Haplogroup R1b

European Languages originated in Armenian Highlands

A brand new study published in the latest edition of Science journal reveals the origins of the Indo-European language family located in ancient Armenian Highlands. The so called Anatolian urheimat theory first proposed in the late 1980s by Prof Colin Renfrew (now Lord Renfrew) received gradual acceptance, but remained controversial until a new method of studying language displacement was introduced by Dr. Quentin Atkinson of the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Using new scientific methods derived from evolutionary biology Dr. Atkinson and his team announce to have solved the mystery of the origins of Indo-European family of languages. Dr Atkinson and his team built a database containing 207 cognate words present in 103 Indo‐European languages, which included 20 ancient tongues such as Latin and Greek. Using phylogenetic analysis, they were able to reconstruct the evolutionary relatedness of these modern and ancient languages – the more words that are cognate, the more similar the languages are and the closer they group on the tree. The Indo-European family is one of the largest families – more than 400 languages spoken in at least 60 countries. The result, they announced in Thursday’s issue of the journal Science, is that “we found decisive support for an Anatolian origin over a steppe origin.” Both the timing and the root of the tree of Indo-European languages “fit with an agricultural expansion from Anatolia beginning 8,000 to 9,500 years ago,” they report.

As a language native to the Armenian Highlands, the Armenian also belongs to the Indo-European family (as is seen in the chart bellow). We can also observe from the tree, the Armenian language appears to be one of the oldest surviving languages still in use today.

These finds have received coverage in major News outlets around the world.

The Armenian Plateau Hypothesis Gains In Plausibility

The idea that most European languages are related and possibly originate from a common ancestral tongue known as the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) has been well accepted by scholars of various disciplines. The so called Indo-European language family includes most European but also some languages of the Fertile Crescent, the Caucasus, West and South Asia. With over 400 languages (including dialects) it is by far the world’s largest language family and is spoken by almost 3 billion native speakers world wide. Armenian language is considered by some to be one of the oldest surviving members of this family, with some estimates going as far as 5000 BC.

The hypothesized homeland of the Proto-Indo-European speakers however has been subject to much debate. There are largely four competing hypotheses which place the origin of the Indo-European language family either in the Pontic Steppe, Anatolia, Balkans or the Armenian Plateau. The conventional view places the homeland in the Pontic steppes about 6000 years ago. An alternative hypothesis claims that the languages spread from Anatolia with the expansion of farming 8000 to 9500 years ago. Yet another hypothesis places the PIE homeland in the Balkans from where Indo-European farmers supposedly spread the language throughout Europe. And the final hypothesis names the Armenian Plateau as the most likely candidate for the Proto-Indo-European homeland.

A long awaited study into ancient DNA recently posted on the bioRxiv preprint site has shed more light on the issue with quite interesting and maybe more so enigmatic results for the role of early Armenians in the spread of the Indo-European language and genes. The work was done by a large team led by geneticists David Reich and Iosif Lazaridis of Harvard Medical School in Boston and Wolfgang Haak of the University of Adelaide in Australia. The study used state-of-the-art DNA techniques to analyse ancient DNA from 69 Europeans who lived between 8000 and 3000 years ago to genetically track ancient population movements.

J2- Lesser Armenia Cilicia and the Armenian interfluve – A number of modern geneticists believe that J2 originated in the Armenian Highlands. – The homeland of those who have the J2 gene is Lesser Armenia, Cilicia, and the Armenian interfluve. J2 comes from the original R1b oplogrupa. The homeland of which is Greater Armenia!

R1b – Greater Armenia – A number of modern geneticists believe that R1b originated in the Armenian Highlands.

Haplogroup R

Haplogroup R (M207) is believed to have arisen around 20,000-34,000 years ago (Karafet 2008), somewhere in Armenian highland, where its ancestor Haplogroup P-M45 is most often found at polymorphic frequencies (Wells 2001). It has been proven by ancient DNA to be at least 23,000 years.

Haplogroup R is found throughout all continents, but is fairly common throughout Europe, South Asia and Central Asia. Small frequencies are found in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Indigenous Australians (Kayser 2003). It also occurs in Caucasus, Near East, West China, Siberia and some parts of Africa.

The two currently defined subclades are R1 (M173) and R2 (M479). Haplogroup R1 have a possible time of origin for 26,000 years ago while haplogroup R2 is estimated to be 12,000 years old.

The origins of R1 remain unclear. Haplogroup R is part of the family of haplogroup P (M45), and a sibling clade, therefore, of haplogroup Q (M242), which is common in the Americas and Eurasia. In Eurasia, Q’s geography includes eastern areas such as Siberia.

Based on these ancestral lineages, an inferred origin for R1 to the east of the West Asia. For example, Kivisild 2003 believes the evidence “suggests that southern and western Asia might be the source of this haplogroup” and “Given the geographic spread and STR diversities of sister clades R1 and R2, the latter of which is restricted to India, Pakistan, Iran, and southern central Asia, it is possible that southern and western Asia were the source for R1 and R1a differentiation.”

Soares 2010 felt in their review of the literature, that the case for South Asian origins is strongest, with the Central Asian origin argued by (Wells 2001) being also worthy of consideration.

Haplogroup R2 is defined by the presence of the marker M479. The paragroup for the R2 lineage is found in Pakistan, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and among and Ossetins in North Caucasus.

Haplogroup R1a (M420) probably branched off from R1* around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum 19,000 to 26,000 years ago. Little is know for certain about its place of origin. Some think it might have originated in the Balkans or around Pakistan and Northwest India, due to the greater genetic diversity found in these regions.

R1a is present at high frequency of 40 % plus from the Czech Republic across to the Indukush Mountains in India and south throughout Central Asia. Absolute dating methods suggest that this marker is 10–15,000 years old, and the microsatellite diversity is greatest in southern Asia.

The diversity can be explained by other factors though. The Balkans have been subject to 5000 years of migrations from the Eurasian Steppes, each bringing new varieties of R1a. South Asia has had a much bigger population than any other parts of the world (occasionally equalled by China) for at least 10,000 years, and larger population bring about more genetic diversity. The most likely place of origin of R1a is Central Asia or southern Russia/Siberia.

Haplogroup R1a1 (SRY1532.2) is defined by SRY1532.2, also referred to as SRY10831.2. SNP mutations understood to be always occurring with SRY1532.2 include SRY10831.2, M448, L122, M459, and M516.

This family of lineages is dominated by the R-M17 branch, which is positive for M17 and M198. The paragroup R-SRY1532.2* is positive for the SRY1532.2 marker but lacks either the M17 or M198 markers.

The R-SRY1532.2* paragroup is apparently less rare than R1* but still relatively unusual, though it has been tested in more than one survey.

Underhill 2009 for example report 1/51 in Norway, 3/305 in Sweden, 1/57 Greek Macedonians, 1/150 Iranians, 2/734 Ethnic Armenians, and 1/141 Kabardians.(Underhill 2009) While Sahoo 2006 reported R-SRY1532.2* for 1/15 Himachal Pradesh Rajput samples (Sahoo 2006).

Haplogroup R1a1a (M17)/(M198) makes up the vast majority of all R1a over its entire geographic range. It is defined by SNP mutations M17 or M198, which have always appeared together in the same men so far.

Two important subclades of haplogroup R1a1a appear to broadly divide the European and Asian parts of this large clade: R-Z283 (R1a1a1b1) appears to encompass most of the R1a1a found in Europe (Pamjav 2012), while R-Z93 (R1a1a1b2) appears to encompass most of the R1a1a found in Asia.

The modern distribution of R-M17 is distinctive. There are two widely separated areas of high frequency, one in South Asia, around India, and the other in Eastern Europe, around Poland and Ukraine. The demographic reasons for this are the subject of on-going discussion and attention among population geneticists and genetic genealogists, however, such patterns could be the combined result of (i) migrations and admixture, (ii) natural selection, and (iii) random genetic drift.

Despite deserved criticism by most archaeologists and anthropologists, even prominent historians and archaeologists have recently attempted to “marry” the evidence from the social sciences with that of genetic anthropology. Whilst the notion that genes, language and culture are co-eval is highly questionable, the link between R1a and “Indo-Europeans” remains a topic of considerable scholarly interest.

Until 2012, there was extensive scholarly debate as to the origins of haplgroup R-M17. This was a result of (i) a lack of further phylogenetic resolution of R-M17 into ‘daughter’ sub-clades and (ii) the evidently erroneous belief that measure of “STR diversity” can unambigiuosly qualify as to which population harbours the ‘oldest’ R-M17 haplogroups.

A large corpus of scholars had found that Indian, or more generally, South Asian populations, had the highest STR diversity. On the basis of these studies, and using the Evolutionary Effective Mutation Rate, several of the above authors concluded that R-M17 has been present in South Asian populations since the Neolithic, having originated there.

They further used this evidence to refute the hypothesis that R-M17 arrived with Indo-European invaders from the north. However, the use of this mutation rate has received criticism, as it should not be used with haplogroup populations which clearly show evidence of population expansion, such as R-M17.

Thus, using this mutation rate could artificially ‘blow out’ the actual age of R-M17 by as much as three-fold. Indeed, authors using the contrary, “germline mutation rate” (which is the rate empirically observed in father-son studies) arrive at more recent age estimates. In fact, Busby et al recently argued that the use of STR diversity in calculating ‘ages’ of haplogroups is highly problematical.

Other studies variously proposed Eastern European, Central Asian and even Western Asian origins for R – M17.

The decade-long debate as to which Eurasian region possessed the most diverse, hence oldest, STR values within R-M17 has been effectively put to an end with the discovery of R-M17 sub-clades. SNPs offer a clearer and more robust resolution than STRs. These findings have actually been known for a few years by genealogical companies and enthusiast genealogists, however, two academic, peer-reviewed papers were finally produced by Pamjav et al (2012, 2013). They discovered that all their tested Indian R-M17 samples belong to the Z-93 sub-clade, which is a derivative, “daughter” branch of R-M17.

In contrast, Eastern European populations belong to different daughter branches of R-M17, namely Z- 280 and M-458. The former is widely distributed over south-eastern, central-eastern and eastern Europe, and as far as Central Asia.(Pamjav 2012) Indeed, Central Asia “is an overlap zone for the R1a1-Z280 and R1a1-Z93”, being found in Mongol and Uzbek populations . On the other hand, M-458 is more geographically restricted to central-eastern Europe.

Furthermore, this study found that the undifferentiated, ‘parental’ M-198 existed in the European populations, but was not found in the Indian groups sampled (consisting of 256 Malaysian Indians, 301 Roma, 203 Dravidians from India).

Nevertheless, the authors concluded that “This pattern implies that an early differentiation zone of R1a1-M198 conceivably occurred somewhere within the Eurasian Steppes or the Middle East and Caucasus region as they lie between South Asia and Eastern Europe”, from where “South Asian’ Z-93 and “European” Z-283 sub-clades differentiated and spread in opposite directions.

Archaeologists recognize a complex of inter-related and relatively mobile cultures living on the Eurasian steppe, part of which protrudes into Europe as far west as Ukraine. These cultures from the late Neolithic and into the Iron Age, with specific traits such as Kurgan burials and horse domestication, have been associated with the dispersal of Indo-European languages across Eurasia.

Nearly all samples from Bronze and Iron Age graves in the Krasnoyarsk area in south Siberia belonged to R-M17 and appeared to represent an eastward migration from Europe.

In central Europe, Corded Ware period human remains at Eulau from which Y-DNA was extracted appear to be R-M17(xM458) (which they found most similar to the modern German R-M17* haplotype.

History of Research

1) Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology Department of Evolutionary Biology Urmas Rustalu Mn. RVA-Liz Lugvali Prof. Dr. Richard Willems Tartu 2004 “In our study, the ancestors of Armenians were traced back to different parts of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, indicating that historical Armenia was a much larger territory than the current Republic of Armenia.”

2) Banoei, Chaleshtori, Sanyati, Khaushman, Majidzadeh, Soltani and Goliapour (2007) Variation in DAT1 VNTR Alleles and Genotypes Among Old Ethnic Groups in Mesopotamia to the Oxus Region. “Armenians are a nation and an ethnic group originating from the Armenian Highlands, where there is a large concentration of this community, especially in Armenia.” 3) (Movsesyan and Kochar 2000) “The cranial similarity between modern Armenians and the inhabitants of Armenia from 1600 – 700 BC indicates the continuity of genetic connection with the ancient population”

4) “Armenians are a separate ethnic group that arose from the Neolithic tribes of the Armenian Highlands” Litvinov S *, Kutuyev A, Yunusbayev V, R. Khusainova, Valiev R, Khusnutdinova E.

5) 40% of Armenian genes date back to the Paleolithic era. Levon Episkoposyan

6) Armenians belong to 13 different genetic groups, the age of which dates back tens of thousands of years, and at the same time in the DNA of Armenians in the last 4000 years there are no traces of invaders, which makes them “homogeneous in all their diversity”.

As a result of testing more than 300 individuals, it was found that the Armenian DNA branches are the basis of many European branches.

Different peoples at different times used different names for Armenia and the Armenians. The Sumerians around 2800 BC called Armenia Aratta, and the Akkadians, who replaced the Sumerians in the second half of the third millennium BC, called Armenia Armani or Armanum.

The Hittites, who appeared in the second millennium BC, used the name Hayasa to designate Armenia, and the Assyrians, who arose in the second half of the second millennium BC, used the name Uruatri or Urartu (Ararat in the Bible).

With the disappearance from the historical arena of the peoples who called Armenia and the Armenians by these names, the use of these names also disappeared. But Armenia and the Armenians, who always found the strength and opportunity to renew themselves throughout all this time, continued and continue to live.

Aratta is considered the first Armenian state mentioned in ancient texts. These are the records of the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. These texts are believed to be about 4,800 years old, but this does not mean that the state of Aratta did not exist before that.

Quentin Atkinson and Russell Gray have proven that the Armenian language was already separated from the common Proto-Indo-European language on the Armenian Highlands, the ancestral homeland of the Indo-Europeans, about 8,500 years ago.

It should be remembered that our ancestors built the Portasar temple complex about 12,000 years ago, which indicates a high level of social organization, which was certainly necessary to carry out such a grandiose work by the standards of that time.

That Armenians are indigenous to the Armenian Highlands is already well known from genetic research. For example, the research of Haber et. al. (2015) found a continuous Armenian gene in the Armenian Highlands for 4000 years. The test results state:

“Our tests show that Armenians have not had significant admixture with other populations in their recent history and have therefore been genetically isolated since the Late Bronze Age.”

“The position of Armenians in global genetic diversity is unique and appears to reflect the geographic location of Anatolia (read Armenian Highlands, as hereinafter). The adoption of a distinctive culture by Armenians early in their history led to their genetic isolation from their surroundings.”

The same conclusion was made by Hellenthal et. et al. (2014) in their Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History, published in the journal Science. Because of these findings, some scientists have referred to modern Armenians as the “Living Fossil”.

Other studies examining ancient DNA collected from burials have found genetic similarities between modern Armenians and ancient inhabitants of the Armenian Highlands.

Allentoft et al. (2015), for example, observed genetic similarities between Bronze Age individuals (c. 3,500 years ago) and modern Armenians, and Lazaridis et al. (2016) showed similarities between Copper Age (c. 6,000 BP) and Bronze Age individuals (c. 3,500 BP) excavated in Armenia.

Armed with these findings, Levon Yepiskoposyan, head of the laboratory at the Institute of Molecular Biodiversity of the National Academy of Sciences, stated at a press conference that:

“The results of genetic studies have shown that DNA samples of Bronze Age individuals found on the territory of Armenia have genetic similarities with the genetics of modern people living in Armenia today,” “Modern Armenians are direct descendants of people who lived on the territory of Armenia 5,000 years ago.”

Similar statements have been made by the well-known genetics blogger Dienekes, where he confirms Armenian genetic continuity, but asks whether this continuity extends beyond the Bronze Age:

“When it comes to the Caucasus/Middle East, upon closer examination it becomes clear that the Bronze Age Armenians are almost indistinguishable from modern Armenians. Is the genetic continuity of Armenians preserved in earlier periods?”

New evidence shows that this continuity actually extends beyond the Bronze Age (based on Mitochondrial DNA testing), going back as far as 7,811 years ago.

Mitochondria are passed from mothers to their children. Thus, studying mitochondrial genomes allows scientists to trace the unique history of the female lineage over time.

This new study examining ancient maternal DNA from skeletal remains excavated in Armenia and Artsakh confirmed strong similarities with the DNA of modern Armenians.

The study, “Eight Millennia of Matrilineal Genetic Continuity in the South Caucasus,” published in the journal Current Biology, examined 52 ancient genomes from skeletal remains excavated in Armenia and Artsakh. Calibrated radiocarbon dates of the ancient samples ranged from 300 to 7,811 years BP.

“We analyzed many ancient and modern mitochondrial genomes in parts of the South Caucasus and found genetic continuity for at least 8,000 years,” said Ashot Margaryan and Morten E. Allentoft of the Center for Geography at the Natural History Museum of Denmark.

