Brit-Am Anthropology and DNA Update (5 September 2016, 2 Elul, 5776)
Contents:
1. DNA: Irish Both Near Eastern and East Steppe Origins
2. Characterizing the admixed African ancestry of African Americans
3. Environment YDNA in the Caucasus
Human paternal lineages, languages, and environment in the Caucasus.
Tarkhnishvili
4. Goths of Poland were not from Scandinavia!!!
Ancient DNA Reveals Matrilineal Continuity in Present-Day Poland over the Last Two Millennia
5. Question on Rh Negative Blood and Israelites
6. The paternity myth: the rarity of cuckoldry By Razib Khan
7. Red-Hair in Ancient Judah
(a) Red Hair Strand Found. The Only Ancient Jewish Male Hair Ever Found by James Tabor
(b) Red Hair Depicted. Female face from Galilee synagogue ca. 500 CE
8. The Pygmy Tribe that Disappeared! Pygmy Tribe Discovered In New Guinea (1942)
(From Our War Correspondent, George Johnston) -
9. New Revelations. Most Ancient Israelites had Dark Hair!!!
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1. DNA: Irish Both Near Eastern and East Steppe Origins
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Neolithic and Bronze Age migration to Ireland and establishment of the insular Atlantic genome
Lara M. Cassidya,1, Rui Martinianoa,1, Eileen M. Murphyb, Matthew D. Teasdalea, James Malloryb, Barrie Hartwellb, and Daniel G. Bradleya,2
Significance
Modern Europe has been shaped by two episodes in prehistory, the advent of agriculture and later metallurgy. These innovations brought not only massive cultural change but also, in certain parts of the continent, a change in genetic structure. The manner in which these transitions affected the islands of Ireland and Britain on the northwestern edge of the continent remains the subject of debate. The first ancient whole genomes from Ireland, including two at high coverage, demonstrate that large-scale genetic shifts accompanied both transitions. We also observe a strong signal of continuity between modern day Irish populations and the Bronze Age individuals, one of whom is a carrier for the C282Y hemochromatosis mutation, which has its highest frequencies in Ireland today.
Abstract
The Neolithic and Bronze Age transitions were profound cultural shifts catalyzed in parts of Europe by migrations, first of early farmers from the Near East and then Bronze Age herders from the Pontic Steppe. However, a decades-long, unresolved controversy is whether population change or cultural adoption occurred at the Atlantic edge, within the British Isles. We address this issue by using the first whole genome data from prehistoric Irish individuals. A Neolithic woman (3343-3020 cal BC) from a megalithic burial (10.3- coverage) possessed a genome of predominantly Near Eastern origin. She had some hunter-gatherer ancestry but belonged to a population of large effective size, suggesting a substantial influx of early farmers to the island. Three Bronze Age individuals from Rathlin Island (2026-1534 cal BC), including one high coverage (10.5) genome, showed substantial Steppe genetic heritage indicating that the European population upheavals of the third millennium manifested all of the way from southern Siberia to the western ocean. This turnover invites the possibility of accompanying introduction of Indo-European, perhaps early Celtic, language. Irish Bronze Age haplotypic similarity is strongest within modern Irish, Scottish, and Welsh populations, and several important genetic variants that today show maximal or very high frequencies in Ireland appear at this horizon. These include those coding for lactase persistence, blue eye color, Y chromosome R1b haplotypes, and the hemochromatosis C282Y allele; to our knowledge, the first detection of a known Mendelian disease variant in prehistory. These findings together suggest the establishment of central attributes of the Irish genome 4,000 y ago.
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2. Characterizing the admixed African ancestry of African Americans
Genome Biology200910:R141
Zakharia et al.; licensee Biomed Central Ltd. 2009
https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/gb-2009-10-12-r141
Extracts:
....The largest African ancestral contribution comes from the Yoruba, with an average of 47.1%- 8.7% (range, 18% to 64%), followed by the Bantu at 14.8% - 5.0% (range, 3% to 28%) and Mandenka at 13.8%- 4.5% (range, 3% to 29%). The contributions from the other three African groups were quite modest, with an average of 1.7% from the Biaka, 0.5% from the Mbuti, and 0.3% from the San. ...
We estimate that, on average, nearly 80% of the ancestry in our samples of African Americans is of African origin.
Another study of mtDNA haplotypes in African Americans and different African populations found that more than 50% of the African-American mtDNAs exactly matched common haplotypes shared among multiple African ethnic groups, whereas 40% matched no sequences in the African database they referenced [26]. Fewer than 10% of African-American mtDNA haplotypes matched exactly to a single African ethnic group. The haplotypes that did match were more often found in ethnic groups of West African or Central West African than of East or South African origin.
