ESHG 2013 abstracts

A couple of weeks before the ESHG 2013 conference, here are a few abstracts that caught my eye. Feel free to point to more interesting presentations in the comments section.

• J16.05 - Checking the hypothesis of a Balkan origin of the Armenians
• P17.5 - Y chromosome haplogroup analysis to estimate genetic origin of Balts
• J16.27 - Armenian Highland as a transition corridor for the spread of Neolithic agriculturists
• J16.14 - In Search of the Origin of Haplogroup J1-P58
• J16.03 - Y-chromosome haplogroup analysis in the Besermyan ethnic group
• P17.4 - Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of the Southeast European Genetic Variation Reveals a New, Local Subbranching in Hg X2
• P16.085 - Population diversity and history of the Indian subcontinent: Uncovering the deeper mosaic of sub-structuring and the intricate network of dispersals
• J16.43 - Ancient mtDNA diversity in Bulgaria
• P16.072 - Mitochondrial DNA diversity in medieval and modern Romanian population
• P16.012 - Frequency analysis of the CCR5-Delta32 allele in medieval and modern Romanian population
• J16.78 - The gene pool of Argyn in the context of generic structure of Kazakhs according to data on SNP-Y-Chromosome markers.

Y chromosomes of Altaian Kazakhs

This paper uses both the pedigree (genealogical or germline) and evolutionary mutation rates. Readers of the blog are aware that I've been a vehement critic of the latter on theoretical grounds since 2008, and I've started keeping track of cases where the germline rate has a better fit to the archaeological record than the evolutionary rate.

In this particular case, the difference between the two rates (about 3-fold) is especially interesting, because of the whole "Genghis Khan" theory according to which a large number of central Asian men belong to a haplotype cluster dated to around the time of the Mongol conqueror and maybe the descendants of Genghis and his close male relatives. This theory relies on the use of the germline rate: otherwise the genetic signature attributed to the Khan must be redated to a much earlier time.

The authors give a convincing argument in favor of the pedigree rate:

The difficulty in reliably determining the coalescent dates for the lineages found in Kazakh populations makes it nearly impossible to determine whether these lineages were present in ancestral nomadic steppe groups (Scythians, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Toba, and Jou-Jan) or were contributed by the descendents of Genghis Khan and the Mongol armies that, at one time, held control over the region. An important reason for caution here is the current debate about the most appropriate mutation rate for NRY coalescence estimates. The evidence provided by Zerjal et al. [14] supports the younger estimates, suggesting that the Kazakh haplotypes could be the direct result of the Mongol influence in the 13^th century CE. The presence of the C3* haplotype cluster in the Kazakh also supports the genealogical assertions that (for at least some Kazakh men) there is a direct paternal connection to Genghis Khan.

If the evolutionary rate is the more accurate value for Y-STRs, then the Kazakh lineages coalesce to roughly 2,000 years ago. This date suggests a far older source for them, possibly with the westward movements of Altaic-speaking peoples around the second and first centuries BCE. In this case, we would expect to see multiple haplotype clusters exhibiting a similar pattern as the Genghis Khan cluster. However, we do not observe this pattern. As Zerjal et al. [14] pointed out, this haplotype cluster is unique. Therefore, given the evidence presented here and in Zerjal et al. [14], we believe the best interpretation of the data is that Kazakh Y-chromosome diversity was strongly influenced by the Mongols of the 13^th century CE.

The younger ages of the Mongoloid lineages in this population makes good historical sense, as these are derived from tribal Turko-Mongolian tribes establishing (more recently) control over the pre-existing Iranian populations of the steppe. The gene pool of the latter has been marginalized but it maintains its genetic diversity.

The presence of haplogroup J2a here as the modal Caucasoid lineage, followed by haplogroups G1 and G2a is also quite interesting, and plausibly brings origin of the ancestors of the pre-Altaic inhabitants of the region in close proximity to the West Asian homeland of the ancestors of the Indo-Aryans.

PLoS ONE 6(3): e17548. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017548

Y-Chromosome Variation in Altaian Kazakhs Reveals a Common Paternal Gene Pool for Kazakhs and the Influence of Mongolian Expansions

Matthew C. Dulik et al.