“In other words, we could not detect any changes in the female gene pool over this very long period of time. This is very interesting because this region has experienced many cultural shifts over the same period, but these changes do not seem to have had a genetic impact — at least not on the female population.”

The researchers were interested in studying this part of the world because of its position as a cultural crossroads since ancient times. It is also known as an important area for the potential origin and spread of Indo-European languages.

The study states:

This result suggests that there have been no major genetic shifts in the mtDNA gene pool in the Armenian Highlands over the past 7,800 years. We find that the lowest genetic distance in this dataset is between modern Armenians and ancient individuals, which is also reflected in both the network analysis and the discriminant principal component analysis.

Armenians from different regions, including Erzurum, Ararat, and Artsakh, showed the most direct relationship to the ancient inhabitants of the Armenian Highlands.

It is clear that modern Armenian groups and the ancient group have obvious similarities.

In addition, the paper noted a marked decline in the female population around 25,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Period (LGM), followed by a rapid (approximately 10-fold) increase in population around 10,000 years ago (see Figure ), which shows rapid population growth during the Neolithic period, when humans first discovered agriculture.

These findings have important implications for the global scientific community. It appears that there have been no major genetic changes in the Armenian gene pool over the past eight millennia, despite numerous well-documented cultural changes in the region.

The archaeologically and historically documented migrations of Central Asian groups (e.g., Turks and Mongols) to the Armenian Highlands do not appear to have contributed significantly to the Armenian maternal gene pool.

Both geographical (mountainous regions) and cultural factors (Indo-European Christians and Turkic-speaking Muslims) may have served as barriers to genetic contacts between Armenians and Muslim invaders in the 11th-14th centuries CE.

Armenian Women’s Gene Has Not Changed Much in 8,000 Years

The First Genome Data from Ancient Egyptian Mummies

Danish, Armenian, Russian and British scientists have found that the female population of Armenia and Artsakh has remained virtually unchanged from a genetic point of view over the past eight thousand years.

The corresponding study was published in the journal Current Biology, and Cell Press reported briefly on it.

“We were unable to detect any changes in the female gene pool over a very long period of time. This is extremely interesting, since the region experienced many cultural shifts during the same period of time, but these changes are probably not associated with genetic influence, at least on the female population,” said co-authors of the study Ashot Margaryan and Morten Allentoft.

The experts came to these conclusions after analyzing the complete mitochondrial genomes of 52 ancient skeletons from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the oldest samples being 7.8 thousand years old. The scientists compared this data with information on the mitochondrial genomes of 206 modern Armenians, as well as previously published materials on more than 480 people from seven populations neighboring Artsakh.

The analysis showed that the population in the territory of modern Armenia and Artsakh increased rapidly after the last glacial maximum (about 18 thousand years ago), but the migrations in the region that occurred about two to three thousand years ago practically did not affect its female part. In the future, the scientists plan to conduct a genetic analysis of samples taken from the eastern territories of Azerbaijan, as well as Georgia.

That Armenians are indigenous to the Armenian Highlands is already well known from genetic studies. For example, the research of Haber et. al. (2015) found a continuous Armenian gene in the Armenian Highlands for 4000 years. The test results state:

“Our tests show that Armenians have not had significant admixture with other populations in their recent history and have therefore been genetically isolated since the late Bronze Age.”

“The position of Armenians in global genetic diversity is unique and appears to reflect the geographical location of Anatolia (read Armenian Highlands, as in the following text). The adoption of a distinctive culture by Armenians early in their history led to their genetic isolation from their surroundings.”

The same conclusion was made by Hellenthal et. (2014) in their Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History, published in the journal Science. Because of these findings, some scientists have referred to modern Armenians as the “Living Fossil”.

Other studies examining ancient DNA collected from burials have found genetic similarities between modern Armenians and ancient inhabitants of the Armenian Highlands.

Allentoft et al. (2015), for example, observed genetic similarities between Bronze Age individuals (c. 3,500 years ago) and modern Armenians, and Lazaridis et al. (2016) showed similarities between Copper Age (c. 6,000 BP) and Bronze Age individuals (c. 3,500 BP) excavated in Armenia.

Prepared by such conclusions, the head of the laboratory of the Institute of Molecular Biodiversity of the National Academy of Sciences Levon Episkoposyan stated at a press conference that:

Results of genetic studies have shown that DNA samples of Bronze Age individuals found in Armenia have genetic similarities with the genetics of modern people living in Armenia today”, “Modern Armenians are direct descendants of people who lived in Armenia 5000 years ago”.

Similar claims have been made by the well-known genetics blogger Dienekes, where he confirms Armenian genetic continuity, but asks whether this continuity extends beyond the Bronze Age:

“When it comes to the Caucasus/Middle East, upon closer inspection it becomes clear that the Bronze Age Armenians are almost indistinguishable from modern Armenians. Does the genetic continuity of Armenians continue into earlier periods?”

New evidence shows that this continuity does indeed extend beyond the Bronze Age (based on Mitochondria DNA tests), going back as far as 7811 years ago.

Mitochondria are passed from mothers to their children. Thus, studying mitochondrial genomes allows scientists to trace the unique history of the female line over time.

This new study examining ancient maternal DNA from skeletal remains excavated in Armenia and Artsakh confirmed strong similarities with the DNA of modern Armenians.

The study “Eight Millennia of Matrilineal Genetic Continuity in the South Caucasus,” published in the journal Current Biology, examined 52 ancient genomes from skeletal remains excavated in Armenia and Artsakh. Calibrated radiocarbon dates of the ancient samples ranged from 300 to 7,811 years BP.

“We analyzed many ancient and modern mitochondrial genomes in parts of the South Caucasus and found genetic continuity for at least 8,000 years,” said Ashot Margaryan and Morten E. Allentoft of the Centre for Geography at the Natural History Museum of Denmark.

“In other words, we could not detect any changes in the female gene pool over this very long period of time. This is very interesting because this region has experienced many cultural shifts over the same period, but these changes do not seem to have had a genetic impact – at least not on the female population.”

The researchers were interested in studying this part of the world because of its position as a cultural crossroads since ancient times. It is also known as an important area for the potential origin and spread of Indo-European languages.

The study states:

This result suggests that there have been no major genetic shifts in the mtDNA gene pool in the Armenian Highland over the past 7800 years. We find that the lowest genetic distance in this dataset is between modern Armenians and ancient individuals, which is also reflected in both the network analysis and the discriminant principal component analysis.

Armenians from different regions, including Erzurum, Ararat and Artsakh, showed the most direct relationship to the ancient inhabitants of the Armenian Highland.

It is clear that modern Armenian groups and the ancient group have obvious similarities.

In addition, the paper noted a marked decline in the female population around 25,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Period (LGM), followed by a rapid (approximately 10-fold) increase in population around 10,000 years ago (see Figure ), which shows rapid population growth during the Neolithic period, when humans first discovered agriculture.

These findings have important implications for the global scientific community. It appears that there have been no major genetic changes in the Armenian gene pool over the past eight millennia, despite numerous well-documented cultural changes in the region.

The archaeologically and historically documented migrations of Central Asian groups (e.g., Turks and Mongols) to the Armenian Highlands do not appear to have contributed significantly to the Armenian maternal gene pool.

Both geographical (mountainous regions) and cultural factors (Indo-European Christians and Turkic-speaking Muslims) may have served as barriers to genetic contacts between Armenians and Muslim invaders in the 11th-14th centuries CE.

The gene of Armenian women has remained virtually unchanged for 8,000 years

Danish, Armenian, Russian and British scientists have found that the female population of Armenia and Artsakh has remained virtually unchanged from a genetic point of view over the past eight thousand years.

The corresponding study was published in the journal Current Biology, and Cell Press reported briefly on it.

“We were unable to detect any changes in the female gene pool over a very long period of time. This is extremely interesting, since the region has experienced many cultural shifts over the same period of time, but these changes are likely not associated with genetic influence, at least on the female population,” said co-authors of the study Ashot Margaryan and Morten Allentoft.

The experts came to these conclusions after analyzing the complete mitochondrial genomes of 52 ancient skeletons from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the oldest samples being 7.8 thousand years old. The scientists compared this data with information on the mitochondrial genomes of 206 modern Armenians, as well as previously published materials on more than 480 people from seven populations neighboring Artsakh.

The analysis showed that the population in the territory of modern Armenia and Artsakh increased rapidly after the last glacial maximum (about 18 thousand years ago), but the migrations in the region that took place about two to three thousand years ago practically did not affect its female part. In the future, scientists plan to conduct a genetic analysis of samples taken from the eastern territories of Azerbaijan, as well as Georgia.

In this context, a very interesting hypothesis “emerges” that can shed light on all this and help assemble the mosaic into a single picture.

I mean the Hyksos. In order…

1st Official Theory

The 1st Official Theory about the “Hyksos” is that in 1700-1650 BC, Armenian tribes seized power in ancient Egypt. They founded their capital (Avaris) and ruled Egypt for more than 100 years, during which time, according to various sources, 6-7 “Hyksian” kings changed.

The fact itself. How could a tribe of nomadic cattle breeders conquer a weakened, but still great civilization? And not just conquer it, but rule it for more than 100 years? – No way

2nd Official Theory

The 2nd Official Theory and the most widespread theory about the “Hyksos” is that in 1700-1650 BC, Armenian tribes – the remaining part of the Armenian people seized power in ancient Egypt. They founded their capital (Avaris) and ruled Egypt for more than 100 years, during which time, according to various sources, 6-7 “Hyksian” kings changed.

1. Name. The name “Hyksos” (more precisely hyksos/hayksos) comes from Greek sources.

In an attempt to connect it with the Egyptian lexicon, “scholars” have adapted the Egyptian “hqa xaswt” (hekau khasut) – rulers of a foreign country, or – ruler of foreign countries – to this case. At the same time, they do not bother to explain how the Greeks could distort this name so much. Therefore, we will stop at the Greek original, and not at the “speculation” about the Egyptian meaning.

The ending “sos” is clearly a Greek addition, which was attached as a result of the efforts of the Hellenized Manetho, Josephus Flavius ​​and Eusebius of Caesarea (the main sources on the Hayksos). When we remove the ending “sos”, the original form of the word remains – “hayk”. And now the trick.

The self-designation of Armenians at all times was “hay” (Armenian), and in ancient Armenian the ending -k gave the plural “hayk” (Armenians). It is connected with the legend about the father-progenitor of all Armenians named Hayk.

clear

2. Pokorit’ nebol’shoy armiyey i uderzhivat’ Yegipet bol’she veka mogla tol’ko prishel’tsy s naporyadok boleye vysokim urovnem tekhnologicheskogo razvitiya, k koim ponyatnoye delo semitskiye skotovody-kochevniki ne mogli otnositsya. Etot punkt (a tak zhe pervyy) podtverzhdayetsya arkheologicheskimi nakhodkami: 3. Dostoverno izvestno chto Khayksosy pribyli na kolesnitsakh, eto podstverzhdayetsya kak yegipetskimi izobrazheniyami, tak i sokhranivshiyesya v piramidakh ekzemplyary kolesnits Khayksosov. Ni u Yegiptyan do etogo, ni tem boleye u semitskikh kochevnikov kolesnits v eto vremya ne bylo vovse.A v Armenii v Ayase ispolzovoly Kolesnitsy. 4. Kolesnitsy byli vypolneny iz drevesiny dereva rosshego v te vremena lish’ na territorii armyanskogo nagor’ya (Armenii). Somnevayus’ chto semity tashchilis’ by za drevesinoy k nam na nagor’ye… 5. Boleye togo. V konstruktsii etikh samykh kolesnits byli obnaruzheny zheleznyye detali, chto govorit o tom chto Khayksosy obladali tekhnologiyami razvitoy metalurgii (obrabotka zheleza). Ikh oruzhiye tak zhe bylo zheleznym, o chom svidetel’stvuyet naprimer rassechonnyy cherez bronzovyy shlem cherep poslednego faraona Srednego tsarstva. Yegiptyane do Khayksosov vladeli lish’ bronzoy, negovorya uzhe o semitakh-skotovodakh. 6. Idom dal’she. Gde v to vremya byla razvita metalurgiya? Ni v stepyakh sredney azii, ni na territorii sovremennoy Persii zhelezo yeshcho ne obrabatyvalos’. A obrabatyvalos’ ono v to vremya na armyanskom nagor’ye. Ob etom svidetel’stvuyu arkheologicheskiye raskopki, nashli tselyy ryad metalaplavitelnykh tsentrov (naprimer v Metsamore), gde uzhe v nachale 2-ogo tysyacheletiya v shirokom masshtabe plavili metall. 7. i v podtverzhdeniye 6 punktta -imenno Armyanskoye Nagor’ye, a ne sosedniye regiony, bogato zheleznoy rudoy, kotoroye, i eto dokazali arkheologi, nachali dobyvat’ uzhe v 3-yem tysyacheletii. 8. Khayksosy govorili o tom chto u nikh yest’ svoy tsar’ (v ikh rodnoy strane) i nazyvali yego Khianom. V armyanskikh legendakh yest’ skazaniya pro armyanskogo tsara po prozvishchu Khianali, “khianali” v perevode s armyanskogo – prekrasnyy. 9. Stolitsu oni nazvali snachala Khayaru, a potom pereimenovali v Avaris. Oba nazvaniya imeyut armyanskoye tolkovaniye. Khay-aru perevoditsya bukval’no “armyanskiy muzhchina”, takoye nazvaniye mozhno svyazat’ s tem chto gorod ponachalu predstavlyal iz sebya voyennyy lager’, v ktorom zhili odni muzhchiny. Chto kasayetsya Avaris, to tut vso voobshche chetko – doslovnyy perevod “moy trofey”.

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2. Only aliens with a much higher level of technological development could conquer Egypt with a small army and hold it for more than a century, and it is clear that the Semitic nomadic cattle breeders could not belong to this category. This point (as well as the first one) is confirmed by archaeological finds: 3. It is reliably known that the Hyksos arrived on chariots, this is confirmed by both Egyptian images and the preserved examples of the Hyksos chariots in the pyramids. Neither the Egyptians before this, nor the Semitic nomads at that time had chariots at all. And in Armenia, in Ayas, they used Chariots. 4. The chariots were made of wood from a tree that at that time grew only in the territory of the Armenian Highlands (Armenia). I doubt that the Semites would have dragged themselves to our highlands for wood… 5. Moreover. Iron parts were found in the design of these very chariots, which indicates that the Hyksos possessed advanced metallurgy technologies (iron processing). Their weapons were also iron, as evidenced, for example, by the skull of the last pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom, cut through a bronze helmet. Before the Hyksos, the Egyptians only possessed bronze, not to mention the Semitic cattle breeders. 6. Let’s move on. Where was metallurgy developed at that time? Neither in the steppes of Central Asia, nor in the territory of modern Persia, iron was not yet processed. And it was processed at that time on the Armenian Highlands. This is evidenced by archaeological excavations, a number of metal-smelting centers were found (for example, in Metsamor), where metal was smelted on a large scale already at the beginning of the 2nd millennium. 7. and in confirmation of point 6 – it is the Armenian Highlands, and not the neighboring regions, that are rich in iron ore, which, as archaeologists have proven, began to be mined already in the 3rd millennium. 8. The Hyksos said that they had their own king (in their home country) and called him Khian. In Armenian legends there are tales about an Armenian king nicknamed Khianali, “khianali” in translation from Armenian is beautiful. 9. They first called the capital Hayaru, and then renamed it Avaris. Both names have an Armenian interpretation. Hayaru is literally translated as “Armenian man”, this name can be associated with the fact that the city was initially a military camp in which only men lived. As for Avaris, everything is generally clear here – the literal translation is “my trophy”.

