducted by a collaborative team of researchers from Greece and Switzerland has shed new light on the genetic ties that bind the advanced Aegean civilizations of the Early Bronze Age. This study challenges long-standing assumptions and reshapes our understanding of the Minoan, Cycladic, and Helladic civilizations, raising intriguing questions about their shared heritage.

The findings of this study were introduced in an article entitled “ The Genomic History of the Aegean Palatial Civilizations ,” which was published on April 29 in the peer-reviewed journal Cell.

The focal point of this study was a genetic analysis of DNA samples extracted from the skeletal remains of 17 individuals unearthed at various archaeological sites across the Aegean region. These individuals, who lived approximately 5,000 years ago during the Early Bronze Age, belonged to the Minoan civilization of Crete, the Cycladic civilization on the Cyclades islands, and the Helladic civilization on the Greek mainland.

Previous beliefs suggested that these civilizations, despite their geographical proximity, were distinct and created by genetically diverse populations. However, the genetic analysis conducted in this study has challenged this assumption by revealing striking genetic similarities among the ancient Aegean populations. This revelation suggests that these civilizations may not have been as isolated from one another as once thought, instead tracing their origins back to common ancestors.

Common Ancestry and Shared Culture

The Minoan, Cycladic, and Helladic civilizations are renowned for their grand urban centers, intricate monuments, adept metalwork, and expansive trade networks. While the past belief held that these shared traits were a result of mass migrations from Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) introducing concepts and innovations to each civilization, the genetic analysis offers an alternative perspective.

The study contends that these civilizations shared a common culture that dates back to antiquity rather than being solely the result of outside migrations. As time passed, they diversified, which explains the variations in their art and architectural practices. However, the essential characteristics they held in common, such as their urban development and metalworking skills, emerged from their shared cultural heritage.

View to the so called “ Triangle Square” with the Westhouse (left) and the Delta West Complex (right). (© 7reasons, Michael Klein)

Migration's Role in Cultural Development

It is essential to acknowledge that migration still plays a role in shaping the cultural landscape of the Aegean region. However, this study underscores that migration was not the sole driving force behind these civilizations' development. The Early Bronze Age societies inherited many of their social, economic, and political attributes from their common ancestors, creating a continuous cultural unity that persisted throughout their evolution.

Genetic Divergence in the Middle Bronze Age

While most of the genetic samples analyzed originated from the Early Bronze Age, two samples were retrieved from Middle Bronze Age sites, providing a fascinating glimpse into later developments. By this period, around 4,600 to 4,000 years ago, contact had significantly increased between the northern Aegean and herders migrating from the Pontic-Caspian steppe.

The Middle Bronze Age samples displayed a genetic makeup that combined Helladic and Pontic-Caspian elements, distinguishing them from their Early Bronze Age predecessors. The Pontic-Caspian steppe, known for its nomadic peoples, had a profound impact on the cultures it encountered, potentially influencing the origins of modern Greek and Indo-European languages.

A Glimpse into the Past

This pioneering study has opened new avenues for prehistorical research by reconstructing ancestral relationships between ancient populations and identifying the timing of migration events in the Aegean region's cultural transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age Aegean civilizations laid the foundations for subsequent urban centers and monumental palaces, leaving a lasting legacy that resonates through the annals of history.

Myceneans in mainland Greece.

In the ever-evolving narrative of our past, genetic studies like this one continue to reveal the shared origins and interconnectedness of ancient civilizations. The Minoan, Cycladic, and Helladic civilizations, once considered distinct, are now understood to have shared a common heritage that shaped their remarkable achievements. As we delve deeper into the genetic tapestry of our history, we simultaneously gain a better understanding of our own roots and the echoes of these ancient civilizations in our modern world.

But the latest genetic analysis suggests an alternative explanation. If the Aegean civilizations were more closely related than previously thought, it means they would have shared a common culture reaching far back into antiquity. They became more diverse as time passed, which would explain the differences between their preferred forms of art and architecture. But their divergence wouldn’t have been complete, meaning the characteristics they had in common (like their city building and metalworking practices) would have emerged from their shared cultural heritage.

It is important to emphasize that migration would have still been a factor that helped shape cultural development in the region. However, it would not have been the sole factor at work. The peoples of the Early Bronze Age Minoan , Cycladic, and Helladic civilizations would have inherited many of their social, economic, and political attributes from their common ancestors, creating a continuous cultural unity.