Kazakh populations have traditionally lived as nomadic pastoralists that seasonally migrate across the steppe and surrounding mountain ranges in Kazakhstan and southern Siberia. To clarify their population history from a paternal perspective, we analyzed the non-recombining portion of the Y-chromosome from Kazakh populations living in southern Altai Republic, Russia, using a high-resolution analysis of 60 biallelic markers and 17 STRs. We noted distinct differences in the patterns of genetic variation between maternal and paternal genetic systems in the Altaian Kazakhs. While they possess a variety of East and West Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups, only three East Eurasian paternal haplogroups appear at significant frequencies (C3*, C3c and O3a3c*). In addition, the Y-STR data revealed low genetic diversity within these lineages. Analysis of the combined biallelic and STR data also demonstrated genetic differences among Kazakh populations from across Central Asia. The observed differences between Altaian Kazakhs and indigenous Kazakhs were not the result of admixture between Altaian Kazakhs and indigenous Altaians. Overall, the shared paternal ancestry of Kazakhs differentiates them from other Central Asian populations. In addition, all of them showed evidence of genetic influence by the 13th century CE Mongol Empire. Ultimately, the social and cultural traditions of the Kazakhs shaped their current pattern of genetic variation.

Link

Comparison between morphological and genetic data for Egyin Gol Mongolians

I had first blogged about Egyin Gol in 2003, that paper is freely available here. From the current paper:

The Egyin Gol necropolis is located in the Egyin Gol Valley (northern Mongolia), near the Egyin Gol River, close to its confluence with the Selenge, a main tributary of Lake Baikal (see Fig. 1). This site has been the subject of a French-Mongolian interdisciplinary research project from 1997 to 1999, which allowed the excavation of 84 graves containing skeletal remains of 99 individuals buried from the third century B.C. to the second century A.D. The graves were organized in three main sectors (A, B, and C) that, based on AMS carbon-14 dating of human bones, progressively expanded from south to north (i.e., Sector A is the oldest followed by Sector B and Sector C). The development of Sector C corresponds to the end of the necropolis and may reflect a Turkish influence on the Xiongnu tribe (Keyser-Tracqui et al., 2003).

and:

The results showed, however, that individuals buried in sector C represent a specific kin group clearly differentiated from the rest of the necropolis based on nonmetric
data (Table 4), and confirmed by the genetic data. This might be explained on the basis that these individuals are suggested to be of Turkish origin, based on their shared single paternal lineage, unique in the necropolis and affiliated with Turkish populations (Keyser-Tracqui et al., 2003). However, the sector C individuals share the same maternal lineages with individuals buried in sectors A and B, which could explain the global homogeneity of the population as a whole. The particular characteristics of the sample from sector C suggests a possible shift in the population demographics, caused by the emergence of a Turkish component in the Xiongnu population at the end of the necropolis use and at the end of the first steppe empire led by the Xiongnu. The fact that this particular subgroup of the population buried in sector C was detected by nonmetric traits analysis demonstrated that nonmetric traits are an efficient tool when analyzing population microevolution.

The Y chromosome results are found in Table 2 of the original paper.

I ran the Y-STR profile of the shared patrilineage over the haplogroup predictor, but I don't get a clear estimate for the Y-STR profile (grave 46 in Table 2).

A YHRD search gave the following results:
The high frequency in Kazakhs and Yakuts, with a little spillover in both China and eastern Europe is certainly consistent with a Turkic origin of this haplotype.

Finally, I gave it a try at ysearch, getting a match with a Pole and a 1-step match with a Czech, both of which are listed as C3-tested.

So, there you have it, archaeology, non-metric data, Y-chromosomes, and a little use of online tools gives us a first glimpse on what may have been a group of ancient Turkic individuals. Of course here are theories-a-plenty about what language the Xiongnu originally spoke, so it would be premature to arrive at any firm conclusions.