10. A less significant and clear fact, but nevertheless it is also known that the Hyksos called their chariots “varaka”, in Armenian the verb “varel” – to drive, and is used in this form only when talking about driving any kind of transport.
11. According to descriptions and found images, the “Hyksos” are very reminiscent of the Armenian race – the Armenoids. In particular, large almond-shaped eyes – a “trick” of the Armenians.
12. In the pantheon of the “Hayksos”, the leading place was occupied by the god of thunder and his wife Anahit. The goddess Anahit is the main goddess of the Armenian pantheon, and the “god of thunder” is the Armenian god of war Vahag, who was considered the ruler of thunder.
13. The ruling dynasty of the “Hayksos” in the sources is called “hekakazut” (S. Galyamov “Bashkords from Gilgamesh to Zarathustra”, Ufa 1999), which is nothing more than the name of one of the branches of the Armenian royal family of that time “haykazuni” and in fact has the form “haykazut” (“zut” has a diminutive meaning in Armenian and symbolizes the fact that “haykazut” – “younger brothers” of the ruling house of “haykazuni”).
14. “Hayksos” introduced the 12-sign zodiac in Egypt, and according to one hypothesis, it appeared precisely on the Armenian Highlands, because only in the fauna and culture of the Armenian Highlands is there a full set of representatives of the 12 signs – no other country in the COMPLEX has Aries, Capricorn, Taurus, Leo (they were very common on the Armenian Highlands), as well as Aquarius (the cult of water was extremely developed on the Armenian Highlands), Sagittarius (the God of the Armenians of that time, Hayk, has the image of a shooter (archer)). The degree of development of astrology among Armenians is also indicated by the fact that several ancient observatories were found on the territory of the Armenian Highlands. For example, Karahunj, which is more than 7500 years old. (link)
15. It was in the period 1750-1650 BC (no earlier or later) that the Armenians had an excellent opportunity for such deep campaigns on south, because all the neighboring countries from the south that could have resisted this were at that time extremely weakened or had not yet flourished to such an extent:
    
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Sam Yegipet sil’no oslab i soshel s areny mezhdunarodnykh protivoborstv. Siriyskiye goroda-gosudarstva posle nashestviya hamurappi perestali iz sebya chego-to predstavlyat’, tak zhe kak i sama Babelon vo glave s hamurappi byla tol’ko na nachale svoyego vozvysheniya i ne predstavlyala yeshcho opasnosti. Krayneye slab byl Elam, kotoryy vozvysitsya lish’ pozzhe, to zhe mozhno skazat’ pro Khetti. Assiriya byla razdelyayema vnutrenne bor’boy za vlast’ i tozhe byla krayne slaba… Kstati, imenno v poslednem sluchaye my imeyem pryamoye dokazatel’stvo – po dannym klinopisey imenno v 1700-om godu v Asirii zakonchilas’ bor’ba za vlast’, chto bez somneniya mozhno ob”yasnit’ zavoyevaniyem armenoidami. Boleye togo, po svedeniyam arabskikh istochnikov (Masudi) armyane pobedili assiriyskogo tsarya Arsisa (vidimo imeyetsya vvidu Adasi, kotoryy protsarstvoval men’she goda i imenno v 1700-om), posle chego 20 tsarey Assirii v techenii 273 let podchinyalis’ armyanam i platili dan’… Poditozhim: Eti punkty ne tol’ko ob”yasnyayut to kak mogla nebol’shaya armiya chuzhezemtsev porabotit’ velikiuyu tsivilizatsiyu boleye chem na vek (blagodarya tekhnologicheskomu prevoskhodstvu), no i zastavlyayet skepticheski otnestis’ k teorii o semitskom proiskhozhdenii Khayksosov i vzglyanut’ po drugomu na vopros ob ikh proiskhozhdenii. Ibo takoye kolichestvo “sovpadeniy” ne mozhet byt’ sluchaynost’yu K chemu ya voobshche napisal pro Khayksosov i kak eto svyazano s gaplogruppami. Obratite vnimaniye na period upominaniy o Khayksosakh – primerno 3500-3700 let nazad. Eto imenno tot period, kogda u armyan poyavilsya vtoroy gaplotip – R1b. Uchityvaya vso vysheskazannoye pro Khayksosov, a tak zhe polnoye sovpadeniye po vremeni poyavleniya u armyan gaplotipa R1b mozhno predpolozhit’ sleduyushchiy stsenariy. Vozmozhno drevniye armyane (u kotorykh yeshcho byla lish’ gruppa J2) primerno 3500-4000 let nazad sovershili neskol’ko dal’nikh voyennykh pokhodov s armyanskogo nagor’ya. Kak pisalos’ vyshe, nekotoryye uchenyye nazyvayut boleye tochnyye daty 1750-1650 gody d.n.e. otnositel’no pokhodov na yug (Yegipet), o chem bylo skazano chut’ vyshe. I tut vstayet vopros! Yesli drevniye armyane, mogli sebe pozvolit’ podobnyye voyennyye pokhody s armyanskogo nagor’ya na yugo-yugo-zapad, to im tem boleye nichego ne meshalo sovershat’ podobnyye zhe pokhody na zapad, chrez Bosfor v Yevropu? Armyane doydya do yevropy – prodolzhitel’noye vremya tam obitali (paru troyku soten let), assimilirovali kakoye-to mestnoye naseleniye i vposledstvii vernulis’ obratno, vdobavok k novym genam v sebe privedya s soboy opredelennuyu chast’ yevropeytsev. K tomu zhe prodolzhitel’noye obitaniye na sovershenno drugom areale tak zhe mozhet sposobstvovat’ mutatsiyam Skoreye vsego drevniye armyane sovershili pokhod v tom chisle i v etom napravlenii, vposledstviye “prinesli” s soboy na armyanskoye nagor’ye zapadnoyevropeyskiy gaplotip R1b. P.S. Voobshche istoriya armyan dostatochno prozrachna i neosporima v osnove vplot’ do ~1000 goda d.n.e. A stsenarii “do etogo” – yest’ raznyye. 10000 i boleye let nazat sformirovalas’ nasha natsiya . V podderzhku argumenty yest’, pravda nemnogo. Pravda eti “oskolki” poroy sobirayutsya v ochen’ chetkiye logicheskiye tsepochki. No k sozhaleniyu protsess gluboko poznaniya zatrudnyayet mnozhestvo faktorov. 1. Armyane voyevali prakticheski vsyu svoyu istoriyu, nashi protivniki zachastuyu ne brezgali popytkami massovogo istrebleniya, unichtozheniya kul’turnogo naslediya. Mnogoye bylo utracheno v posledstvii voyn, zavisti sosedey i zhazhdy prisvoyeniya. Kstati zhazhda prisvoyeniya yest’ i po sey den’, naprimer v toy zhe Gruzii ona obrela vtoroye dykhaniye, ob etom mozhete pochitat’ tut. Tam dokumenty, foto… vot odin iz ogromnogo chisla primerov “gruzinizatsii” armyanskikh pamyatnikov iz etogo materiala: 3. Seychas vesti raskopki na Armyanskom Nagor’ye nereal’no, turkam eto oy kak ne vygodno…oni za posledniye 90 let unichtozhili bol’shinstvo armyanskogo kul’turnogo naslediya v zapadnoy Armenii, a tut yeshcho i novoye raskapyvat’… Poka tam turki – nichego Armyanskogo tam nayti budet nel’zya, a yesli i budut nakhodit’ sluchayno – to vse sledy prinadlezhnosti k Armyanam budut unichtozhat’sya, libo yesli eto nereal’no – unichtozhayet’sya sama nakhodka.

Egypt itself was greatly weakened and left the arena of international confrontations. The Syrian city-states after the invasion of Hamurapi ceased to be anything, just as Babel itself, led by Hamurapi, was only at the beginning of its rise and did not yet pose a threat. Elam was extremely weak, which would rise only later, the same can be said about Hitty. Assyria was divided internally by the struggle for power and was also extremely weak… By the way, it is in the latter case that we have direct evidence – according to cuneiform data, it was in 1700 that the struggle for power ended in Assyria, which can undoubtedly be explained by the conquest by the Armenoids. Moreover, according to Arab sources (Masoudi), the Armenians defeated the Assyrian king Arsis (apparently meaning Adasi, who reigned for less than a year and precisely in 1700), after which 20 kings of Assyria submitted to the Armenians for 273 years and paid tribute… To summarize: These points not only explain how a small army of foreigners could enslave a great civilization for more than a century (due to technological superiority), but also make us skeptical about the theory of the Semitic origin of the Hyksos and take a different look at the question of their origin. Because such a number of “coincidences” cannot be accidental Why did I even write about the Hyksos and how is this related to haplogroups. Pay attention to the period of mentions of the Hyksos – approximately 3500-3700 years ago. This is exactly the period when the second haplotype appeared in Armenians – R1b. Considering all the above about the Hyksos, as well as the complete coincidence in time of the appearance of the R1b haplotype in Armenians, the following scenario can be assumed. Perhaps the ancient Armenians (who still had only the J2 group) made several long military campaigns from the Armenian Highlands approximately 3500-4000 years ago. As was written above, some scientists call more precise dates 1750-1650 BC regarding the campaigns to the south (Egypt), which was mentioned just above. And here the question arises! If the ancient Armenians could afford such military campaigns from the Armenian Highlands to the south-southwest, then there was even less reason for them to make similar campaigns to the west, through the Bosphorus to Europe? The Armenians, having reached Europe, lived there for a long time (a couple of hundred years), assimilated some of the local population and subsequently returned back, bringing with them a certain part of the Europeans in addition to new genes. In addition, long-term habitation in a completely different area can also contribute to mutations Most likely, the ancient Armenians made a campaign in this direction as well, subsequently “brought” with them to the Armenian Highlands the Western European haplotype R1b. P.S. In general, the history of the Armenians is quite transparent and indisputable in its basis up to ~ 1000 BC. And the scenarios “before that” – there are different. 10,000 or more years ago our nation was formed. There are arguments in support, although not many. True, these “fragments” are sometimes collected into very clear logical chains. But unfortunately, the process of deep knowledge is complicated by many factors. 1. Armenians have been fighting for almost their entire history, our enemies have often not disdained attempts at mass extermination, destruction of cultural heritage. Much has been lost as a result of wars, envy of neighbors and thirst for appropriation. By the way, the thirst for appropriation still exists today, for example, in Georgia it has found a second wind, you can read about it here. There are documents, photos… here is one of the huge number of examples of “Georgianization” of Armenian monuments from this material: 3. Now it is unrealistic to conduct excavations in the Armenian Highlands, it is oh so unprofitable for the Turks… over the past 90 years they have destroyed most of the Armenian cultural heritage in Western Armenia, and now they are also digging up new ones… As long as the Turks are there, nothing Armenian will be found there, and if they do find something by chance, then all traces of belonging to the Armenians will be destroyed, or if this is unrealistic, the find itself will be destroyed.

The “European Paleolithic” R1b faces insurmountable contradictions. Subsequent research

by Barbara Arredi and colleagues found that the diversity of the subclades of this haplogroup increases as one moves east, which rather indicates an eastern origin of this haplogroup and is associated with the spread of agriculture from Western Asia to Europe.

This conclusion is supported by further studies of the R1b1a2 subgroup, which may have been carried by the pharaohs Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. It presumably originated in the Armenian Highlands about 9,500 years ago – it is known that before the Semites settled in Ayia and in the Armenian Highlands, peoples (Urartians; Hattians; Hurrians) were widely distributed throughout the Middle East – and began migrating to Europe about 7,000 years ago (see Balkan Neolithic). Some of its representatives migrated to North Africa (an example of mass migration from the Middle East to Egypt is the Hyksos invasion, which took place half a millennium before the birth of Tutankhamun).

Origin and paleogenetics

R1b originated from the Y-chromosomal haplogroup R1, which originated from haplogroup R. The place of origin of haplogroup R is Northern Asia. The period is between 26,500 and 19,000 years ago, during which time there was the Last Glacial Maximum. The oldest find of the Y-chromosomal haplogroup R* is the remains of a boy MA1 from the Malta site in the Irkutsk region, aged 24,000 years [13]. The population from Malta originated from the population of northeastern Siberians (Ancient North Siberians, ANS), represented by the inhabitants of the Yana site with the Y-chromosomal haplogroup P1, ancestral to the Y-chromosomal haplogroups Q and R [14].

Carriers of haplogroup R made a major contribution to the origin of modern inhabitants of Europe and South Asia. In these regions, haplogroup R is most common – R1b in Western Europe, R1a in Eastern Europe, Central and South Asia, and R2 in South Asia. The oldest mutations of R1b – M343, P25, L389 are found in a huge area from Western Europe to India [source not specified 489 days]. This suggests that the Maltese boy did not leave any descendants in Siberia, and the R-Y482 migrant found his refuge in the Middle East 28,200 years ago [source not specified 352 days].

R1b1a2-V1636 (ISOGG2019-2020) was identified in the Eneolithic sample ART038 (3356–3121 BC) from Arslantepe in Central Anatolia[15][16], in the Eneolithic samples PG2001 and PG2004 (4233–4047 BC) from the Progress-2 site (Stavropol Krai), in a representative of the Yamnaya culture SA6010 (2884–2679 BC) from the Sharakhalsun 6 burial ground in Stavropol Krai[17], in the Gjerrild 5 sample (SGC/LN, 2283–2035 BC), which is archaeologically late Neolithic in age, found in Gjerrild Single Grave Culture cemetery da [16].

The three main subclades of R1b1 — R1b1a, R1b1b, R1b1c — originate from the Middle East. The southern branch of R1b1c — R1b1a2-PF6279/V88 is found in the Levant and Africa. The northern branch of R1b1a — R1b1a1a-P297/PF6398 arose in the Caucasus region, eastern Anatolia, and possibly northern Mesopotamia. Then the carriers of R1b1a1a-P297 moved to Europe and Central Asia, dividing into two branches.

The explosive growth in the number of descendants of the founder of the R1b1a1a2a1a-L52/P310/L11>PF6538>L151[en] subclade occurred approximately 5.9–4.8 thousand years ago, which coincides with the spread of the Bell Beaker culture in Western Europe and the Battle Axe culture in Eastern Europe[18].

Neolithic cattle breeders[edit | edit source]
Scientists have put forward a theory that the R1b carriers (who lived in the Neolithic with the J2 carriers) were the first tribes to domesticate cattle[source not specified 653 days]. Genetic analysis of modern cow DNA and its comparison with fossil samples of animals have shown that all modern cows, which descend from a wild bull domesticated during the Neolithic and early agricultural period, trace their ancestry to a population of 80 animals, the first domesticated cows. The earliest evidence of cow domestication dates back 10,500 years, found in pottery-making cultures during the Neolithic period, located in the Taurus (ridge) southern coastal mountains of what is now Turkey. The oldest settlements with traces of cow domestication are Çayönü in southeastern Turkey and at the site of Jawd el Mughara in northern Iraq.

R1b1a2-V88 was identified in sample I5235 (9221-8548 BC, Iron Gate, Padina, Serbia). R1b1a2b1-Y8451 was identified in sample R6 (7160 (7192–7127) years ago, Apulia, Italy)

Armenian Highland and Pontic-Caspian Steppe.

Modern linguists place the origin of the Proto-Indo-Europeans in the Pontic-Caspian steppes. They stretch from the mouth of the Danube to the Ural Mountains and to the North Caucasus. The Neolithic, Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age cultures in the Pontic-Caspian steppe were called a single Kurgan culture, which developed between 6,200 – 4,200 years ago, a definition given by Marija Gimbutas within the framework of her Kurgan theory of the origin of the Indo-Europeans. In the modern period, this theory is almost rejected, due to the fact that the burial mounds date back no later than 6,000 years ago and arose in the South Caucasus. Genetic diversity of R1b is greater in Eastern Anatolia, this fact suggests that R1b carriers evolved there and further south, and only then came to the Armenian Highlands and got into the Pontic-Caspian steppes.

R1b-P297 formed 15,600 BP (95% confidence interval 17,600 – 13,800 BP).

Horses were domesticated about 6,600 years ago in the Caspian steppe or in the Don or Lower Volga region. This breakthrough was decisive for the steppe cultures. However, R1b did not domesticate horses, they came to the Pontic-Caspian steppes when these animals were already put to service of people. It is most likely that horses were domesticated by carriers of haplogroup R1a, together with the old branch R1b-P297, which is small in number compared to R1a. R1b-P297 was by no means Indo-European, these were people who still lived in the Ice Age and did not know cattle breeding. This branch settled in the Pontic-Caspian steppes in the late Paleolithic, which is confirmed by finds in Samara and Latvia. R1b-P297 and R1a, according to their genome composition, were almost purely indigenous people of the Mesolithic period who lived in Eastern Europe. They had a small admixture of Siberian hunters of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic, but there was no admixture of the inhabitants of the Caucasus (CHG). At the same time, the admixture of the inhabitants of the Caucasus was found in the Chalcolithic cultures – Afanasievo, Yamnaya and Corded Ware cultures. Haplogroup R1b1a1a2-M269 was formed in the Late Paleolithic 13,300 years ago (95% confidence interval 14,900 – 11,800 years ago). The time to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) of the descendants of R1b1a1a-M269 is 6400 years ago, and the immediately upstream node R1b-P297 is much earlier than 13,300 years ago. Y-chromosomal haplogroup R1b-P297(xM269) was found in hunter-gatherers from the Baltics, as well as in hunter-gatherers from the Samara region of Russia. The “long branch” of R1b1a1a2-M269 greatly reduces any confidence in the affinity of the earliest bearers of R1b1a1a2-M269 to these Eastern European relatives. However, the data are equally consistent with a scenario in which the founder of R1b1a1a2-M269 lacked an Eastern Hunter-Gatherer (EHG) component.