.... These authors also estimated the proportionate ancestry within Africa based on African American mtDNA haplotypes as 60% from West Africa, 9% from Central West Africa, 30% from South West Africa, and minimal ancestry from North, East, Southeast, or South Africa.
... A highly detailed census based on historic records has been documented by several authors [10, 11, 12]. Africans were deported from numerous locations along the broad western coast of Africa, ranging from Senegal in the far west all the way down to Angola in the southwest. In addition, a smaller number of slaves were taken from the southeast of Africa. In terms of numbers, the largest group, approximately 50% to 60%, derived from Central and Southern West Africa and the Bight of Biafra; approximately 10% from Western Africa; 25% to 35% from the West Coast in between (Windward Coast, Gold Coast, and Bight of Benin), and the remaining 5% from Southeast Africa [7]. These estimates show considerable consistency with our results, which also indicated the largest ancestral component of African Americans to be from Central West Africa, followed by West Africa and Southwest Africa.
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3. Environment YDNA in the Caucasus
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Human paternal lineages, languages, and environment in the Caucasus.
Hum Biol. 2014 Spring;86(2):113-30.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25397702
Tarkhnishvili D1, Gavashelishvili A1, Murtskhvaladze M1, Gabelaia M1, Tevzadze G2.
Abstract
Publications that describe the composition of the human Y-DNA haplogroup in diffferent ethnic or linguistic groups and geographic regions provide no explicit explanation of the distribution of human paternal lineages in relation to specific ecological conditions. Our research attempts to address this topic for the Caucasus, a geographic region that encompasses a relatively small area but harbors high linguistic, ethnic, and Y-DNA haplogroup diversity. We genotyped 224 men that identified themselves as ethnic Georgian for 23 Y-chromosome short tandem-repeat markers and assigned them to their geographic places of origin. The genotyped data were supplemented with published data on haplogroup composition and location of other ethnic groups of the Caucasus. We used multivariate statistical methods to see if linguistics, climate, and landscape accounted for geographical diffferences in frequencies of the Y-DNA haplogroups G2, R1a, R1b, J1, and J2. The analysis showed significant associations of (1) G2 with wellforested mountains, (2) J2 with warm areas or poorly forested mountains, and (3) J1 with poorly forested mountains. R1b showed no association with environment. Haplogroups J1 and R1a were significantly associated with Daghestanian and Kipchak speakers, respectively, but the other haplogroups showed no such simple associations with languages. Climate and landscape in the context of competition over productive areas among diffferent paternal lineages, arriving in the Caucasus in diffferent times, have played an important role in shaping the present-day spatial distribution of patrilineages in the Caucasus. This spatial pattern had formed before linguistic subdivisions were finally shaped, probably in the Neolithic to Bronze Age. Later historical turmoil had little influence on the patrilineage composition and spatial distribution. Based on our results, the scenario of postglacial expansions of humans and their languages to the Caucasus from the Middle East, western Eurasia, and the East European Plain is plausible.
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4. Goths of Poland were not from Scandinavia!!!
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Ancient DNA Reveals Matrilineal Continuity in Present-Day Poland over the Last Two Millennia
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0110839
Anna Juras , Miroslawa Dabert, Alena Kushniarevich, Helena Malmstrom, Maanasa Raghavan,
Jakub Z. Kosicki, Ene Metspalu, Eske Willerslev, Janusz Piontek
Hi Tim
following your comments on DNA research, I searched the internet and found the recent study below. The authors say that it is the first large-scale DNA research on ancient DNA from modern Poland. The sample includes DNA from Wielbark (presumably Gotonic or early Gothic) and Przeworsk (presumably including Vandals) cemeteries.
Interestingly, the authors included ancient DNA from Denmark to test the hypothesis that people of the Wielbark and Przeworsk cultures were related to or descended from people from Scandinavia. However, the results did not confirm such connections. In other words, according to this study from 2014 there is no DNA evidence that suggests that the people of the Wielbark or the Przeworsk cultures had migrated to modern Poland from Scandinavia. Instead, the people had DNA connections to ancient central European populations dating back to the bronze age.
Cheers
Dirk
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5. Question on Rh Negative Blood and Israelites
Dear Yair,
The latest news letter mentioning DNA, reminded me of a question which occurred to me.
Are there any particular blood types associated with the lost tribes?
I am A Rh neg.
regards
Jane
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Brit-Am Reply:
I do not think blood types show Israelite Ancestry. They seem to be ultimately a product of the environment.
So too with DNA.
Yair
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6. The paternity myth: the rarity of cuckoldry By Razib Khan
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/06/the-paternity-myth-the-rarity-of-cuckoldry/#.V6gjo_l9672
Extracts:
An urban myth, often asserted with a wink & a nod in some circles, is that a very high proportion of children in Western countries are not raised by their biological father, and in fact are not aware that their putative biological father is not their real biological father. The numbers I see and hear vary, but 10% is a low bound. People are generally not convinced when I point out that this would mean that nearly 30% of paternal grandfathers are not paternal grandfathers. Most of my scientist acquaintances fancy up the myth by suggesting that they received this datum from research on family groups (where you have to take into account the error introduced by paternity misattribution) or organ matching for purposes of donation.
Evolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk has some informal survey data which she presents in an article in The Los Angeles Times:
... What are the real numbers? Zuck asserts that they're more in the 1-5% range, with 3.7% being a high-bound figure for one study. This varies by culture and socioeconomic group, and the segment of the population being surveyed. ....How Well Does Paternity Confidence Match Actual Paternity?:
This survey of published estimates of nonpaternity suggests that for men with high paternity confidence, nonpaternity rates are typically 1.7% (if we exclude studies of unknown methodology) to 3.3% (if we include such studies). These figures are substantially lower than the 'typical' nonpaternity rate of 10% or higher cited by many researchers, often without substantiation, or the median worldwide nonpaternity rate of 9% reported by Baker and Bellis.
Men who have low paternity confidence and have chosen to challenge their paternity through laboratory testing are much less likely than men with high paternity confidence to be the fathers of their putative children. Although these men presumably have lower paternity confidence than men who do not seek paternity tests, this group is heterogeneous; some men may be virtually certain that the putative child is not theirs, while others may simply have sufficient doubts to warrant testing. Most of these men are in fact the fathers of their putative genetic children; only 29.8% could be excluded as biological fathers of the children in question.
To me it's striking that the majority of the men who have low paternity confidence and suspicion enough to submit to a paternity laboratory are still the biological fathers of their offspring! In fact, the rates of non-paternity among this set is closer to the urban myth proportions found among the lay public. Of course it is this set of men who show up on the Jerry Springer show, not men confident in their paternity, so the public may be getting a false cultural picture of frequencies which they're projecting.
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Brit-Am Summary:
Most have only a 1.7 to 3.3 % chance of not being children of their assumed parents. Even where the father is fairly certain that the child is not his he is only correct 29.8% of the time. The Media and popular imaginations have greatly exaggerated the actual number of non-paternity cases.
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7. Red-Hair in Ancient Judah
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(a) Red Hair Strand Found
The Only Ancient Jewish Male Hair Ever Found
Biblical scholar James Tabor examines a rare specimen from the "Tomb of the Shroud"
James Tabor
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/the-only-ancient-jewish-hair-ever-found/
Extract:
One of the more fascinating finds in this tomb [dated from 1-100 CE], one that has not received much attention, was the preservation of a sample of Jewish male hair. The hair was lice-free, and was trimmed or cut evenly, probably indicating that the family buried in this tomb practiced good hygiene and grooming. The length of the hair was medium to short, averaging 3-4 inches. The color was reddish.
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(b) Red Hair Depicted
Female face from Galilee synagogue ca. 500 CE, shows brown eyes, tanned face, reddish brown hair.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-byu-professor-grad-rare-mosaic.html
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8. The Pygmy Tribe that Disappeared!
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Pygmy Tribe Discovered In New Guinea (1942)
(From Our War Correspondent, George Johnston) -
SOMEWHERE IN NEW GUINEA, Friday.
A strange sidelight of the war in New Guinea is the discovery by Austialian,soldiers patrolling in the area of a new tribe of strange mountain pygmies. The tallest man In the village is just 3ft. 2in. in height and the majority are only 3ft. They are
Moikodis, who tend native hill gardens and " clothe themselves with tree bark. There have been reports in the past of a small race of pygmies living in jungles hereabouts, but the Australian troops are actually the first to confirm reports.
The tribe is numerically small and is believed.to be rapidly dying out because of in-breeding. The smallest " people previously known in New Guinea were 4ft dwarfs of the Ramu Valley who were discovered shortly before the war by a miner
who is now on active service.
These people and midgets of the Molkodi tribe are in direct contrast to the tall fierce people of the Orokala tribe who inhabit the remote western mountains whose average height is 6ft.
Source:
The Canberra Times, October 17, 1942
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2605741
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9. New Revelations. Most Ancient Israelites had Dark Hair!!!
In the past Brit-Am published articles on the physical appearance of ancient Israelites.
THE PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE HEBREW PEOPLES
by Yair Davidiy
http://www.britam.org/anthropology.html
Hebrew Pictures
http://www.britam.org/HebrewTypes.html
Since writings these articles nearly every single article written by others on the subject available on the web has used our material. They have not always acknowledged us as the source.
Potentialy there is MUCH MORE that could be written.
What we wrote in the articles above is correct. There were redheads and blondes among the Ancient Hebrews.
Nevertheless this needs to be modified with the emphasis that
Most Ancient Israelites had Dark Hair!!!
We have some new findings that will be published within a few days.