Interestingly, C3 is also present in a different 2,000-year old Xiongnu individual from NE Mongolia from the Duurlig Nars site, but an earlier group of Xiongnu-related individuals from China (Pengyang) belonged to haplogroup Q.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology doi:10.1002/ajpa.21322

Comparison between morphological and genetic data to estimate biological relationship: The case of the Egyin Gol necropolis (Mongolia)

François-X. Ricaut et al.

Osseous and dental nonmetric (discrete) traits have long been used to assess population variability and affinity in anthropological and archaeological contexts. However, the full extent to which nonmetric traits can reliably be used as a proxy for genetic data when assessing close or familial relationships is currently poorly understood. This study represents the unique opportunity to directly compare genetic and nonmetric data for the same individuals excavated from the Egyin Gol necropolis, Mongolia. These data were analyzed to consider the general efficacy of nonmetric traits for detecting familial groupings in the absence of available genetic data. The results showed that the Egyin Gol population is quite homogenous both metrically and genetically confirming a previous suggestion that the same people occupied the necropolis throughout the five centuries of its existence. Kinship analysis detected the presence of potential family burials in the necropolis. Moreover, individuals buried in one sector of the necropolis were differentiated from other sectors on the basis of nonmetric data. This separation is likely due to an outside Turkish influence in the paternal line, as indicated by the results of Y-chromosome analysis. Affinity matrices based on nonmetric and genetic data were correlated demonstrating the potential of nonmetric traits for detecting relationships in the absence of genetic data. However, the strengths of the correlations were relatively low, cautioning against the use of nonmetric traits when the resolution of the familial relationships is low. Am J Phys Anthropol 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Link

mtDNA variation in Uzbekistan

Int J Legal Med DOI 10.1007/s00414-009-0406-z

The mtDNA composition of Uzbekistan: a microcosm of Central Asian patterns

Jodi A. Irwin et al.

Abstract

In order to better characterize and understand the mtDNA population genetics of Central Asia, the mtDNA control regions of over 1,500 individuals from Uzbekistan
have been sequenced. Although all samples were obtained from individuals residing in Uzbekistan, individuals with direct ancestry from neighboring Central Asian countries are included. Individuals of Uzbek ancestry represent five distinct geographic regions of Uzbekistan: Fergana, Karakalpakstan, Khorezm, Qashkadarya, and Tashkent. Individuals with direct ancestry in nearby countries originate from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. Our data reinforce the evidence of distinct clinal patterns that have been described among Central Asian populations with classical, mtDNA, and Y-chromosomal markers. Our data also reveal hallmarks of recent demographic events. Despite their current close geographic proximity, the populations with ancestry in neighboring countries show little sign of admixture and retain the primary mtDNA patterns of their source populations. The genetic distances and haplogroup distributions among the ethnic populations are more indicative of a broad east–west cline among their source populations than of their relatively small geographic distances from one another in Uzbekistan. Given the significant mtDNA heterogeneity detected, our results emphasize the need for heightened caution in the forensic interpretation of mtDNA data in regions as historically rich and genetically diverse as Central Asia.

Link

mtDNA of Uzbekistan

International Journal of Legal Medicine doi:10.1007/s00414-009-0406-z

The mtDNA composition of Uzbekistan: a microcosm of Central Asian patterns

Jodi A. Irwin et al.

Abstract

In order to better characterize and understand the mtDNA population genetics of Central Asia, the mtDNA control regions of over 1,500 individuals from Uzbekistan have been sequenced. Although all samples were obtained from individuals residing in Uzbekistan, individuals with direct ancestry from neighboring Central Asian countries are included. Individuals of Uzbek ancestry represent five distinct geographic regions of Uzbekistan: Fergana, Karakalpakstan, Khorezm, Qashkadarya, and Tashkent. Individuals with direct ancestry in nearby countries originate from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. Our data reinforce the evidence of distinct clinal patterns that have been described among Central Asian populations with classical, mtDNA, and Y-chromosomal markers. Our data also reveal hallmarks of recent demographic events. Despite their current close geographic proximity, the populations with ancestry in neighboring countries show little sign of admixture and retain the primary mtDNA patterns of their source populations. The genetic distances and haplogroup distributions among the ethnic populations are more indicative of a broad east–west cline among their source populations than of their relatively small geographic distances from one another in Uzbekistan. Given the significant mtDNA heterogeneity detected, our results emphasize the need for heightened caution in the forensic interpretation of mtDNA data in regions as historically rich and genetically diverse as Central Asia.