The exact migration route of R1b1a1a2-M269 from the South Caucasus to the Pontic-Caspian steppe is not yet clear. It may have been during the Dnieper-Donets period, 7,100 – 6,300 years ago. This culture became the first Neolithic society in the Caspian steppe, the Dnieper-Donets carriers of R1a and/or I2a1b already had cows and goats grazing in the steppe and funeral rituals appeared, they also imported copper and copper products from the territory of the Balkans and the Carpathians. They adopted part of their cultural traditions from the hunters of the Mesolithic period. Knowledge of domestic animals came to this culture from farmers from the Middle East, these were carriers of I, I2a2, R1a, R1b1a (L754) and one R1b1a2-L388. What is important is that among these farmers there were no carriers of the branches of R1b1a1a2-M269 or the lower R1b-L23, which then dominated the Yamnaya culture. The mtDNA of the Dnieper-Donets culture is represented exclusively by women of European descent from the Mesolithic period – U4a, U4b, U4d, U5a1, U5a2, U5b2, as well as one J2b1 and one U2e1, all these mtDNA haplogroups are not Indo-European, but pre-Indo-European. Up until the Bronze Age, Indo-European mtDNAs are not found in Neolithic samples found in Ukraine. Thus, the Dnieper-Donets culture, which already had both pastoral and agricultural knowledge and was the earliest such culture in the Pontic steppe, does not belong to either the Indo-European culture or the Proto-Indo-European culture

Typical Indo-European mtDNA are — H2a1, H6, H8, H15, I1a1, J1b1a, W3, W4 and W5, these haplogroups of the female line will be found in the Yamnaya culture and the Unetice culture and then in other Indo-European cultures [24] [25]. The first Proto-Indo-European cultures were the Khvalynsk (7,200 – 6,500 years ago) and Sredny Stog (6,600 – 5,900 years ago). During this period, small burials of the kurgan type appear, with a characteristic position of the dead on their backs, with raised knees oriented to the northeast. In these cultures, the population actively entered into relationships with other tribes, this is noticeable by the various shapes of the skulls. 7000 years ago, the elite layer of these cultures began to actively develop using herds of cattle, horses and copper. Copper was a status metal, expensive and relatively difficult to mine and process. At the turn of the Khvalynsk and Sredny Stog cultures, a branch of R1b-L23 appeared from R1b1a1a2-M269, this happened approximately 6400 years ago (95% confidence interval 7100 – 5700 years ago) [33]. As a result, in the modern period, 99% of Indo-European R1b traces its roots to this branch – R1b-L23. Another clade R1b-PF7562 also originated from R1b1a1a2-M269, but it is small in number and is represented in the Balkans, Turkey and Armenia. The second migration through the Caucasus occurred about 5,700 years ago and coincides with the emergence of the Maykop culture, the world’s first Bronze Age culture. Most likely, the Maykop culture’s bearers came from Northern Mesopotamia, Syria and Eastern Anatolia. In the South Caucasus, the Leyla-Tepe culture (6,350 – 6,000 years ago) was discovered in Georgia and Azerbaijan. The ceramics of the Maykop and Leyla-Tepe cultures have similar features, as well as the dishes from the settlements of the Kura-Araxes culture. It is important that archaeological finds show a clear spread of burial mounds with bronze items from the Maykop culture in the Pontic steppe, it was in this steppe that the Yamnaya culture soon arose – about 5,500 years ago. The burial mound type became dominant and is one of the markers for determining the belonging of a culture to the Indo-European. Mounds as a method of burying nobles were then used by the Celts, Romans, Germanic tribes, and Scythians.

Yamnaya culture period

Between 5,500 and 4,500 years ago, the Bronze Age Yamnaya culture was actively developing. It is considered to be indisputably Indo-European[source not specified 408 days] and the most important in the foundation of Indo-European culture and society. R1b-M269 carriers from the Near East in the Yamnaya culture were relatively active in relations with R1a farmers and herders for more than 2 thousand years and also after the Yamnaya culture, in other communities. These contacts between R1a and R1b were not sporadic, but dense and multi-level, both at the level of nobility and at the level of ordinary people and traders. This led to the gradual formation of a unique community of the Yamnaya culture population, the Yamnaya culture had a relatively unified language, which is today called the Proto-Indo-European language, which subsequently became the basis for almost all modern European languages, including all Slavic languages, all Anglo-Saxon languages, and so on. Linguists at the current stage of study, agreed that it is the region of the Pontic-Caspian steppes that is the birthplace of the Proto-Indo-European language. This is also confirmed by the similarity of the Proto-Indo-European language with the Caucasian and Hurrian languages, originating from the Middle East and, on the other hand, with the Volga-Uralic languages. Only in the Pontic-Caspian steppe could the paths of the speakers of these languages ​​historically intersect so closely that the Proto-Indo-European language would eventually arise first – the Pre-Indo-European substrate, then the Indo-European language [24] [25] [28].

The Yamnaya culture is most clearly characterized by the fact that its people used four-wheeled carts to change their place of residence, transporting food and household goods on them. Such transport provided the possibility of long campaigns in the steppes, which made the Yamnaya one of the most mobile peoples, while simultaneously engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. This set of skills marked the beginning of the great migrations of the Indo-Europeans. In later times, during the period of Ancient Rome, the Gauls and ancient Germans also carried out their migrations [24] [25] [28].

The Yamnaya culture, given its large size, was not unified. In the south along the northern coast of the Black Sea to the North Caucasus there was a full-fledged steppe, almost without a forest, this steppe extended further, to the Caspian Sea, to Siberia and to Mongolia and in English-language literature is called the Eurasian steppe.

1 — The western area of ​​the Yamnaya culture, between the Don and Dniester rivers and then the Danube, was the area of ​​residence mainly of R1b, and there were no more than 5-10% of R1a carriers there [source not specified 408 days].

Thus, the western part of the Yamnaya subsequently migrated to the Balkan Peninsula and Greece. Then to the Central, and already in relatively late historical periods — back, in the form of waves of migrations consisting of Hittites, Phrygians and Armenians, these waves reached the Anatolian Peninsula.

2 — The eastern part of the Yamnaya culture area, from the Volga to the Ural Mountains, was populated by R1a, and also with a minority of R1b carriers. Traces of R1b remained in the genetics of some Bashkir clans, among the Turkmens, Uyghurs and Hazaras.

This branch later migrated to Central Asia, to the South Asia – Iran, Pakistan, India

European and Near Eastern branch

When the Indo-Europeans mastered bronze weapons and learned to use horse-drawn carts, their mobility increased dramatically. They began to actively migrate to Europe, where at that time there lived autochthonous, indigenous cultures, carriers of C1a2, F and I (including those who carried direct genetic links with the Cro-Magnons). Also in Europe, at the beginning of the Indo-European expansion, lived Neolithic farmers – farmers who migrated during the early Neolithic and carried haplogroups G2a, H2, E1b1b and T1a. Indo-Europeans R1a and R1b, having a clear advantage in both mobility and weapons, managed to completely replace male clans in the old cultures of Europe in a relatively short time, most likely they killed most of the heads of clans or removed them from the possibility of conceiving new children. At the same time, the female part of these cultures suffered significantly less, which can be explained by the fact that the newcomers of R1a and R1b actively took local women as wives or concubines.[25]

If we take South Asia as an example, the following can be deduced – after the Indo-Iranian (Aryan) invasion in Northern India, 40% of the male lines became R1a, but only 10% of the female lines have an Indo-European root, the remaining female lines remained indigenous. The impact of the Indo-European expansion on Europe was much stronger, due to the lesser development of Europe 4,000 years ago, compared to the very developed South Asia at that time, where the Indus Civilization was already actively developing. In Europe 4,000 years ago, there were no bronze weapons yet, agriculture was less successful. In Western Europe, agriculture appeared much later than in the Balkans and Central Europe.[25]

Greece, the Balkans and the Carpathians, on the other hand, were the most advanced regions in Europe in terms of agricultural development 4,000 years ago and as a result their genetic lines were least affected by the Indo-Europeans. The genetic haplogroups of Old Europe were able to survive relatively intact only in regions where it was inconvenient to travel by horse – the Alps, the Dinaric Alps, the Apennines and Sardinia.[25]

4,700 – 4,500 years ago[edit | edit source]
Analysis of the DNA of the Corded Ware culture indicates that already 4,700 years ago its bearers in Poland had both haplogroup R1a and R1b, but not the Yamnaya subclade.

The R1b movement was towards the more developed part of Europe, populated by agricultural cultures, and therefore was slower. 4,500 years ago, the western branch of R1b gained strength for a new strong migration towards modern Germany and Western Europe. By this time, the R1b carriers had mixed heavily with the inhabitants of the Danube basin who had lived there before their arrival, these were Mesolithic hunters and Neolithic farmers.[28]

R1b were clearly a patriarchal society. They displaced local male lines from cultures, replacing them with R1b and actively took women from these cultures as wives. This led to the fact that the skin of the Proto-Indo-Europeans became darker and became equal in shade to the inhabitants of modern Southern Europe, since the inhabitants of the Neolithic cultures were from the Middle and Near East and had dark hair and skin tone.[25][28]

4,500 – 3,200 years ago[edit | edit code]
R1b-L51 advanced into Central Europe (Hungary, Austria and Bohemia) 4,500 years ago. It was by this time, 2,000 years after the arrival of Neolithic cultures – agricultural ones, that their level of development reached a high level, they began to mine gold and copper and eventually became a much more desirable prey for conquerors[38][39][28]

At the moment, it is questioned that the tradition of bell-shaped beakers (4,800 – 3,900 years ago) in Western Europe was completely Indo-European. Since it is a successor to local European cultures, older, which belong to megalithic cultures. During the late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic, Bell-shaped beakers began to spread from Portugal to the North-East, in the direction of Germany. The steppe cultures of the Bronze Age, on the contrary, moved from Germany towards France, Iberia and Great Britain and gradually brought R1b to the territory of the Bell Beaker culture. The samples of Indo-European dishes and horse figurines found in the Bell Beaker culture were most likely not the result of the Indo-European component in this culture, but the result of trade with Indo-European speakers. It was after this trade that a sharp increase in migration and conquests by the Indo-European cultures began and by 2200 BC they reached the Atlantic coast. This may be due to the fact that the Bell Beaker culture, when it conducted trade, brought the Indo-Europeans information that in Western Europe there lived tribes that did not yet know metal and were at the level of the Stone Age – Paleolithic and therefore were easy prey both themselves and the territories in which they lived [40] [28].

DNA tests on Bell Beaker culture bearers have shown that they have R1b-L51 (and older subclades – P312 and U152). Earlier cultures before the Bell Beaker do not have such additions. The bearers of the Bell Culture who lived in Spain and Portugal do not have admixture from the Yamnaya culture and did not carry, except for R1b-L51, the typical haplogroups of the megalithic cultures that lived in Europe long before the Indo-Europeans – G2a, I2a1, I2a2, as well as R1b-V88, but this branch is not Indo-European, but more ancient. [source not specified 489 days] Megalithic cultures in Great Britain belonged exclusively to the Y-haplogroup – I2 (mainly I2a2 and I2a1b-L161), but were then completely replaced by R1b-L51 during the Early Bronze Age, which indicates an extremely intensive migration of its bearers and, in fact, a total conquest and replacement of the local inhabitants [40] [39] [28] e

The Hallstatt culture (between 3200 and 2750 years ago) is considered the first culture Celts in Europe – it quickly expanded its range to France, Great Britain, Iberia, Northern Italy and the Danube River Valley. The Hallstatt culture brought with it a new language – Celtic, but bronze technologies had already been spread before it[41][42].

The Proto-Italo-Celto-Germanic tribes reached Germany about 4,500 years ago. France was settled by them 4,200 years ago. Great Britain – 4,100 years ago. Ireland – 4,000 years ago. Iberia – 3,800 years ago. This was the first wave of settlement and is characterized by the line – R1b-L21

Gallic and Iberian branches

The first branches of R1b to come to France were R1b1a1a2a1a2c1-L21 and R1b1a1a2a1a2a-DF27[en]. 3700 years ago, these lines reached present-day Spain. When studying ancient Y-chromosomes, active expansion of R1b with the expulsion of the male indigenous population was confirmed. In Iberia, people of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic were the owners of haplogroups I, I2a1 and G2a. And in the Bronze Age, all men were already R1b ​​(one M269 and two P312), but according to mtDNA, these men were sons of the indigenous Iberian lines – H1, U5b3, X2b. The development of bronze culture in Iberia was quite slow and the Bronze Age finally began about 3,300 years ago in the Urnfield culture, which expanded from Germany to Catalonia. After it, the Hallstatt culture (3,200 – 2,750 years ago) actively developed and expanded its area – it occupied the entire Iberian Peninsula. By this time, Iberia was already connected to Western Europe by a complex trade network. Starting from 3,300 years ago, there was an area of ​​bronze metallurgy around the Alps, which laid the foundation for the formation of classical Celtic culture. The cultures in this area created a continuity – from the Urnfield culture, which developed into the Hallstatt culture starting from 3,200 years ago and then the Hallstatt culture developed into the La Tène culture – from 2,450 years ago. This development represents the second wave of expansion of R1b carriers in Europe, which affected Central Europe and moved towards the Atlantic Ocean, northern Scandinavia and east to the Danube River valley. Then the second wave reached Greece, Ukraine and Russia.[43]

The Celtic Iron Age from 800 BCE may have originated from the steppes near the North Caucasus – the Koban culture, which existed between 3100 and 2400 years ago. The Celts inhabiting the Alps had the S28 mutation (other names – U152, PF6570)[44]

The Hallstatt culture is associated with the S28 mutation. This culture later evolved into the Villanovan culture (between 3100 and 2700 years ago). This culture is already completely Indo-European, the people of this culture placed cremated remains in urns in the form of a double cone, burials were divided into simple and into burials of rich people and noble people. Noble burials contained jewelry, bronze armor and horse harness. In this culture, among other things, typical Indo-European symbols appeared – the swastika. The Villanova culture was followed by the Etruscans, demonstrating direct continuity with this culture. The Etruscans, who lived in Central Italy from 800 BC to 1 BC, with a frequency of 70% were identified Y-chromosomal haplogroup R1b (R1b-P312 and R1b-L2), with a frequency of 20% – Y-chromosomal haplogroup G2, as well as Y-chromosomal haplogroup J2 (5%). During the Roman Empire, the genetic contribution to the Etruscan population from people with Eastern Mediterranean origins increased to about 50%.

Germanic branch

The main branch of the Proto-Germans is R1b-S21 (aka U106 or M405).[source not specified for 489 days]

Anatolian branch

The Phrygians and Proto-Armenians most likely came from the Balkan Peninsula. They came to Asia Minor – Anatolia about 3,200 years ago during the period of “great upheavals” in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Phrygians founded a kingdom 3,200 years ago, it existed for 500 years and was located in the central part of Anatolia, in its western segment. This kingdom absorbed most of the collapsing Hittite empire. The Proto-Armenians crossed Anatolia, reached Lake Van and settled in the Armenian Highlands. In the modern period, 30% of Armenians are R1b carriers with the L584 subclade in Z2103. Most of the R1b in modern Greece is the Balkan variety Z2103.[source not specified for 489 days]. In Bulgaria and Albania, the R1b-Z2106 subclade is widespread.

Other R1b migrations

In the modern population of the Gaina tribe, R1b S28 (U152) is found in 70% of people in this republic. R1b-S28 is also the dominant branch on the Apennine Peninsula, including during the period of Ancient Rome. Most likely, Roman merchants, during campaigns along the Great Silk Road, which already existed 2200 years ago, could leave offspring from local women, including in the region of Central Asia and China. A small percentage of R1b is among the population of Christian communities in Lebanon and most likely it remained from the Crusaders.

Ethnogeographic distribution

Europe

The modern concentration of R1b is highest in areas associated with the Celts: about 70% in southern England, up to 90% and more in northern and western England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, 70% in Spain, and 60% in France [10]. Apparently, it is associated with the pre-Celtic substrate, since its concentration is also high among non-Celts: the Basques – 88.1% [source not specified for 876 days] and the Spaniards – 70% [87]. In addition, it is known that, for example, the builders of Stonehenge in England were the people who lived on the island before the arrival of the Celts.

The concentration of this haplogroup decreases among neighboring peoples: 40% among Italians, 40% among Germans, 25.9% among Norwegians [and others].

It is even rarer among the peoples of Eastern Europe. Among the Czechs and Slovaks – 22.6% [source not specified for 876 days], Poles – 12.6%, Latvians – 10.5%, Hungarians – 17.3%, Estonians – 9%, Lithuanians – 5%, Belarusians – 4.2%, Russians – 7%, Ukrainians – 5.2%.

In the Balkans – Greeks – 13.5% [95], Slovenes – 21%, Albanians – 17.6%, Bulgarians – 17%, Croats – 11.7%, Romanians – 13%, Serbs – 9.6%, Herzegovinians – 3.6%.

Caucasus, Transcaucasia and Armenian Highlands

In the Caucasus it is found in Lezgins 21.5%, Kumyks 25% and Laks, Avars (2.5%), Andians, Dargins (2%), Kumyks, as well as residents of Bagulala, Ossetians-Digors – according to various sources up to 43% in Armenians – 25-30%,

J2- Lesser Armenia Cilicia and the Armenian interfluve – A number of modern geneticists believe that J2 originated in the Armenian Highlands. – The homeland of those who have the J2 gene is Lesser Armenia, Cilicia, and the Armenian interfluve. J2 comes from the original R1b oplogrupa. The homeland of which is Greater Armenia!

R1b – Greater Armenia – A number of modern geneticists believe that R1b originated in the Armenian Highlands.

R1b – Phenomenon II African tribes with the Armenoid gene – R1b Phenomenon II African tribes with the Armenoid gene – some white-skinned with African features of the head, In the second

Black-skinned Armenoid features of the head

J2 – Lesser Armenia Cilicia and the Armenian interfluve – A number of modern geneticists believe that J2 originated in the Armenian Highlands. – The homeland of those with the J2 gene is Lesser Armenia, Cilicia, and the Armenian interfluve. J2 comes from the original R1b oplogrupa. The homeland of which is Greater Armenia!

