Archaeogenetics of the Near East

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The field involves the study of aDNA or ancient DNA, identifying haplogroups and haplotypes of ancient skeletal remains from both YDNA and mtDNA for populations of the Ancient Near East (the modern Middle East, i.e. Egypt, Arabia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Anatolia and Persia).

To date, isolation of mtDNA has been most successful.

Developments in DNA sequencing in the 1970s and 1980s provided researchers with the tools needed to study human genetic variation and the genetics of human populations to discover founder populations of modern people groups and human migrations. In 2005, National Geographic launched the The Genographic Project, led by 12 prominent scientists and researchers, to study and map historical human migration patterns by collecting and analyzing DNA samples from hundreds of thousands of people from around the world.

Contents

[edit] Levant

Further information: Phoenicia, Phoenicianism, Canaanites, and Samaritans

Zalloua and Wells (2004), under the auspices of a grant from National Geographic Magazine examined the origins of the Phoenicians. The debate between Wells and Zalloua was whether haplogroup J2 (M172) should be identified as that of the Phoenicians or that of its "parent" haplogroup M89 on the YDNA phylogenetic tree.[1] Initial consensus suggested that J2 be identified with the Canaanite-Phoenician (Northwest Semitic) population, with avenues open for future research.[2] As Wells commented, "The Phoenicians were the Canaanites—and the ancestors of today's Lebanese."[3] It was reported in the PBS description of the National Geographic TV Special on this study entitled "Quest for the Phoenicians" that ancient DNA was included in this study as extracted from the tooth of a 2500 year-old Phoenician mummy.[4]

Wells identified the haplogroup of the Canaanites as haplogroup J2.[5] The National Geographic Genographic Project linked haplogroup J2 to the site of Jericho, Tel el-Sultan, ca. 8500 BCE and indicated that in modern populations, haplogroup J2 is found in North Africa, Southern Europe, and the Middle East, with especially high distribution among present-day Spanish (10%), Italians (20%), and Jewish populations (30%).[6]


In 2004, a team of geneticists from Stanford University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tartu University (Estonia), Barzilai Medical Center (Ashkelon, Israel), and the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center (Zerifin, Israel), studied the modern Samaritan community living in Israel and the Palestinian Terrotories in comparison with modern Israeli populations to explore the ancient genetic history of these people groups. The Samaritans or Shomronim (singular: Shomroni; Hebrew: שומרוני) trace their origins to the Assyrian province of Shomron (Samaria) in ancient Israel in the period after the Assyrian conquest circa 722 BCE. Shomron was the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel when it was conquered by the Assyrians and gave the name to the ancient province of Samaria and the Samaritan people group. Tradition holds that the Samaritans were a mixed people group of Israelites who were not exiled or were sent back or returned from exile and non-Israelites relocated to the region by the Assyrians. The modern-day Samaritans are believed to be the direct descendants of the ancient Samaritans.

Their findings reported on four family lineages among the Samaritans: the Tsdaka family (tradition: tribe of Menasseh), the Joshua-Marhiv and Danfi families (tradition: tribe of Ephraim), and the Cohen family (tradition: tribe of Levi). All Samaritan families were found in haplogroups J1 and J2, except the Cohen family which was found in haplogroup E3b1a-M78.[7] This article predated the E3b1a subclades based on the research of Cruciani, et al.[8] The Samaritan Cohen family were Levites until the previous Cohen family died out around 1700, so the fact that they don't share CMH is expected. These findings may offer more proof that E1b1 was one of the founding lineages of the Levites.

[edit] Crete

In 2007, a team of researchers from Stanford University (USA), Istanbul University (Turkey), McMaster University (Canada), Aristotle University (Greece), Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia), and University of Crete (Greece) researched the genetics of the Neolithic founder population of Crete, the ancient Minoan inhabitants of Crete, and their Mycenaean neighbors from mainland Greece.[9]

Their research was published in the March 2008 issue of the Annals of Human Genetics. While based on modern populations in Crete (193 samples) and Greece (171 samples), and previously published data on Anatolian (Turkish) populations, the researchers projected backwards in time to make conclusions about the ancient origins of these people groups. The most frequent haplogroups among the current population on Crete were: R1b3-M269 (17%), G2-P15 (11%), J2a1-DYS413 (9.0%), and J2a1h-M319 (9.0%). They identified J2a parent haplogroup J2a-M410 (Crete: 25.9%) with the first ancient residents of Crete during the Neolithic (8500 BCE – 4300 BCE) suggesting Crete was founded by a Neolithic population expansion from ancient Turkey/Anatolia.[10] Specifically, the researchers connected the source population of ancient Crete to well known Neolithic sites of ancient Anatolia: Asıklı Höyük, Çatalhöyük, Hacılar, Mersin/Yumuktepe, and Tarsus.[11] Haplogroup J2b-M12 (Crete: 3.1%; Greece: 5.9%) was associated with Neolithic Greece. Haplogroups J2a1h-M319 (8.8%) and J2a1b1-M92 (2.6%) were associated with the Minoan culture linked to a late Neolithic/ Early Bronze Age migration to Crete ca. 3100 BCE from North-Western/Western Anatolia and Syro-Palestine (ancient Canaan, Levant, and pre-Akkadian Anatolia); Aegean prehistorians link the date 3100 BCE to the origins of the Minoan culture on Crete. Haplogroup E3b1a2-V13 (Crete: 6.7%; Greece: 28%) was suggested to reflect a migration to Crete from the mainland Greece Mycenaean population during the late Bronze Age (1600 BCE - 1100 BCE).[12] Haplogroup J1 was also reported to be found in both Crete and Greece (Crete: 8.3%; Greece: 5.2%), as well as haplogroups E3b3, I1, I2, I2a, I21b, K2, L, and R1a1. No ancient DNA was included in this study of YDNA from the Mediterranean region.[13]