Link

Ancient DNA for horse coat color

In the early Holocene, horses were either bay or black, but then a large number of variations started to accumulate.

In contrast, a rapid and substantial increase in the number of coat colorations is found in both Siberia and East Europe beginning in the fifth millennium B.P. (Fig. 1 and figs. S1 and S2). Although the earliest chestnut allele (MC1R gene) was identified in a Romanian sample from the late seventhmillennium B.P., chestnut horses were first observed in Siberia (fifth millenium B.P.). Their prevalence increased rapidly, reaching 28% during the Bronze Age.

The earliest chestnut allele comes from a wild horse from Pietrele, a village in southern Romania (4,300BC). But, since this horse was heterozygous in the MC1R locus and homozygous in the ASIP locus for the black allele, it exhibited a black coat color.

Interestingly, in the Eneolithic, the 4 Romanian horses were all black, while 5 Ukrainian samples from Mayaki were bay, and 1 from Molyukhov Bugor was black.

The first observed chestnut horse was from Tartas-1 in West Siberia (3,000-2,500BC).

More:

Mutations responsible for coat color dilutions or spottings seem to appear later. Cream (buckskin) and (black) silver dilutions (2800 to 2600 yr B.P.) were first observed in Siberia. Sabino is the first spotting phenotype, appearing during the
fifth millennium B.P. in Siberia, and present in Armenia and Moldavia during the middle Bronze Age. The Tobiano spotting was first found in a single Eastern European sample (3500 to 3000 yr B.P.) and later also in Asia. Unlike in samples from Siberia and Eastern Europe, we observed no color change in Spanish samples until medieval times.

Sabino spotting was first observed in Tartas-1 from West Siberia (3,000-2,500BC) and then in Lchasen Armenia (1,410-1,250BC) and then Miciurin, Moldova (1,500-1,000BC).

Tobiano spotting was also first observed in Miciurin, and later in Arzan-2 from Irona Age South Siberia (619-608BC).

Related:

• Earliest horse domestication in Kazakhstan
• Origin of ancient Chinese horses from ancient DNA
• Equine coat color genetics

[Image of a copper-red chestnut horse.]

Science doi: 10.1126/science.1172750

Coat Color Variation at the Beginning of Horse Domestication

Arne Ludwig et al.

Abstract

The transformation of wild animals into domestic ones available for human nutrition was a key prerequisite for modern human societies. However, no other domestic species has had such a substantial impact on the warfare, transportation, and communication capabilities of human societies as the horse. Here, we show that the analysis of ancient DNA targeting nuclear genes responsible for coat coloration allows us to shed light on the timing and place of horse domestication. We conclude that it is unlikely that horse domestication substantially predates the occurrence of coat color variation, which was found to begin around the third millennium before the common era.

Link

Earliest horse domestication in Kazakhstan

I had previously blogged about the Botai culture. From the news release:

The researchers have traced the origins of horse domestication back to the Botai Culture of Kazakhstan circa 5,500 years ago. This is about 1,000 years earlier than thought and about 2,000 years earlier than domestic horses are known to have been in Europe. Their findings strongly suggest that horses were originally domesticated, not just for riding, but also to provide food, including milk.

Science doi:10.1126/science.1168594

The Earliest Horse Harnessing and Milking

Alan K. Outram et al.

Abstract

Horse domestication revolutionized transport, communications, and warfare in prehistory, yet the identification of early domestication processes has been problematic. Here, we present three independent lines of evidence demonstrating domestication in the Eneolithic Botai Culture of Kazakhstan, dating to about 3500 B.C.E. Metrical analysis of horse metacarpals shows that Botai horses resemble Bronze Age domestic horses rather than Paleolithic wild horses from the same region. Pathological characteristics indicate that some Botai horses were bridled, perhaps ridden. Organic residue analysis, using ¹³C and D values of fatty acids, reveals processing of mare's milk and carcass products in ceramics, indicating a developed domestic economy encompassing secondary products.