A number of modern geneticists believe that J2 originated in the Armenian Highlands.

The homeland of those with the J2 gene is Lesser Armenia, Klikia, and the Armenian interfluve. J2 comes from the original R1b oplogrup. The homeland of which is Greater Armenia!

J2b was identified in a representative of the Kura-Araxes culture

J2b2a-L283>CTS6190 was identified in an Etruscan (sample R473, 700-600 BC).

J2b2a1a1a1b2~-Y86930 was identified in the Illyrians of the Early Iron Age of Croatia (2765-2599 BP)

J2a1-L26>J-Y7010 was identified in sample I15543 (10th century) from Timacum Minus (Ravna, Kuline) in Serbia

J2b1-M205>J2b1a~-Y22075 was identified in sample BEL024 from the Slavic burial mound No. 96 (10th-11th centuries) near the village of Studenka (Bykhov district, Belarus)

Distribution of J2 Frequency (including all subclades): Lesser Armenia, Western Armenia, Eastern Armenia, Lebanon, Malta, Italy, Greece, Iran, Georgia (especially among the Laz and Mingrelians), Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Belarus, Russia (Rus, Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya), etc.

Finally, there is a small sample of Iranian Armenians (Hayots Atrpatakan, Paytakaran, and Parkaayk), who are believed to have been taken to Isfahan (central Iran) by the troops of Shah Abbas in 1604 CE.

Of this sample, 25 individuals showed 52 mutations at 0-5 steps from the Middle Eastern haplotype, which gives the time of appearance of the haplotype in the ancestor of these people as 2513.5 (2213.5) years ago, and the Armenian haplotype appeared in them 5500 years ago (17 individuals with 25 mutations at 0-5 steps).

Naturally, with such limited statistics it is difficult to count on reliable data, but the general order of the appearance of the two main haplotypes among Armenians generally coincides – about six thousand years ago

The Lebanese type of the Armenian race type (according to the Middle Eastern) haplotype 14-15-23-10-11-12,

The Armenian type of the Armenian race – haplotype 14-12-24-11-13-12. approximately three to four thousand years ago

The haplotype of the 12 tribes as “basic” or “root” are identical.

Armenians have a single ancestor in the male line, who lived 6,200 years ago in the Armenian Highlands (the historical habitat of Armenians to this day).

Later, another small population with a common Armenian ancestor was added to them. Since then, the genetic picture in the Highlands has not changed much.

Armenian DNA Project at Family Tree DNA

Different peoples at different times used different names for Armenia and the Armenians. The Sumerians around 2800 BC called Armenia Aratta, and the Akkadians, who replaced the Sumerians in the second half of the third millennium BC, called it Armani or Armanum. The Hittites, who appeared in the second millennium BC, used the name Hayasa to designate Armenia, and the Assyrians, who arose in the second half of the second millennium BC, called it Uruatri or Urartu (Ararat in the Bible).

With the disappearance of the peoples who called Armenia and the Armenians by these names from the historical arena, the use of these names also disappeared. But Armenia and the Armenians, who always found the strength and opportunity to renew themselves throughout all this time, continued and continue to live.

Aratta is considered the first Armenian state mentioned in ancient texts. These are the records of the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. These texts are believed to be about 4,800 years old, but this does not mean that the state of Aratta did not exist before that. Quentin Atkinson and Russell Gray have shown that the Armenian language was already separated from the common Proto-Indo-European language in the Armenian Highlands, the ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans, about 8,500 years ago. It should be remembered that the ancient Armenians built the Portasar temple complex about 12,000 years ago, which indicates a high level of social organization, certainly necessary for the implementation of such a grandiose work by the standards of that time.

Origin of Armenians Genetic and Research

1) “In our studies, the ancestors of Armenian origin were traced to different parts of the Armenian Highlands-Armenia-R.Armenia,R.Artsakh, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, which illustrates the fact that historical Armenia was a much larger territory than the current Republic of Armenia.”

Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology Department of Evolutionary Biology Urmas Rustalu M.N. RVA-Liz Lugvali Prof. Dr. Richard Willems Tartu 2004

Original text in English

Origin of Armenians and Genetic Research

1) “In our study, the origin of Armenians was traced to different parts of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, which illustrates the fact that historical Armenia was a much larger territory than the current Republic of Armenia.”

University of Tartu Faculty of Biology and Geography Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology Department of Evolutionary Biology Urmas Roostalu M Sc. Rva-Liis Loogvali Prof. Dr. Richard Willems Tartu 2004

Armenians belong to 13 different genetic groups, the age of which dates back tens of thousands of years, and at the same time, in the DNA of Armenians in the last 4000 years there are no traces of invaders, which makes them “homogeneous in all their diversity”

Origin of Armenians Genetic and Research

1) “In our studies, the ancestors of Armenian origin were traced to different parts of the Armenian Highlands-Armenia-R.Armenia,R.Artsakh, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, which illustrates the fact that historical Armenia was a much larger territory than the current Republic of Armenia.”

Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology Department of Evolutionary Biology Urmas Rustalu M.N. RVA-Liz Lugvali Prof. Dr. Richard Willems Tartu 2004

Original text in English

Origin of Armenians and Genetic Research

1) “In our study, the origin of Armenians was traced to different parts of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, which illustrates the fact that historical Armenia was a much larger territory than the current Republic of Armenia.”

University of Tartu Faculty of Biology and Geography Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology Department of Evolutionary Biology Urmas Roostalu M Sc. Rva-Liis Loogvali Prof. Dr. Richard Willems Tartu 2004

Armenians belong to 13 different genetic groups, the age of which dates back tens of thousands of years, and at the same time, in the DNA of Armenians in the last 4000 years there are no traces of invaders, which makes them “homogeneous in all their diversity”

Armenian DNA Analysis.

1) Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology Department of Evolutionary Biology Urmas Rustalu Mn. RVA-Liz Lugvali Prof. Dr. Richard Willems Tartu 2004 “In our study, the ancestors of Armenians were traced back to different parts of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, indicating that historical Armenia was a much larger territory than the current Republic of Armenia.”

2) Banoy, Chaleshtori, Sanyati, Shariati, Khaushman, Majidzadeh, Soltani and Goliapour (2007) Variation in DAT1 VNTR Alleles and Genotypes Among Old Ethnic Groups in Mesopotamia to the Oxus Region. “Armenians are a nation and ethnic group originating from the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia, where there is a large concentration of this community, especially in Armenia.” 3) (Movsesyan and Kochar 2000) “The cranial similarity between modern Armenians and the inhabitants of Armenia from 1600 – 700 BC indicates the continuity of genetic connection with the ancient population”

4) “Armenians are a separate ethnic group that arose from the Neolithic tribes of the Armenian Highlands” Litvinov S *, Kutuyev A, Yunusbayev V, R. Khusainova, Valiev R, Khusnutdinova E.

5) 40% of Armenian genes date back to the Paleolithic era. Levon Episkoposyan

6) Armenians belong to 13 different genetic groups, the age of which dates back tens of thousands of years, and at the same time in the DNA of Armenians in the last 4000 years there are no traces of invaders, which makes them “homogeneous in all their diversity”.

“As a result of testing more than 300 people, it was found that the Armenian branches of DNA are the basis of many branches of Europe.”

Self-designation of Ari, the word “Ari”. Not one people in the world has such a strong connection with this concept and word as the ARMENIANS/ARMENS. Moreover, in no other language does the word “Ari” have SUCH HONOR (“Ari” = “brave”, “Ari” = “masculinity”, “KadjAri” = “courageous”, “Ar” = “man”, “Artakarg” = “super”, etc.), in no other language in the world there are so many names with the root AR (ARARat – the holy mountain of Armenians, Aragats, ARGeyos, the ARArat kingdom; the provinces of Great Hayk – ARARAT, ARCakh, the Ark county, ARTAZ, ARAGATSOTN; ​​the cities of ARMavir, ARTASHAT, ARAbkir, ARDagan, ARDVIN, ARESH, ARChESH, ARRZUM, ARTSAp, the ARAKS rivers, ARATSAN, the ARTAGERS fortress, etc.) and in no other language in the world there are so many personal names with the root “AR” (Armen, Arman, Artak, Aram, Argam, Ara, Artashes, Harutyun, Artavazd and many more).

The first Aryan kings, whose names are preserved in the Avesta, have clearly Armenian names. So – Ayomart (literally translated from Armenian – “Armenian man”), Ayosinga (in translation simply means “Son of Aya”, the son of the previous one), Azhdaa (in Armenian, it means “Giant”), Tiran-Taron (/Traetaona/, Tiran and Taron are typically Armenian names), Manuchar (again a typically Armenian name), Nazar (the same), Arshasp (“Arsham”, a typically Armenian name).

And in this question there is a huge number of connections. Not to mention the huge number of swastikas / solar signs on Armenian temples, churches, armor and weapons of warriors.

By the way, I forgot the most important thing. ARev is the sun, as well as two popular symbols – the eagle and the lion – ARtsiv and ARuyts respectively.

History of the origin of R1b from the Ice Age to the beginning of the Hallstatt period (1200 BC)

R1b is a Y-chromosome haplogroup, most common in Western Europe. It is also found in Central Asia, Eastern Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. After the migration of Europeans to America and Australia, it made up a significant share there as well. It is determined by the single nucleotide polymorphism M343, discovered in 2004[4]. From 2001 to 2005, R1b was determined by the presence of SNP P25. In older classification systems, it was Hg1 and Eu18.

It is most common in Western Europe, as well as in some parts of Russia, such as Dagestan. The haplogroup is present in lower levels in Eastern Europe and in some parts of North Africa.

It originates from haplogroup R1, just like haplogroup R1a.

Haplogroup R1b arose in the Armenian Highlands from a mutation of haplogroup R1 that occurred in a man who lived approx. 22,800 years ago (date determined by snips by YFull). The last common ancestor of R1b carriers lived 20.4 thousand years ago

Two important subclades of Haplogroup R1a1a appear to broadly divide the European and Asian parts of this large clade: R-Z283 (R1a1a1b1) appears to encompass most of the R1a1a found in Europe (Pamjav 2012), while R-Z93 (R1a1a1b2)

These two subclades descends from Haplogroup R1a1a (M17)/(M198), which makes up the vast majority of all R1a over its entire geographic range. R1a1a descends it self from Haplogroup R1a1 (SRY1532.2), that originated as a single mutation of one male, the R1a1 originator considered to be the ancestor of all individuals carrying R1a1.

Origin

Haplogroup R1b (Y-DNA) is the dominant paternal lineage of Western Europe. In human genetics, Haplogroup R1b is the most frequently occurring Y-chromosome haplogroup in Western Europe and . R1b is also present at lower frequencies throughout Eastern Europe, Western Asia, Central Asia, and parts of North Africa, South Asia, and Siberia.

Due to European emigration it also reaches high frequencies in the Americas and Australia. While Western Europe is dominated by the R1b1a2 (R-M269). These represent two very successful “twigs” on a much bigger “family tree.”

Early research focused upon Europe. In 2000 Ornella Semino and colleagues argued that R1b had been in Europe before the end of Ice Age, and had spread north from an Iberian refuge after the Last Glacial Maximum. Age estimates of R1b in Europe have steadily decreased in more recent studies, at least concerning the majority of R1b, with more recent studies suggesting a Neolithic age or younger.

Only Morelli et al. have recently attempted to defend a Palaeolithic origin for R1b1b2. Irrespective of STR coalescence calculations, Chikhi et al. pointed out that the timing of molecular divergences does not coincide with population splits; the TMRCA of haplogroup R1b (whether in the Palaeolithic or Neolithic) dates to its point of origin somewhere in Eurasia, and not its arrival in western Europe.

Barbara Arredi and colleagues were the first to point out that the distribution of R1b STR variance in Europe forms a cline from east to west, which is more consistent with an entry into Europe from Western Asia with the spread of farming. A 2009 paper by Chiaroni et al. added to this perspective by using R1b as an example of a wave haplogroup distribution, in this case from east to west.

The proposal of a southeastern origin of R1b were supported by three detailed studies based on large datasets published in 2010. These detected that the earliest subclades of R1b are found in western Asia and the most recent in western Europe.

While age estimates in these articles are all more recent than the Last Glacial Maximum, all mention the Neolithic, when farming was introduced to Europe from the Middle East as a possible candidate period. Myres et al. (August 2010), and Cruciani et al. (August 2010) both remained undecided on the exact dating of the migration or migrations responsible for this distribution, not ruling out migrations as early as the Mesolithic or as late as Hallstatt but more probably Late Neolithic.

They noted that direct evidence from ancient DNA may be needed to resolve these gene flows. Lee et al. (May 2012) analysed the ancient DNA of human remains from the Late Neolithic Bell Beaker site of Kromsdorf, Germany identifying two males as belonging to the Y haplogroup R1b. Analysis of ancient Y DNA from the remains of populations derived from early Neolithic settlements such as the Mediterranean Cardium and Central and North European LBK settlements have found an absence of males belonging to haplogroup R1b.

The Spread

The Dnieper River is one of the major rivers of Europe (fourth by length), rising near Smolensk and flowing through Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. The total length is 2,145 kilometres (1,333 mi) with a drainage basin of 504,000 square kilometres (195,000 sq mi).

The river is noted for its dams and hydroelectric stations. The Dnieper is an important navigable waterway for the economy of Ukraine and is connected via the Dnieper-Bug Canal to other waterways in Europe.

In antiquity, the river was known to the Greeks as the Borysthenes and was part of the Amber Road. Arheimar, a capital of the Goths, was located on the Dnieper, according to the Hervarar saga.

Genetic studies based on modern male Scandinavian DNA suggest the advent of Ahrensburg “culture” may be associated with the bearers of the Haplogroup R1a1, that are postulated to have originally expanded to Europe and brought the reindeer hunters of the Ahrensburg “culture” from the Dniepr-Don Valley in Ukraine during the Late Glacial Maximum and reached Scandinavia between 13,000 and 7600 years ago.

Archaeological evidences have suggested that the core of the oldest populations colonising Scandinavia 11 000–12 000 thousand years ago came from the present Germany. They probably went through the Jutland and the now submerged Doggerland, and then headed northward via the ice-free coastal area of Norway.

Their lithic tools suggest they belonged to the Ahrensburgian culture,that thrived in central and eastern Europe (artifacts have been found in Poland, Lithuania and Russia) in the so called ‘Late Glacial’, that is at the end of the LGM, when the increase of temperature and precipitation triggered the recession of the ice sheets.

The analysis of many Ahrensburg sites and the related lithic tools has suggested that this culture started from the Dniepr valley in Ukraine, one of the sites were humans found refuge during the LGM.

The analysis of Y chromosome polymorphisms in present European populations has indicated that Eu 19 (that is also characterised by other Y chromosome markers: 49a,fht11, SRY 1532G) expanded between 13 000 and 7600 years ago from the Dniepr-Don Valley area, probably when groups that initially sought refuge in that area during the LGM were allowed to migrate by the improved climatic conditions to those regions of Europe previously covered by ice.

In fact this Y chromosome lineage, is by far more frequent is eastern Europe with a decreasing westward gradient. In addition it is much more diversified in eastern European populations. The highest degree of diversification was observed in Ukranians.

It is then possible that Ahrensburgian men, as well as most of the men descending from the Ukranian LGM refuge bore Eu19 Y chromosomes. The microsatellite haplotypes linked to M17 in Norwegian individuals represents indeed a subset of the repertoire observed in eastern Europe. In particular it was observed the prevalence of the 15.3/1 (21/19 repeats) and of the 16.5/1 (23/19 repeats) haplotypes with their relative derivatives.

The Eu19 16.5/1 haplotype is also very common in eastern Europe, while Eu 19 15.3/1 haplotype is common in Norway, but very rare elsewhere. This peculiar pattern of microsatellites affiliated with EU19 may be explained by a founder effect, subsequent isolation in Norwegians (and possibly the Scandinavians) and eventual in loco expansion, as also observed elsewhere.

If it seems reasonable to assume that most of the Ahrensburgian men bore the Eu19 Y chromosomes, it cannot be excluded that they mixed with other groups before moving northward to Norwegian coasts. In particular, late glacial central Europe was characterised by the expansion of northern Balkan groups, where the frequency of M170 Y chromosomes (EU 7) was probably very high.

In addition, based on the differentiation of haplogroup V in Scandinavia, it also seems that groups coming from the northern Spain refuge entered Norway. Should this be true, it is likely that M173 Y chromosomes (EU18) also entered Norway during the late glacial.

R1a is also thought to have been the dominant haplogroup among the northern and eastern Proto-Indo-European language speakers, that evolved into the Indo-Iranian, Thracian, Baltic and Slavic branches. The Proto-Indo-Europeans originated in the Yamna culture (3300-2500 BCE).

These populations would have likely been Indo-European speakers that possibly fostered the Proto Baltic-Slavic-Germanic linguistic unity to the Baltic area and to north-eastern Europe. Specifically the Corded Wares culture from Central Europe (present Germany) and the Battle-Axe culture from Jutland.