The ancient populations and haplogroups of Crete are very significant in relation to the ancient people group known from the biblical literature as the Philistines who are thought to have originated from one of the ancient populations of Crete and were believed by ancient ethnographers to be closely related to people groups from North-Western Anatolia (Ludites, Hebrew: לודים), and people groups from other regions, and more distantly, but related to ancient Egyptians.[14] As to the origins of the Philistines archaeologists have proposed two theories of their route of migration as one people group among many associated with the Sea Peoples. The first is that of an Anatolian (ancient Turkey) origin into the Mediterranean region and Levant. The second is an origin from the region of the Mycenaean culture via the Mediterranean to Crete, Cyprus, and various locations in the Levant and North Africa.[15] The Philistines were not thought to have originated from mainland Greece according to the ancient ethnographers.[16]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ C:\Documents and Settings\agellon\My Documents\GATC Files\YCC Web\2002_genres\Fig 1.htm
  2. ^ National Geographic Magazine, October 2004. Available online: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/features/world/asia/lebanon/phoenicians-text/1; and http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=57215 [accessed: March 10, 2008]
  3. ^ Who Were the Phoenicians? - National Geographic Magazine
  4. ^ http://www.pbs.org/previews/phoenicians/ [Accessed April 6, 2008]
  5. ^ http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/features/world/asia/lebanon/phoenicians-text/5; and http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=57215 [Accessed April 11, 2008]
  6. ^ The Atlas of the Human Journey-Genetic Markers-Haplogroup J2 (M172): https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/atlas.html [Accessed April 11, 2008]
  7. ^ Shen, P; Lavi T, Kivisild T, Chou V, Sengun D, Gefel D, Shpirer I, Woolf E, Hillel J, Feldman MW, Oefner PJ (2004). "Reconstruction of Patrilineages and Matrilineages of Samaritans and Other Israeli Populations From Y-Chromosome and Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Variation". Human Mutation 24: 248-260. PMID 15300852. 
  8. ^ Cruciani, F.; La Fratta, R., Torroni, A., Underhill, P. A., Scozzari, R. (2006). "Molecular Dissection of the Y Chromosome Haplogroup E-M78 (E3b1a): A Posteriori Evaluation of a Microsatellite-Network-Based Approach Through Six New Biallelic Markers". Human Mutation 916 April 2006. 
  9. ^ This section is based on the PDF version of this article: King, R. J.; Ozcan, S. S., Carter, T., Kalfoglu, E., Atasoy, S., Triantaphyllidis, C., Kouvatsi, A., Lin, A. A., Chow, C-E. T., Zhivotovsky, L. A., Michalodimitrakis, M., Underhill, P. A., (2008). "Differential Y-chromosome Anatolian Influences on the Greek and Cretan Neolithic". Annals of Human Genetics 72 Issue 2 March 2008: 205-214. 
  10. ^ Note: Typo in original article, corrected in online abstract: J2a-M140 should be read as J2a-M410
  11. ^ See p. 211: King, R. J.; Ozcan, S. S., Carter, T., Kalfoglu, E., Atasoy, S., Triantaphyllidis, C., Kouvatsi, A., Lin, A. A., Chow, C-E. T., Zhivotovsky, L. A., Michalodimitrakis, M., Underhill, P. A., (2008). "Differential Y-chromosome Anatolian Influences on the Greek and Cretan Neolithic". Annals of Human Genetics 72 Issue 2 March 2008: 205-214. 
  12. ^ In this article, it was not made clear as to the relationship of the Mycenaeans and the ethnically, and by implication, genetically distinct (from the Greeks) ancient Illyrian people group who are believed to have been the founder population of some Balkan states, i.e. Albania, etc. Archaeologically Illyrians became a people "during the 7th century BC, when bronze was replaced by iron, the Illyrians became an ethnic group with a distinct culture and art form" (quoted from Illyrians). While this article linked E3b1a2-V13 to the Greeks E3b1a2-V13 has been identified as of Balkan origin, and it is in Albania that the highest levels of both Haplogroup E and J are found among the Balkan states. See Y-DNA haplogroups by ethnic groups.
  13. ^ King, R. J.; Ozcan, S. S., Carter, T., Kalfoglu, E., Atasoy, S., Triantaphyllidis, C., Kouvatsi, A., Lin, A. A., Chow, C-E. T., Zhivotovsky, L. A., Michalodimitrakis, M., Underhill, P. A., (2008). "Differential Y-chromosome Anatolian Influences on the Greek and Cretan Neolithic". Annals of Human Genetics 72 Issue 2 March 2008: 205-214. 
  14. ^ Anson F. Rainey, The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World, Carta: Jerusalem, 2006, 27; and Yohanan Aharoni, Michael Avi-Yonah, Anson F. Rainey, Ze’ev Safrai, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, Macmillan Publishing: New York, 1993, p. 21; the text of Genesis 10 in the Hebrew Bible is one of the ancient ethnographic sources used to determine the people groups of the biblical world. The Philistines are listed as descended from the Casluhites (based on the Hebrew text, כסלחים Casluchim and following the JPS English translation) who were one of the "sons" of Mitzraim (Egypt) along with several other people groups including the Ludites whom archaeologists have placed in ancient North-Western Anatolia.
  15. ^ For an introductory mapping see: Yohanan Aharoni, Michael Avi-Yonah, Anson F. Rainey, Ze’ev Safrai, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, Macmillan Publishing: New York, 1993, p. 21, 80. While there has been some debate as to the precise dating of this migration, some archaeologists have identified a link between the Mycenaean culture and the Philistines in ancient Canaan during the 12th Century BCE (Iron Age IA) largely on the basis of Helladic material culture (ca. 2800 BCE – 1060 BCE), specifically MYC.IIIC:1b pottery found on Cyprus and in sites in ancient Canaan, especially the Philistine settlements of Ashdod and Ekron (Tel Miqne). The main criticism is that it is predominantly found at these two Philistine sites in ancient Philistia. See Amihai Mazar, "The Emergence of Philistine Material Culture," IEJ 1985 35:95-107; and Israel Finkelstein, "The Philistine Settlement: When, Where and How Many," Pp. 159-180 in E, Oren, (ed). The Sea People and Their World: A Reassessment. University of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, 2000. A later form of pottery known as Philistine Bichrome ware, which combined features of Mycenaean, Egyptian, and Canaanite pottery, is widely distributed throughout sites in ancient Canaan. See Israel Finkelstein, “A Low Chronology Update: Archaeology, history and bible,” Pp. 31-42 in: T. Levy and T. Higham (eds.), The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating – Archaeology, Text and Science. Equinox: London, 2005. Available online: http://megiddo.tau.ac.il/info/The_Bible_and_Radiocarbon_Dating_2005_Update.pdf [Accessed: April 5, 2008]; and Amihai Mazar’s discussion of the same: "The Debate over the Chronology of the Iron Age in the Southern Levant: Its history, the current situation and a suggested resolution". Pp. 15-30 in: T. Levy and T. Higham (eds.), The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating – Archaeology, Text and Science. Equinox: London, 2005. Available online: http://www.rehov.org/Iron%20Age%20Chronology%20Debate.pdf [Accessed: April 5, 2008].
  16. ^ For origin of the Philistines from Crete see: Anson F. Rainey, The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World, Carta: Jerusalem, 2006, 27; and Yohanan Aharoni, Michael Avi-Yonah, Anson F. Rainey, Ze’ev Safrai, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, Macmillan Publishing: New York, 1993, p. 21