Link

Magyars and Madjars

American Journal of Physical Anthropology doi:10.1002/ajpa.20984

A Y-chromosomal comparison of the Madjars (Kazakhstan) and the Magyars (Hungary)

A.Z. Bíró et al.

Abstract

The Madjars are a previously unstudied population from Kazakhstan who practice a form of local exogamy in which wives are brought in from neighboring tribes, but husbands are not, so the paternal lineages remain genetically isolated within the population. Their name bears a striking resemblance to the Magyars who have inhabited Hungary for over a millennium, but whose previous history is poorly understood. We have now carried out a genetic analysis of the population structure and relationships of the Madjars, and in particular have sought to test whether or not they show a genetic link with the Magyars. We concentrated on paternal lineages because of their isolation within the Madjars and sampled males representing all extant male lineages unrelated for more than eight generations (n = 45) in the Torgay area of Kazakhstan. The Madjars show evidence of extensive genetic drift, with 24/45 carrying the same 12-STR haplotype within haplogroup G. Genetic distances based on haplogroup frequencies were used to compare the Madjars with 37 other populations and showed that they were closest to the Hungarian population rather than their geographical neighbors. Although this finding could result from chance, it is striking and suggests that there could have been genetic contact between the ancestors of the Madjars and Magyars, and thus that modern Hungarians may trace their ancestry to Central Asia, instead of the Eastern Uralic region as previously thought.

Link

mtDNA of Altaian Kazakhs from Russia

From the paper:

In this study, we also find that all Turkic and Mongolic groups possess a common set of maternal haplogroups (C, D, G2a, H), and a minimal number of haplotypes from these lineages at appreciable frequencies. However, the overall patterns of haplotype sharing amongst these groups vary considerably. This finding is not necessarily incompatible with the cultural diffusion model per se, but implies that present day Turkic-Mongolic ethnic groups emerged from a common mtDNA pool that was widely distributed in Central and East Asia.

This suggests that the movements of Turkic-Mongolic people did not consist only of males but also had a female component to them. Also of interest from the paper:

Haplogroup N1a was also present in the Altaian Kazakhs. Seeing as how there were no occurrences of this lineage in other Kazakh populations or neighboring populations (Kolman et al., 1996; Comas et al., 1998; Yao et al., 2004), this finding was intriguing (Table 3). The haplotypic variation within the seven N1a samples was relatively high (Table 2), with these haplotypes belonging to both the European and Central Asian branches of this haplogroup, as recently defined by Haak et al. (2005). Thus, the source of N1a haplotypes in Altaian Kazakhs was unclear, although they seemed to have originated west of this part of Central Asia (Gokcumen et al., 2007).

Interestingly, mtDNA haplogroup N1a also pops up in Havik Brahmins from India, ancient high status Hungarians, as well as Iron Age Kazakhstan, and Neolithic Central Europeans.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology (early view)

Genetic variation in the enigmatic Altaian Kazakhs of South-Central Russia: Insights into Turkic population history

Omer Gokcumen et al.

The Altaian Kazakhs, a Turkic speaking group, now reside in the southern part of the Altai Republic in south-central Russia. According to historical accounts, they are one of several ethnic and geographical subdivisions of the Kazakh nomadic group that migrated from China and Western Mongolia into the Altai region during the 19th Century. However, their population history of the Altaian Kazakhs and the genetic relationships with other Kazakh groups and neighboring Turkic-speaking populations is not well understood. To begin elucidating their genetic history, we analyzed the mtDNAs from 237 Altaian Kazakhs through a combination of SNP analysis and HVS1 sequencing. This analysis revealed that their mtDNA gene pool was comprised of roughly equal proportions of East (A-G, M7, M13, Y and Z) and West (H, HV, pre-HV, R, IK, JT, X, U) Eurasian haplogroups, with the haplotypic diversity within haplogroups C, D, H, and U being particularly high. This pattern of diversity likely reflects the complex interactions of the Kazakhs with other Turkic groups, Mongolians, and indigenous Altaians. Overall, these data have important implications for Kazakh population history, the genetic prehistory of the Altai-Sayan region, and the phylogeography of major mitochondrial lineages in Eurasia.