The spread of agriculture correlated with the Corded Wares–Battle Axe cultures and possibly involved the displacement of some of the previous populations,

Across Caucasus

The Tell Halaf/Ubaid culture are tied both to the Southern Levant and then to the Trancausia area and possibly inspiring both Kura-Axes and Maykop development. The Kura-Axes and Maykop area becomes core to the Circumpontic Metallugy Province. We have M269 L23xL51 in the Caucasus and Anatolia and L51 types of R1b showing up with Bell Beakers, metallurgists, in Western Euroope.

The Paleolithic origins of R1b are not entirely clear to this day. Some of the oldest forms of R1b are found around the Caucasus, in Iran and in southern Central Asia, a vast region where could have roamed the nomadic R1b hunter-gatherers during the Ice Age. A branch of R1 would have developed into R1b then R1b1 and R1b1a in the northern part of the Middle East around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum (circa 20,000 years ago), while R1a migrated north to Siberia.

R1b1a presumptively moved to northern Anatolia and across the Caucasus during the Neolithic, where it split into R1b1a1 (M73) and R1b1a2 (M269). The Near Eastern leftovers evolved into R1b1c (V88), now found at low frequencies among the Lebanese, the Druze, and the Jews. The Phoenicians (who came from modern day Lebanon) spread this R1b1c to their colonies, notably Sardinia and the Maghreb.

R1b1a2 (the most common form in Europe) and R1b1a1 is closely associated with the diffusion of Indo-European languages, as attested by its presence in all regions of the world where Indo-European languages were spoken in ancient times, from the Atlantic coast of Europe to the Indian subcontinent, including almost all Europe (except Finland), Anatolia, Armenia, European Russia, southern Siberia, many pockets around Central Asia , without forgetting Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal. The history of R1b and R1a are intricately connected to each others.

Modern linguists have placed the Proto-Indo-European homeland in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, a distinct geographic and archeological region extending from the Danube estuary to the Ural mountains to the east and North Caucasus to the south. The Neolithic, Eneolithic and early Bronze Age cultures in Pontic-Caspian steppe has been called the Kurgan culture (7000-2200 BCE) by Marija Gimbutas, due to the lasting practice of burying the deads under mounds (“kurgan”) among the succession of cultures in that region. It is now known that kurgan-type burials only date from the 4th millenium BCE and almost certainly originated south of the Caucasus.

Horses were first domesticated around 4600 BCE in the Caspian Steppe, perhaps somewhere around the Don or the lower Volga, and soon became a defining element of steppe culture. Nevertheless it is unlikely that R1b was already present in the eastern steppes at the time, so the domestication of the horse should be attributed to the indigenous R1a people.

It is not yet entirely clear when R1b crossed over from eastern Anatolia to the Pontic-Caspian steppe. This could have happened during or just after the Neolithic, or both. The genetic diversity of R1b being greater around the Caucasus it is hard to deny that R1b evolved there before entering the steppe world.

It is possible that a first R1b migration from Anatolia in the 5th or even 6th millennium BCE introduced sheep into the steppe, an animal whose wool would play an important role in Celtic and Germanic (R1b branches of the Indo-Europeans) clothing traditions up to this day. Another migration across the Caucasus happened shortly before 3700 BCE, when the Maykop culture, the world’s first Bronze Age society, appeared apparently out of nowhere in the north-west Caucasus.

The origins of Maykop are still uncertain, but archeologists have linked it to contemporary Chalcolithic cultures in Assyria and western Iran. Archeology also shows a clear diffusion of bronze working and kurgan-type burials from the Maykop culture to the Pontic Steppe, where the Yamna culture (3500-2500 BCE) developed soon afterwards (from 3500 BCE).

Middle Eastern R1b people had been living and blending to some extent with the local R1a foragers and herders for over a millennium, perhaps even two or three. The close cultural contact and interactions between R1a and R1b people all over the Pontic-Caspian Steppe resulted in the creation of a common vernacular, a new lingua franca, which linguists have called Proto-Indo-European (PIE).

R1b1a2

R1b1a2 (2011 name) is defined by the presence of SNP marker M269. R1b1a2* or M269(xL23) is found at highest frequency in the central Balkans notably Kosovo with 7.9%, Macedonia 5.1% and Serbia 4.4%. Kosovo is notable in also having a high percentage of descendant L23* or L23(xM412) at 11.4% unlike most other areas with significant percentages of M269* and L23* except for Poland with 2.4% and 9.5% . Notably this Bashkir population also has a high percentage of M269 sister branch M73 at 23.4%. Five individuals out of 110 tested in the Ararat Valley, Armenia belonged to R1b1a2* and 36 to L23*, with none belonging to subclades of L23.

European R1b is dominated by R-M269. It has been found at generally low frequencies throughout central Eurasia, but with relatively high frequency among Bashkirs of the Perm Region (84.0%). This marker is also present in China and India at frequencies of less than one percent. The table below lists in more detail the frequencies of M269 in various regions in Asia, Europe, and Africa.

The frequency is about 71% in Scotland, 70% in Spain and 60% in France. In south-eastern England the frequency of this clade is about 70%; in parts of the rest of north and western England, Spain, Portugal, Wales and Ireland, it is as high as 90%; and in parts of north-western Ireland it reaches 98%. It is also found in North Africa, where its frequency surpasses 10% in some parts of Algeria.

As discussed above, in articles published around 2000 it was proposed that this clade been in Europe before the last Ice Age, but by 2010 more recent periods such as the European Neolithic have become the focus of proposals.

A range of newer estimates for R1b1b2, or at least its dominant parts in Europe, are from 4,000 to a maximum of about 10,000 years ago, and looking in more detail is seen as suggesting a migration from Western Asia via southeastern Europe. Western European R1b is dominated by R-P310.

It was also in this period between 2000 and 2010 that it became clear that especially Western European R1b is dominated by specific sub-clades of R-M269 (with some small amounts of other types found in areas such as Sardinia).

Within Europe, R-M269 is dominated by R-M412, also known as R-L51, which according to Myres et al. (2010) is “virtually absent in the Near East, the Caucasus and West Asia.” This Western European population is further divided between R-P312/S116 and R-U106/S21, which appear to spread from the western and eastern Rhine river basin respectively.

Myres et al. note further that concerning its closest relatives, in R-L23*, that it is “instructive” that these are often more than 10% of the population in the Caucasus and some southeast European and circum-Uralic populations. In Western Europe it is also present but in generally much lower levels apart from “an instance of 27% in Switzerland’s Upper Rhone Valley.”

In addition, the sub-clade distribution map, Figure 1h titled “L11(xU106,S116)”, in Myres et al. shows that R-P310/L11* (or as yet undefined subclades of R-P310/L11) occurs only in frequencies greater than 10% in Central England with surrounding areas of England and Wales having lower frequencies.

This R-P310/L11* is almost non-existent in the rest of Eurasia and North Africa with the exception of coastal lands fringing the western and southern Baltic (reaching 10% in Eastern Denmark and 6% in northern Poland) and in Eastern Switzerland and surrounds.

In 2009, DNA extracted from the femur bones of 6 skeletons in an early-medieval burial place in Ergolding (Bavaria, Germany) dated to around 670 AD yielded the following results: 4 were found to be haplogroup R1b with the closest matches in modern populations of Germany, Ireland and the USA while 2 were in Haplogroup G2a.

Population studies which test for M269 have become more common in recent years, while in earlier studies men in this haplogroup are only visible in the data by extrapolation of what is likely. The following gives a summary of most of the studies which specifically tested for M269, showing its distribution in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia as far as Nepal

Armenia

Armenians are divided into two main groups according to their haplotypes. One almost coincides with the Atlantic modal haplotype (AMH):

The Armenian Highland is the center of world civilization

The Armenian Highland has two large haplogroups (R1b) and (J2), which are divided into 13 sub-Hoplogrup.

The geographical distribution of this haplotype is such that it is shared by Armenians and two other populations from the Armenian highland. Moreover, it is lacking in most other populations from the Caucasus, as well as in the other populations from further east. On the other hand, it is more frequently found in Europe, where as we know, haplogroup R1b tends to have higher frequencies as well.

It would be interesting to thoroughly study the populations of modern Thrace, Anatolia, and Armenia, and to investigate whether a subgroup of R1b3 chromosomes linked by the Armenian modal haplotype may represent the signature of a back-migration into Asia of Balkan Indo-European peoples.

Combined with advanced bronze weapons and their sea-based culture, the western branch (R1b) of the Indo-Europeans from the Black Sea shores are excellent candidates for being the mysterious Sea Peoples, who raided the eastern shores of the Mediterranean during the second millennium BCE.

The Slavic and the Proto-Armenians are two other Indo-European tribes stemming from the Armenian Highlend. Both appear to have migrated to Anatolia around 1200 BCE, during the ‘great upheavals’ of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Kura-Araxes culture

The period between the 4th and 3rd millennia B.C. was the time of great cataclysmic events in the Caucasus; its cultural advances were influenced by changes within its boundaries as well as interactions with the outside world. The most significant occurrence of this epoch was the appearance of a large number of peoples of Mesopotamian cultural identity who contributed to speeding up the rhythm of its cultural development, adding “explosive” character to its progress.

During this period the Armenian highl experienced two powerful waves of Middle Eastern expansion: the first at the time of Late Neolithic culture of Sioni in the 4th-5th millennia B.C., and the second at the period of Tsopi culture in the Late Neolithic Age, at the end of the 5th and the first half of the 4th millennium B.C., which is known as the Uruk expansion era.

Later, in the second half of the 4th and throughout the 3 rd millennium B.C., during the Early Bronze Age the Kura-Araxes culture of the Caucasus spread throughout the greater part of the Caucasus, Eastern Anatolia, northern parts of Iran, Middle East and even Europe.

In this context, recent archaeological finds in the Southern and Northeastern Caucasus gave yet another, entirely new nuance to scientific researches into the ancient past of the Caucasus. They made it clear that incursion of these peoples into the Caucasus was not a onetime event, but continued for a significantly long period.

Reasoning by the topography of the archaeological finds in Mesopotamia, it becomes clear that large masses of migrant settlers from that area did not move straight along the route to Transcaucasia in order to reach the destination faster. Actually, they settled down in every region of the Caucasus, in the mountains and flatlands, in areas where they could maintain a lifestyle familiar to them.

It seems obvious that from that period on, two cultures of the Caucasus that had been at different stages of development could coexist peacefully on the basis of their mutual participation in metallurgical manufacturing; it was this type of communal economy that gave impetus to a speedy development of the local culture. This is well illustrated by the metallurgical items of the Kura-Araxes culture, which is significantly more advanced in comparison with the preAeneolithic culture.

At present the situation has changed drastically. On the basis of a whole series of radiocarbon analyses, it has been proved that burial mounds of the ancient pit-grave culture are of a significantly later period in comparison with Maikop archaeological sites.

This allows scholars to assume that the tradition of building this type of burial mounds emerged precisely in the Maikop culture. Its ties with Levant and Mesopotamian antiquities point to its earlier origin. At the same time, a whole range of chronological data obtained with radiocarbon analysis has established that the settlements and burial mounds of the South Caucasus containing Uruk artefact are coexistent with the Maikop culture and, accordingly, the ancient pit-grave culture and its burial mounds belong to a later period.

Therefore, today we cannot possibly ascribe the emergence of this kind of burial mounds in the Maikop culture as well as similar contemporaneous sites in the South Caucasus to the influence of the steppe zone cultures. Moreover, there were no adverse conditions that would have prevented emergence of this type of burial mounds in the Caucasus itself

Akhundov (2007) recently uncovered pre-Kura-Araxes/Late Chalcolithic materials from the settlement of Boyuk Kesik and the kurgan necropolis of Soyuq Bulaq in northwestern Azerbaijan, and Makharadze (2007) has also excavated a pre-Kura-Araxes kurgan, Kavtiskhevi, in central Georgia.

Materials recovered from both these recent excavations can be related to remains from the metal-working Late Chalcolithic site of Leilatepe on the Karabakh steppe near Agdam (Narimanov et al. 2007) and from the earliest level at the multi-period site of Berikldeebi in Kvemo Kartli (Glonti and Dzavakhishvili 1987). They reveal the presence of early 4th millennium raised burial mounds or kurgans in the southern Caucasus.

Similarly, on the basis of her survey work in eastern Anatolia north of the Oriental Taurus mountains, C. Marro (2007)likens chafffaced wares collected at Hanago in the Sürmeli Plain and Astepe and Colpan in the eastern Lake Van district in northeastern Turkey with those found at the sites mentioned above and relates these to similar wares (Amuq E/F) found south of the Taurus Mountains in northern Mesopotamia.

The Kura–Araxes culture or the early trans-Caucasian culture was a civilization that existed from 3400 BC until about 2000 BC, which has traditionally been regarded as the date of its end, but it may have disappeared as early as 2600 or 2700 BC.

The name of the culture is derived from the Kura and Araxes river valleys. Its territory corresponds to parts of modern Armenia,.

About Armenian

The 2009 Y-DNA Human Migration Map prepared by Family Tree DNA shows where all haplogroups originated and how they spread. The haplogroups distribution of members of the Armenian DNA Project (R1b, J2, J1, G, E, I1, I2, T, R2, Q, F, R1a, L, A) can be viewed on the “Results” page. The relationship between these broad haplogroups can be seen in this TREE (ISOGG) and this TREE (1000 genomes). The relative age of the specifically European and Asian Y-DNA haplogroups can be seen in this TREE taken from a recent paper in Current Biology by Pedro Soares et al. This Armenian version of the same tree gives you an idea of the size and diversity of the male Y-DNA haplogroups in the Armenian population.

The 2006 mtDNA Human Migration Map prepared by Family Tree DNA shows where all haplogroups originated and how they spread. This TREE gives an idea of the overall branch structure. The haplogroups distribution of members of the Armenian DNA Project (H, U, T, I, W, HV, J, K, X, N, V, F) can be viewed on the “Results” page. The relative age of the specifically European and West Asian mtDNA haplogroups can be seen in this TREE taken from a recent paper in Current Biology by Pedro Soares et al. This Armenian version of the same tree gives you an idea of the size and diversity of the maternal mtDNA haplogroups in the Armenian population.
The African Origin model for all modern humans is well represented in this TREE taken from a recent paper in Current Biology by Michael C. Campbell and Sarah A. Tishkoff. For more on this subject. See next section further down this web page.

All members of the Armenian DNA Project should visit the website of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy to view the latest version of the ISOGG 2013 Y-DNA Haplogroup Tree. By clicking on their haplogroup letter, they can view the most recent information concerning their branch of the tree (clades, sub-clades, etc. with associated SNP mutations). SNPs are permanent DNA mutations that are passed on to all males in the direct line of male descent. They are used to determine branches within haplogroups.

Newer but much more technical Y-DNA trees for some haplogrougs can be found at the DNA-Fingerprint website run by Thomas Krahn, head of FTDNA’s Genomics Research Center. Thomas Krahn has also provided a link to the most up-to-date (and technical) tree available in DRAFT form here. The links from this tree to the Y chromosome map are only of interest to geneticists.

Family Tree DNA has another way of presenting the trees for Y-DNA in this now dated file from 2009 (big file).

In case you come across “old” papers using now dated nomenclature, this TREE from 2002 should come in handy (Ref. YCC NRY Tree 2002 v2002.01.18 from the Y Chromosome Consortium at the University of Arizona).

Argus Biosciences has prepared a detailed Phylogenetic Tree of mitochondrial DNA and a MAP showing the distribution of mtDNA haplogroups by region on a global scale. Please zoom in for better views.

The views discussed in this section are those of Dienekes Pontikos as per his analysis of a recent paper by Michael GB Blum and Mattias Jakobsson: “Deep Divergences of Human Gene Trees and Models of Human Origins.” There are four or five scenarios to explain the current distribution of human populations as can be seen in this figure.

R1b1a2a represents the largest haplogroup for Armenians in general and project members in particular. It has been estimated to be 8,000 years old. According to Vince Vizachero who runs the haplogroup R-ht35 Project: “From prior analysis, it appears that R1b1a2a moved north and west into Europe quite rapidly. And the data we are seeing in our project are consistent with that: the oldest forms of R1b1a2a are found at high frequency in the ” homeland – Armenian highlend-” of SW Asia and places with the most contact with that region. The closer we get to NW Europe, the more we observe the youngest, derived forms of R1b1a2a.” The current distribution of this haplogroup shows a heavy concentration in Western Europe (from the Northern part of the Iberian peninsula to Ireland and England via France and Belgium) as can be seen in this MAP. The map corroborates Vince’s conclusions as it shows a 15% concentration of R1b1a2a in a Northern swath of Anatolia – with a peak of 25% in the middle of the swath. The studies on which the map makers drew sampled broadly in the region including Turks, Kurds, Georgians and Azeris. If you sample only Armenians, you get a concentration of 30% of R1b1a2. If you sample only Armenians from Karabakh and Syunik you get concentrations of more than 40%.