[edit] Bibliography

  • Cruciani, F.; La Fratta, R., Torroni, A., Underhill, P. A., Scozzari, R. (2006). "Molecular Dissection of the Y Chromosome Haplogroup E-M78 (E3b1a): A Posteriori Evaluation of a Microsatellite-Network-Based Approach Through Six New Biallelic Markers." Human Mutation 916 April 2006.
  • King, R. J.; Ozcan, S. S., Carter, T., Kalfoglu, E., Atasoy, S., Triantaphyllidis, C., Kouvatsi, A., Lin, A. A., Chow, C-E. T., Zhivotovsky, L. A., Michalodimitrakis, M., Underhill, P. A., (2008). "Differential Y-chromosome Anatolian Influences on the Greek and Cretan Neolithic." Annals of Human Genetics 72 Issue 2 March 2008: 205-214.
  • Shen, P; Lavi T, Kivisild T, Chou V, Sengun D, Gefel D, Shpirer I, Woolf E, Hillel J, Feldman MW, Oefner PJ (2004). "Reconstruction of Patrilineages and Matrilineages of Samaritans and Other Israeli Populations From Y-Chromosome and Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Variation." Human Mutation 24: 248-260
  • Zalloua, P., Wells, S. (2004) “Who Were the Phoenicians?” National Geographic Magazine, October 2004.