Link

Distribution of Genghis Khan's descendants

Genetika. 2007 Mar;43(3):422-6.

[Distribution of the male lineages of Genghis Khan's descendants in northern Eurasian populations]

[Article in Russian]

[No authors listed]

Data on the variation of 12 microsatellite loci of Y-chromosome haplogroup C3 were used to screen lineages included in the cluster of Genghis Khan's descendants in 18 northern Eurasian populations (Altaian Kazakhs, Altaians-Kizhi, Teleuts, Khakassians, Shorians, Tyvans, Todjins, Tofalars, Sojots, Buryats, Khamnigans, Evenks, Mongols, Kalmyks, Tajiks, Kurds, Persians, and Russians; the total sample size was 1437 people). The highest frequency of haplotypes from the cluster of the Genghis Khan's descendants was found in Mongols (34.8%). In Russia, this cluster was found in Altaian Kazakhs (8.3%), Altaians (3.4%), Buryats (2.3%), Tyvans (1.9%), and Kalmyks (1.7%).

Link

AAPA 2007 abstracts

The 2007 meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists will be held in about a month. As in previous years, here are some interesting abstracts to be presented at the meeting (pdf).

(up to page 94)

Homo floresiensis Cranial and Mandibular Morphology
J.Y. Anderson, University of New Mexico
These results suggest the Flores material does not represent a population derived from Australomelanesians, and do not represent a non-pathological dwarfed population of Homo sapiens. These results do not completely rule out a representation of a microcephalic dwarfed population, at the same time it is suggested possible affinities to earlier hominin groups is equally parsimonious.

Do Qafzeh and Skhūl represent the ancestors of Upper Paleolithic modern humans? A dental perspective.
S.E. Bailey et al.
If these fossils represent the source of early Upper Paleolithic people, there is no need to invoke admixture with Neandertals to explain archaic dental features observed in some early Upper Paleolithic humans.

Ancient Cemetery Social Patterning Project: Ancient DNA in Tirup Cemetery.
L.E. Baker et al.

Reconstructing the settlement history of the central Andes from mitochondrial DNA analyses.
K. Batai et al.
We found that among central Andean ancient and modern population samples, haplogroup B frequencies increased through time, while haplogroup A frequencies declined. At this point, we do not yet have sufficient data to determine whether these patterns indicate different population histories between ancient coastal and modern highland populations, or a larger temporal trend in entire central Andes region

Analysis of Genetic Diversity in Ethnic Populations of Afghanistan
P. Bermudez et al.
The Middle East has the distinction of being a major crossroads of human migration. The genetic diversity of Afghanistan, however, has long remained a missing piece to this rich and complex puzzle. To explore both the diversity within Afghanistan and to understand the relative genetic contributions from various groups throughout the Eurasian continent, buccal swabs were collected from 252 unrelated Afghani men for mitochondrial DNA analysis. Each of these men hailed from
one of four major ethnic groups inhabiting the region: the Pashtun, Hazara, Tajik or
Nooristani. The Indo-Iranian speaking Pashtun represent the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan; the Tajiks have a complex genetic history that likely involves admixture between Turkic groups and smaller distinct ethnic groups within Afghanistan; the Hazara, on the other hand, are thought to represent remnants of Ghengis Khan’s army left behind as it expanded through Asia; and the Nooristani have biological links to populations in northern Pakistan and the
claim of descent from Alexander the Great’s army. All samples were analyzed for HVS1
and SNP variation. In all of these populations, Western Eurasian haplogroups (H, HV, R, J, I, U, X) were most common, with the highest frequency occurring in the Nooristanis, while the remaining East Eurasian haplogroups including D, G, and various other M types. The results of this study will be instrumental in expanding our knowledge of Afghani genetic history, in addition to broadening our understanding of population migrations throughout West and Central Asia.

Dental variation in Holocene Khoesan populations.
W. Black et al.

Are the Koh an indigenous population of the Hindu Kush? II: a dental morphology investigation.