The distribution of the “youngest and derived forms” of R1b1a2 found mainly in Western Europe – which include any Armenians so far – can be viewed here (the numbers represent percentages). Both are the only known branches of R1b1a2a1a1 (ht-15): P312 = R1b1a2a1a1a and U106 = R1b1a2a1a1b. If any Armenians are found in one of these two groups in the future, it will most likely mean they are descended from Crusaders. As per Wikipedia: It was initially believed that R1b originated in western Europe where (considered as a whole, including subclades) it reaches its highest frequencies. However R1b’s variance increases as one moves east, leading to the view that R1b originated further east, and (M269) expanded into Europe in the Neolithic not Paleolithic. Many geneticists now believe that R1b arose in Armenian highland or Western Asia. All of the above is illustrated quite clearly in this PowerPoint slide.

This lengthy article on R1b1 is fairly accurate and up-to-date. Recommended reading for members of this haplogroup. A warning however concerning the articles on the other haplogroups: there are numerous inaccuracies and ommissions.

Vince Vizachero prepared the following MAP of the distribution of R1b1a2* (yellow – L265+), R1b1a2a* (green – L23+), R1b1a2a1a* (orange – L51+), and R1b1a2a1a1* (red – L11+). The vast majority of R1b1a2 members of the Armenian DNA Project belong to the green R1b1a2a* L23+ branch. A few are part of the yellow R1b1a2* L265+ branch. None are orange R1b1a2a11* L51+ only. One is red R1b1a2a1a1* L11+. More importantly, no Armenians are found in the big European branches downstream of red L11+, namely U106 & P312.

A recent study published in january 2010 seems to corroborate all of the above. According to its authors (Balaresque et al): “Haplogroup R1b1a2 is the commonest European Y-chromosomal lineage, increasing in frequency from east to west, and carried by 110 million European men. Previous studies suggested a Paleolithic origin, but here we show that the geographical distribution of its microsatellite diversity is best explained by spread from a single source in the Near East via Anatolia during the Neolithic… R1b1a2 was carried as a rapidly expanding lineage from the Near East via Armenian highlands to the western fringe of Europe during the Neolithic. Our interpretation of the history of hg R1b1a2 now makes Europe a prime example of how expansion of a Y-chromosomal lineage tends to accompany technological and cultural change.”

Another study published in august 2010 (Myres et al.) strengthens this view: “The phylogenetic relationships of numerous branches within the core Y-chromosome haplogroup R-M207 support a West Asian origin of haplogroup R1b, its initial differentiation there followed by a rapid spread of one of its sub-clades carrying the M269 mutation to Europe.”

January 2011 update: there now seems to be some structure to the largest haplogroup branch in the Armenian DNA Project. Armenians and others getting tested at 23andMe seem to belong either to one of the two new L277 and L405 . Large scale testing will begin once these SNP mutations are available for testing at Family Tree DNA. Ref. this clear new TREE prepared by Vince Vizachero.

If all of the above is true, it may explain the origin of the Basques.

For the latest research on the less differentiated but not necessarily more ancient R1b1* haplogroup branch, visit the news page of Vincent Vizachero’s R1b1* DNA Project. Vizachero computed branch lengths for R1 and came up with the following estimates: R1 = 18,500 years ago; R1b1 = 15,300 years ago; and R1b1a = 12,500 years ago. Here is the summary TREE for R1b1 and its major branches. Vizachero notes that R1b1* exists throughout Eurasia. It is pretty rare in Europe, and there is no getting around the fact that R1b1 is essentially a Eurasian haplogroup with strong phylogenetic structure. As per this MAP, R1b1* has its frequency peak in SW Asia – it appears to have more diversity there too.

As per Vince: “There are two main branches in R1b1 (R1b* is probably a phantom). One branch is R-P297 [R1b1b] and the other branch is what we call R1b1* (or R1b1(xP297). So if you are looking for an origin point for R1b1, then you look for the intersection of those two sets. The TMRCA for those two lines is roughly 16,000 years ago. R-P297 is easy, since there are only two clades which are easily identified by SNP. R1b1a1 and R1b1a2 both have Eurasian distributions, and the origin point for both is in the Near East (call it Anatolia+Levant if you want). The TMRCA of R-P297 is roughly 12,000 years ago. Although the frequency of R-M73 [R1b1a1] is highest in Central Asia, this is not where it is most diverse. And there are three distinct clades of R-M73. R1b1* is itself divided into two major lineages, with the split between them being roughly 15,000 years ago. The academics never pay enough attention to R1b1, but we can see that the frequency peak of R1b1 is clearly in the Near East.”

The first cluster of R1b1* (call it A) is comprised solely of Europeans and an Armenian. The second cluster of R1b1* has two subgroups (call them B1 and B2). B1 is composed of an Armenian, an Iraqi Syriac & an Iranian Arab. “B2 is comprised of a wide group of people (including Europeans, Arabians, Ashkenazi, Africans, etc). It is this group B2 which appears to have been the source population for the back-to-Africa migration to Cameroon.” Cluster B1 diverged from cluster B2 about 10,000 years ago. A new SNP mutation called V88 separates both A and B1 from B2. Vince Vizachero believes ” that R1b1 first appeared in the northern part of southwest Asia (e.g. Iraq/Iran) while V88 first arose in an R1b1 population living just a little further south (e.g. the Levant or Arabia).”

Members of haplogroups G2a & G1 can learn about the various G clades at: Haplogroup G Categories, Samples, Diagrams, Etc. They can also learn about Haplogroup G Time Relationships and Migration Patterns. You can dig deeper by looking at the comprehensive categorization of G samples along with some diagrams. These sites were created by G DNA Project administrator, Ray Banks who keeps up-to-date Wikipedia pages for: G, G1, G2a1, G2a3a and G2a3b1. The haplogroup G mutation developed about 21,000 to 14,000 years ago. Whatever the date or specific place of origin, part of the G family put down roots predominantly in the area south and east of the Caucasus mountains. The Caucasus are today mainly the countries of Georgia, Armenia, Artsakh and southwestern Russia. The region of origin for the major G groups of today was most likely somewhere in Armenian highland , the Caucasus mountains region, Iran or the eastern Mediterranean – all places where G is found both in significant numbers and with the diversity expected with a long presence.

According to Ray Banks, administrator of the G Project at FTDNA; “G2a3a is found in significant numbers in Armenian highlands , Greece and the eastern Mediterranean countries. G2a3a persons seems to spread wesward mostly along the Mediterranean from these regions. Very preliminary calculations suggest the M406 mutation that characterizes G2a3a arose about the year 2100 B.C.E. as a very general estimate. Detailed samples available from inland Europe were compared with detailed samples from more easterly sites, namely (1) Turkey (2) Lebanon-Jordan and (3) Armenia. These comparisons show that most Europeans have Armenians as their nearest relatives with separations from them starting generally about 1300 B.C.E. and extending into the Dark Ages period after the Roman Empire. Those with the oldest separations (generally abt 1300 B.C.E. to 800 B.C.E.) show splits with the entire group in the east — equally — rather than with a specific region. This is to be expected since the age of the mutation probably does not extend much further back.” Some researchers believe the G2a3a1 branch possibly originated a few thousand years ago in the Hurrian / Urartian population of the Armenian Plateau.

The origins of G1 seem to be Iran. However, since so few G1’s have been thoroughly tested, we cannot as yet draw any firm conclusions. Prof. Levon Yepiskoposyan has found a high concentration of G1 haplotypes in the Armenian-speaking Hamshen population of Abkhazia (originally from Ordu and, ancestrally, from the mountains above Trabzon/Trebizond and Rize).

Haplogroup G seems to have expanded from southwestern Asia or the Middle East to Europe west of the Black Sea and to the western Mediterranean and central Asia primarily about 1,700 to 3,000 years ago. The three countries of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan provide STR samples consistent with all types of haplogroup G seen today in Europe west of the Black Sea with the exception of G1 and G2c. Because of the rich diversity of these G types, this area of the world is a leading candidate for the starting point for most G migrations especially those to western and central Europe.

This MAP shows the current geographic distribution of haplogroups J1 & J2. A new MAP of J2a (M410+) was published in December 2010. Armenian members of these haplogroups currently belong to the following branches: J1, J1c3d, J1c3d1, J2a, J2a3, J2a4, J2a4a, J2a4b, J2a4b1, J2a4d, J2a4h2, J2a4h2a, J2a4h2f, J2a4h2g, J2b* and J2b1. Here is the latest on the draft branch structure of J1 & J2 . This is the latest tree for J1.

Members of the J1 and J2a4* haplogroup clades can view the latest Fluxus diagrams created by J DNA Project administrator Bonnie Schrack on this Y-Haplogroup J DNA Project page. They show how the different branches and clusters within each group relate to each other.

The “J1* with DYS388 = 13 or 14, L136-, P58- sub-clade” is considered by Dr. Roy King of Stanford University to be one of the markers of the Caucasian-speaking Hurrians and Urartians. James Honeychuck has prepared a MAP of the current distribution of this sub-clade. Many if not most of the Eastern European cases of J1* with DYS388 = 13 or 14 shown on this map could well be ancestrally Armenian.

Members of the J2a4h (L25) branch belong to two distinct clusters. The older one is characterized by a value of 10 at DYS445, the younger one with a value of 6. According to David Dugas: “We are currently thinking that 445=10 is the ancestral state for this subclade and its origin might be Iraq or the region where Armenian highland, Iran and Iraq meet. 445=6, a downstream cluster, partly defined by L70 arose in a levantine or coastal anatolian region from a 445=10 haplotype.” This is what Al Aburto has to say about the younger branch: “It is not exactly clear where and when the first person, already having L25, had the first DYS445=6 deletion from the DYS445=10 state (DYS445=10 is most common in the rest of the L25 people). It was probably in Southern Armenian highland, Northern Syria, or Lebanon — somewhere in that area that it occurred. The time frame is not clear either but from a program I use (Generations5) the L25(xL70) with DYS445=6 cluster seems to be about 3,600+/-400 years old. This MAP shows where L25*(6) haplotypes have been found so far. Data from the Middle East (which would make the origins clearer) is slowly building up.” This data has recently enable the administrators of the project to prepare this MAP of variance.

Members of one of the oldest haplogroups, E1b1b1, can view the route through which it spread out of Africa as well as the estimated relative age of the various subclades. Here is the latest TREE of the E1b1b1 branch… and here is a DIAGRAM for an alternate view.

Haplogroup E would appear to have arisen in Northeast Africa based on the concentration and variety of E subclades in that area today. But the fact that Haplogroup E is closely linked with Haplogroup D, which is not found in Africa, leaves open the possibility that E first arose in the Near or Middle East and was subsequently carried into Africa by a back migration.

Armenian project members belong so far to the V12, V13, V22 and M84/M34. The relationship between these three large subclades of E1b1b1 = M35 can be seen in this M215+ Diagram. E1b1b1 = M35 is thought to have arisen 25,000 years ago.

It is known as E1b1b1c1, originated in Anatolia. From there it spread west into Europe and south into the Middle East. Haplotype diversity is highest in the Fertile Crescent, decreasing towards the Arabian Peninsula.

E1b1b1a2, originates in the Middle East or the Armenian Highlands.

MD: Look at this map, which I believe is somewhat incomplete. This article by Stephen Bird on V13 is a must-read. Some Y-DNA lineages could have been introduced into the Armenian population in the same way by Roman auxiliary legionnaires arriving in the Southern Balkans. to emerge… but the structure remains unclear, as does the location of V13. The opinion of V13 is that it arose somewhere on the northern Levant and the last frontier of the Armenian Plateau.

I1 և I2 հապլոգրամները F suprahaplogroup-ի հետնորդներն են, որը ենթադրվում է, որ ներկայացնում է 50 հազար տարի առաջ Աֆրիկայից մարդկանց միգրացիայի երկրորդ և ավելի ուշ փուլը: Ինչպես երևում է այս ՔԱՐՏԵԶ-ում, ենթադրվում է, որ Haplogroup I-ը և նրա քույր կլադերները՝ J1 և J2, հասել են Եվրոպա Մերձավոր Արևելքով՝ օգտագործելով Լևանտի միջանցքը, որը Տիգրիսի, Եփրատի և Եփրատի գետային համակարգերի կողմից ստեղծված հնագույն բերրի կիսալուսնի մի մասն է։ Նեղոս գետեր. Հարկ է նշել, որ J հապլոգումբը առկա է և խիստ բնորոշ է Մերձավոր Արևելքին, մինչդեռ I հապլոգումբն այստեղ գրեթե գոյություն չունի և կարծես թե բացառիկ է Եվրոպայի համար, ինչպես երևում է այս MAP-ում (M253 = I1; M26 = I2a1; M423 = I2a2; M223 & M284= I2b1):

I1 և I2 հապլոգրամները F suprahaplogroup-ի հետնորդներն են, որը ենթադրվում է: Ինչպես երևում է այս ՔԱՐՏԵԶ-ում, ենթադրվում է, որ Haplogroup I-ը և նրա քույր կլադերները՝ J1 և J2, հասել են Եվրոպա Մերձավոր Արևելքով՝ օգտագործելով Լևանտի միջանցքը, որը Տիգրիսի, Եփրատի և Եփրատի գետային համակարգերի կողմից ստեղծված հնագույն բերրի կիսալուսնի մի մասն է։ Նեղոս գետեր. Հարկ է նշել, որ J հապլոգումբը առկա է և խիստ բնորոշ է Մերձավոր Արևելքին, մինչդեռ I հապլոգումբն այստեղ գրեթե գոյություն չունի և կարծես թե բացառիկ է Եվրոպայի համար, ինչպես երևում է այս MAP-ում (M253 = I1; M26 = I2a1; M423 = I2a2; M223 & M284= I2b1):

As per Ken Nordtvedt, the haplogroup I specialist: “Straddling 12,000 years B.P. [Before Present], Europe and nearby regions experienced a prolonged cold period of over a thousand years duration — the Younger Dryas. It was probably the most recent severe demographic setback our ancestors around Europe experienced. Although y haplogroup I (y-Hg I) was by then a mature-in-age haplogroup, being perhaps 10,000 years old already, I conclude from collecting and examining between five and ten thousand haplotypes of y-Hg I today that only nine males emerged from Younger Dryas with surviving male-line descendants today. These Younger Dryas Nine now have tens of millions of male descendants in Europe and elsewhere on the globe where Europeans have settled in recent centuries: each of these nine males were not alone; hunter-gatherer male population of immediate family, extended: family, clan, tribe, etc. Some of these neighboring males carried y haplotypes very close to one of the nine and descended from common ancestors not too much further back in time. These clades of haplotypes surrounding each of the nine could be counted in the tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of contemporaries. But due to very high extinction probabilities for these male lines, exceeding 99 percent, these nine lucky ones emerged as sole representatives of their clades having surviving lines today. Many y-clades no doubt went completely extinct in that era”. You can read Ken’s entire post here.

It remains to be seen how / where the Armenians members of this haplogroup fit. Initially I thought they would either be remnants of the original Anatolian population or descendants of Europeans who migrated back into the Armenian plateau. Both cases are possible. There are tantalizing hints I2* originated in the region as it has so far been found only in Armenia, Armenian highlands and the Caucasus. According to Ken “Armenia is becoming the hotspot outside of Europe for I2. The mist may be clearing as to just where IJ spawned I and J” and “I2 … is the only clade or sub-haplogroup of Hg I with a likely outside-of-Europe indigenous population.”

Also according to Ken (edited): “The F-man is certainly the ancestral node for the IJK node and later the IJ node and later the I node. We have never found a single haplotype of IJK, IJ or I. And there is a very long time between the IJK node and the earliest clades of “I” that we see — probably I2 and I2a1 M26+. We are talking about several tens of thousands of years, certainly pointing our attention to the Armenian Highlands. “The boys from the Armenian Highlands moved westward, north or south of the Black Sea. I am betting on the southern route right now, but without a strong conviction about it. The number of I2* Armenians and the South European features of I2a1 M26+, not to mention the fact that IJ is the parent of “J” as well as “I”, incline me that way.”

There are three clades in I2. Each seems to have gone a separate way after the Last Glacial Maximum (10,000 years ago). As per Ken Nordtvedt: “I2 has three main clades whose ancestral lines separated 8,000 years ago or so. One of them has a strong contribution from Armenia/Armenian highland and elsewhere in SW Asia. And the Greek members of this clade add to its geographical uniqueness. It also has a very young Jewish sub-clade. Also according to Ken: “The more I look at the overall clade which includes the Armenian cluster, the more I see a clade spread by a trading family or clan across the breadth from Iberia to the Caucasus and across the Mediterranean. Where it originates is hard to determine.” Ken finally adds: “… two of the clades of I2* are purely European — and northwest and central Europe to boot, although a few Italian haplotypes are included. These latter two clades of I2* have an interclade node age estimate of 7,500 years.

Armenian members of the I2* B clade have a coalescence age of 2,300 years. When including Jewish I2* members of the same clade, the coalescence age becomes 3,400 years. Clade A has a coalescence age of 3,600 years in Northern Europe, and Clade C has a coalescence age of 2,200 years in Central Europe. “The three clades of I2* diverged from each other very long ago compared to their individual coalescence ages. One day we will have SNPs to distinguish these clades.” This map of the current distribution of the different I2* clades is quite telling.

The common ancestor of the seven Armenian I2*s lived approximately 4,500 years ago in the Armenian Highlands.

Here’s the most recent post on this subject by Ken Nordtvedt: “The I2* cluster is an enigma because overall I2* is probably the strangest haplogroup in Hg I. I2* is generally spread across every quarter of Europe except noticeably light in Scandinavia. * has a strong and much older Armenian presence and shows up elsewhere in the MidEast/Levant. Because of the bias of our good databases, however, an objective statement of its relative strength across this vast span of territory can not yet be made. But no other subhaplogroup of I is so lacking in geographical concentration. And I2* is old in the time back to its TMRCA — only being challenged as oldest Hg I clade by I2a1 M26+ Sardinian.” With regards to the I2a branch, I am more and more inclined to believe it represents one of the major genetic components of the Indo-European speaking “Armenian” people, themselves part of the Phrygian people, who came into Anatolia from the West around 1,300 B.C. As per Dr. Roy King: ” … Assyrians and Armenians are practically identical [genetically] except for language which must be reflected in the I2 and perhaps E1b1b1a-V13 frequencies for the Indo-European superstratum. This is interesting in that it suggests that the Indo-European Armenian speakers came from the Balkans rather than via the Caucasus.”
The common ancestor of the seven Armenian I2*s lived approximately 4500 years ago in the Armenian Highlands.

Here you can view a superb TREE of haplogroups I1 & I2 prepared by Ken Nordvedt. This May 2011 version takes into account major discoveries and a complete reclassification of the various branches.

As per Ken Nordtvedt: “The approximately common separation of haplogroup I into four branches 20,000 years ago probably has some implications for our speculations of how haplogroup I spread in Europe (and Anatolia) so long ago. The I2 branch line is even more ancient now.”

Haplogroup T, formerly know as K2, has two branches, T1a & T1b, and is found at low frequencies throughout Europe and in parts of the Middle East, North Africa, as can be seen in this MAP. Its origins and spread are still mysterious but we are slowly getting more clarity as can be seen in this new large and relatively slow-to-load MAP. The worldwide distribution of haplogroup T is spotty with some small areas of greater-than-average concentrations. T1a has a more southerly bias from the Near East to Europe and North Africa. T1b has a more northernly bias from the Near East through the Russian plains to Northern Europe.

This is the view of Gareth Henson, administrator of the Haplogroup T project at FTDNA: “I think both T and L originated in the Iraq/Iran region but whereas the branches of L all went in different directions I don’t see a similar pattern for T. The main groups are T1a and T1b. Both seem to have spread out together, but T1a shows more variation.”

A major paper on haplogroup T published in 2011 found a number of new SNP mutations which define a number of new branches (Fernando L. Mendez et al, “Increased Resolution of Y Chromosome Haplogroup T Defines Relationships among Populations of the Near East, Europe, and Africa”). The overall structure is unchanged as the main branches remain T1a and T1b. A new link to the sister haplogroup L was discovered.

Project member Jean-Grégoire Manoukian has prepared this fascinating (but dated) Synthesis of Haplogroup R2. The early results for the Armenian R2 project members with 67 marker results fit as follows in this R2 Phylogenetic Tree. According to the administrator of the Family Tree DNA R2-WTY project, “Maybe with more diverse results which confirms or expands the Armenian highland Cluster, I would consider a Central Asian or Anatolian origin theory of Haplogroup R2 or (at least an ancient Anatolian cluster). Take a look at this to understand how to interpret a Phylogenetic Tree”

Thanks to in-depth testing of the R2 haplogroup, a branch structure is starting to emerge. This is the structure as of early 2011 based on newly identified SNP mutations.

The L haplogroup is not well studied. Its distribution in our region is at least intriguing. There are pockets of L in Hamshen, the Pontic region, the Lebanese Maronites living on the eastern border of Armenian Mesopotamia/Iraq, the Israeli Druze, and the Syrians. The branching structure of this haplogroup is not well defined. The majority of people in our region belong to L2 and its branches. Armenians still belong to the L2* and L2a branches. According to Gareth Henson: “L2 is the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean branch of L, almost completely absent in India and Pakistan (except perhaps in the Parsis, who are of Iranian origin, who have a distinctive L haplotype that I have not seen. SNPs have been tested, but it seems closest to L2).

The following HLA was constructed from published data. Take it with a grain of salt, as the differences in the modal haplotype of L between Anatolia and India suggest independent expansions from two different founding populations. We need different maps for different branches. Hopefully new academic papers will be published soon on this fascinating haplotype.

Gareth Henson. “I think both T and L originated in the Iraq/Iran region… The branches of L all went in different directions (L1 southeast, L2 west, and L3 northeast).

Haplogroup Q, possibly the youngest of the 20 Y-DNA haplogroups, originated with SNP mutation M242+ in a man who probably lived in Siberia approximately 15,000 to 20,000 years before present. Too little is known about the Q1a3 (M346+) and Q1b1a (L245+) subclades at this stage. One of the theories as to the origin of Q1b is discussed here. New SNPs have recently been discovered. Maybe they will give structure to this branch. See draft TREE of haplogroup Q.
Two of the Armenian DNA Project members belong to the very rare Haplogroup F, mother of all non-African haplogroups except for C, D, and E as can be seen in this simple diagram and this more complex TREE.

A man from the C, F haplogroup was the common ancestor of all people who migrated outside of Africa until recent times. The defining mutation occurred 31-55,000 years ago in north east Africa and is still most common in Africa today in Ethiopia and Sudan.

The Armenian Fs belong to the F3 branch because they tested positive (derived) for P96 and M282. One of them also has six newly discovered SNP mutations: L279, L280, L281, L284, L285, L286. The slew of new SNPs from Family Tree DNA’s “Walk Through the Y” sequencing are just a testament to the long elapsed time between our Armenian “F” and previously sequenced men.
The relatively young haplogroup R1a (M17+) is the most frequent Y-chromosome haplogroup among populations representing a wide variety of language groups, such as Slavic, Indo-Iranian, Dravidian, which are found in a wide geographic area extending from South Asia to Central East Europe and South Siberia. The peak is in Poland at 35%. It’s age and distribution are shown in this MAP and this MAP. Haplogroup R1a has been found in 5% of Armenians and at higher concentrations in these Caucasus groups: 27.5% of Karachays & Balkars, Abkhazes. Neither the Armenians nor the Caucasian groups seem to be of Slavic origin as evidenced by this MAP of subclade R1a1a7 (M458+). We have to look to the East (Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) or to the North (Russian plains) for explanations of the presence of R1a’s in our region.

If you have time to spare, you can view detailed tutorials (with oral and visual slide presentations) prepared by Genbase on the various haplogroup families. Since Armenian DNA had not be thoroughly analysed when these tutorials were prepared, we disagree with some of the statements concerning the origins of various haplogroup clades and subclades:

mtDNA Haplogroup U originated in a woman who lived around 55,000 years ago. Her descendants gave birth to several different subgroups, some of which exhibit specific geographic homelands. The old age of this haplogroup has led to a wide distribution of the descendant subgroups that harbor specific European, northern African, Indian, Arab, Armenian highland and Near East clades. The U1 branch seems to appear mostly in the Middle East, however low frequency results appear scattered throughout Europe particularly in the Mediterranean. U1a is found from India to Europe, but is extremely rare among the northern and Atlantic fringes of Europe. U1b has a similar spread but is rarer than U1a. Haplogroup U2 is most common in South Asia but also found in low frequency in Central and West Asia, as well as in Europe as U2e. This haplogroup has been found in the remains of a 30,000-year-old hunter-gatherer in South European Russia. The U3 branch appears to be fairly ancient (probably at least 35,000 to 45,000 years old). It is found at the highest frequencies in countries surrounding the Black Sea, especially in Bulgaria and the Caucasus and in some countries of the Near East such as Jordan and Syria as can be seen in this MAP. It is found at very low levels throughout Europe (about 1% of the population), the Near East (about 2.5% of the population), and Central Asia (1%). U3 is present at high levels among Lithuanian, Polish and Spanish Roma populations (36-56%). The U4 branch has its origin in the Upper Palaeolithic, dating to approximately 25,000 years ago. It is widely distributed in Europe, and has been implicated in the expansion of modern humans into Europe occurring before the Last Glacial Maximum. It is found at low frequencies throughout Europe, North America and Asia. It is particularly prevalent in Finland and Russia. The U5 branch pre-dates the expansion of agriculture in Europe. Its age is estimated at 50,000 years but could be as old as 60,500 years. Haplogroup U5 and its subclades U5a and U5b form the highest population concentrations in the far north, in Sami, Finns, and Estonians, but it is spread widely at lower levels throughout Europe. This distribution, and the age of the haplogroup, indicate individuals from this haplogroup were part of the initial expansion tracking the retreat of ice sheets from Europe ~10,000 years ago. Haplogroup U5 is found also in small frequencies and at much lower diversity in the Near East and parts of Africa, suggesting back-migration of people from northern Europe to the south. U5a is six times more prevalent than U5b in our regions where it reaches 6.3% of the population of the Caucasus and 3.3% of the population of Iran. Many European populations lack Haplogroup U7, but its frequency climbs over 4% in the Near East and up to 5% in Pakistan, reaching nearly 10% level in Iranians. In India, haplogroup U7 frequency peaks at over 12% in Gujarat, the westernmost state of India, while for the whole of India its frequency stays around 2%. Expansion times and haplotype diversities for the Indian and Near and Middle Eastern U7 mtDNAs are strikingly similar. The possible homeland of this haplogroup spans Indian Gujarat and Iran because from there its frequency declines steeply both to the east and to the west. If the origin were in Iran rather than in India, then its equally high frequency as well as diversity in Gujarat favors a scenario whereby U7 has been introduced to the coastal western India either very early, or by multiple founders. Here is the most recent TREE for this haplogroup. And here is a complete list of the latest U SNP mutations. Armenian members of the project belong to all six of the above mentioned subhaplogroups.

mtDNA Haplogroup H probably evolved in West Asia ~30,000 years ago and then arrived in Europe ~20-25,000 years ago, spreading rapidly to the southwest of the continent. It is now the most common mtDNA haplogroup in Europe representing about one half of the population. This haplogroup is also common in North Africa and the Middle East. The H13 subhaplogroup is particularly prevalent in the Caucasus. The H2 and H8 subhaplogroups are somewhat common in the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. H5 may have evolved in West Asia where it is most frequent and diverse in the Caucasus. Here is the most recent TREE for this haplogroup. A key paper for haplogroup H in our region was published in 2006 by Roostalu: Origin and Expansion of Haplogroup H, the Dominant Human Mitochondrial DNA Lineage in West Eurasia: The Near Eastern and Caucasian Perspective. Although Armenian members of this important haplogroup haven’t been thoroughly tested, those who have belong to the four above mentioned subhaplogroups.

mtDNA Haplogroup W is found at low levels from Europe through the Near East and the Caucasus all the way to India.

It is believed that mtDNA Haplogroup T originated in Mesopotamia and/or Armenian Mesopotamia (modern Syria and Turkey) more than 45,000 years ago. The main subgroups of haplogroup T entered Europe around the Neolithic period, about 10,000 years ago. Once in Europe, these subgroups underwent a dramatic expansion associated with the arrival of agriculture. Haplogroup T has a very wide distribution and is present as far east as the Indus Valley, which borders India and Pakistan, and as far south as the Arabian Peninsula. It includes slightly less than 10% of modern Europeans. Here is the most recent TREE of this haplogroup.

mtDNA Haplogroup I is found at low levels in Europe, the Middle East and Armenian highland. It is believed to have arisen somewhere in Eurasia ~30,000 years before present and to have been one of the first haplogroups to move into Europe. Here is the most recent TREE for this haplogroup.

mtDNA Haplogroup HV is a west Eurasian haplogroup found throughout the Middle East, including Iran, Armeina highland and the Caucasus. Much earlier, around 30,000 years ago, some members of HV moved north across the Caucasus Mountains and west across Anatolia, their lineages being carried into Europe for the first time by the Cro-Magnon. Their arrival in Europe heralded the end of the era of the Neandertals, a hominid species that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia from about 230,000 to 29,000 years ago. Better communication skills, weapons, and resourcefulness probably enabled them to outcompete Neandertals for scarce resources. Importantly, some descendants of HV had already broken off and formed their own group, haplogroup H, and continued the push into Western Europe. Here is the most recent TREE for this haplogroup.

mtDNA Haplogroup X diverged originally from haplogroup N, and subsequently further diverged about 20,000 to 30,000 years ago to give two sub-groups, X1 and X2. It accounts for about 2% of the population of Europe, the Near East and North Africa. Sub-group X1 is much less numerous, and restricted to North and East Africa, and also the Near East. Sub-group X2 appears to have undergone extensive population expansion and dispersal around or soon after the last glacial maximum, about 21,000 years ago. It is more strongly present in the Near East, the Caucasus and Mediterranean Europe and is somewhat less strongly present in the rest of Europe. Particularly high concentrations appear in Georgia (8%) the last presumably due to a founder effect. Here is the most recent TREE for this haplogroup.

mtDNA Haplogroup J: Around 45,000 years before present, a mutation took place in the DNA of a woman who lived in the Near East or the Armenian highland and Caucasus. Further mutations took place in the J line which can be identified as J1a1 (27,000 yrs ago), J2a (19,000 yrs ago), J2b2 (16,000 years ago), J2b3 (5,800 yrs ago), etc. Haplogroup J (along with ‘T’) is associated with the spread of farming and herding in Europe during the Neolithic Era (8,000-10,000 yrs ago). All other West Eurasian-origin groups (H, V, U, K, W, I, X) were previously given to hunting and gathering. Average frequency of J Haplogroup as a whole is highest in the Near East (12%) followed by Europe (11%), Caucasus (8%) and North Africa (6%). Of the two main sub-groups, J1 takes up four-fifths of the total and is spread on the continent while J2 is more localised around the Mediterranean, Greece, Italy/Sardinia and Spain. Here is the most recent TREE for this haplogroup.

mtDNA Haplogroups N1b & N1c are particularly found in the Near East, Middle East, Armeian highland and the Caucasus. Here is the most recent TREE for this haplogroup. Prof. Malliya Gounder Palanichamy has been studying hg N1. He recently published a paper on N1a in which one can find this TREE . He plans to publish papers on N1b and N1c soon.

mtDNA Haplogroup K is relatively young. It first appeared around 16,000 years ago. It now represents a sizeable fraction of the Western Eurasian genetic pool. In Europe, it is particularly common around the Alps and the British Isles. It is found in lesser frequency in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. There are higher than average concentrations in Ashkenazi Jews and in the Druze. Here is the most recent TREE for this haplogroup.

mtDNA Haplogroup V is believed to have originated approximately 12,000 years ago, possibly in Iberia according to published information. It derives from the Haplogroup HV0a, which also gave rise to Haplogroup H. Except for rare, isolated occurrences, V is virtually absent in the southern Balkans, Armeinian highland , the Caucasus, and the Near East. Attested migrations from the north(west) into these regions in historic times are certainly sufficient to explain these few “erratics.” I have a feeling the preceding explanation may not hold as we now know of three Armenian V’s. Only time will tell where this group originated. A key paper for haplogroup V i was published in 2001 by Torroni et al. It is now quite dated: A Signal, from Human mtDNA, of Postglacial Recolonization in Europe Here is the most recent TREE for this haplogroup.

mtDNA Haplogroup F is centered in Asia and appears in eastern China and Japan. It is not found in the Americas. F1b1 samples have been found in Armenia, Turkey, Mazandaran, the Caucasus, Georgia and Croatia, It is a descendant haplogroup of Haplogroup R. It Here is the most recent TREE .

mtDNA Haplogroup M1 is the only variant of M found in Africa. The limited distribution of haplogroup M in Africa and its widespread presence outside Africa, suggests that this lineage emerged very close to the time of the Out of Africa migration, either shortly before or shortly after the exit from Africa. M1 is relatively common in the Mediterranean, peaking in Iberia. It also enjoys a well-established presence in the Middle East, from the South of the Arabian Peninsula to Anatolia and from the Levant to Iran. In addition, M1 haplotypes have occasionally been observed in the Caucasus and the Armeinian highland . Here is the most recent TREE for this haplogroup.

If you are comparing your mtDNA sequence to another sequence from the same haplogroup branch, please note the following: a difference of one mutation in HVR1 or HVR2 should be taken as 400 years, and a difference of one mutation in the CR coding area should be taken as 1,600 years.

R1b1a1

R1b1a1 (2011 name) is defined by the presence of SNP marker M73. It has been found at generally low frequencies throughout central Eurasia, but has been found with relatively high frequency among particular populations there including Hazaras in Pakistan (8/25 = 32%);. Four R-M73 men were also found in a 523-person study of Western part of Armenian highlands , and one person in a 168-person study of Crete.

In 2010, Myres et al. report that out of 193 R-M73 men found amongst 10,355 widespread men, “all except two Russians occurred outside Europe, either in the Caucasus, Western part of Armenian highlands , the North Pakistan regions.”