S. Blaylock and B.E. Hemphill

Little is known about the population history of the ethnic groups in Chitral District, Pakistan, an area long been regarded as the “crossroads of Asia.” Some scholars emphasize that the Koh lifeway is the consequence of long-standing indigenous isolation. Others stress the equestrian
tradition among Koh villagers indicate they are descendants of Central Asians who emigrated across the Hindu Kush Mountains during the second millennium BC. To still others, an array of Persian linguistic inclusions indicates the Koh are more recent emigrants from the Iranian Plateau. This investigation tests these hypotheses for Koh origins through assessment of dental
morphology variations of the permanent dentition scored as 17 tooth-trait combination in accordance with the Arizona State University Dental Morphology System in a sample of 134 Kho school children from Chitral City. These data were contrasted with 17 additional samples. Comparisons are in two stages and include cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling and principal coordinates analysis. First, sex-pooled and sex-specific data compared Koh to six contemporary ethnic groups from India. Results indicate the Koh share equidistant affinities to Indo-European speaking west-Central Indian and Dravidianspeaking South Indian ethnic groups.
Second, sex-pooled data compared the Koh to 13 prehistoric samples from Neolithic to Early Iron Age sites located in the Indus Valley, Central Asia and the Iranian Plateau. Results indicate that the Koh share little affinity to prehistoric Indus Valley groups. Rather, the Koh share nearly equal affinities to prehistoric inhabitants of the Iranian Plateau and Central Asia.

A Howells grasp on prehistoric and recent Japan: A precursor to the Kennewick connection.
C. L. Brace, N. Seguchi.
Using many more samples, our results are compatible with what Howells showed for his Japanese comparisons, and,using the neighbor-joining technique, we can go on to show that Kennewick ties with the Ainu who are the descendants of the Jōmon.The Jōmon then are the probable ancestors of
the first inhabitants of the western hemisphere.

Admixture in Mexico City: implications for admixture mapping.
E. Cameron et al.
"The average proportions of Native American, European and West African admixture were estimated as 65%, 30% and 5% respectively."

"In a logistic model with higher educational status as dependent variable, the odds ratio for higher educational status associated with an increase from 0 to 1 in European admixture proportions was 9.4 (95% credible interval 3.8 – 22.6). This association of socioeconomic status with individual admixture proportion shows that genetic stratification in this population is
paralleled, and possibly maintained, by socioeconomic stratification."

Intracontinental Distribution of Haplotype Variation: Implications for Human Demographic History.
M.C. Campbell et al.
"These results suggest that diverse African populations were more subdivided with lower levels of gene flow during human history."

Social stratification in a Christian cemetery? An assessment of stress indicators and social status at Anglo-Saxon Raunds.
E.F. Craig, J.L. Buckberry
"The occurrence of statistically more individuals with both cribra orbitalia and tibial periostitis in plain graves rather than graves with stone arrangements, and LEH in plain graves rather than graves with a cover or marker, suggests that individuals buried in more elaborate graves enjoyed better levels of health and may been of higher social status than those buried in plain graves."

Variability of the Stature of the Central European Population from the Neolithic Age to Present
M. Dobisíková, S. Katina, P. Velemínský
The aim of our contribution is to characterize the changes of the stature in adult populations that have lived in Central Europe from the Neolithic period up to the present. Our sample consisted of 802 male and 704 female skeletons. The evaluation was conducted taking into account the demographic structure of the groups studied. We confronted the findings with the living
conditions of the populations known to have a significant impact on human stature, in
addition to genetic factors. We thus considered the socioeconomic status of the populations that might have influenced the quality of nutrition. We focused our attention on the socioeconomic aspect of populations of the early Middle Ages and the recent population. We compared socially higher placed part of the society with socially poorer classes (agricultural groups) (177 male, 178 female) in the early-medieval population of Great Moravia. No statistically significant
differences were found among individual social groups. To calculate the stature of last populations we used the regression equations developed by Breitiger (1937) and Bach (1965). The
calculation was based only on the length of the femur that is directly involved in body length. The impact of the secular trend was evaluated in the recent population. We compared two autopsy skeletal samples from the beginning and ends of the 20th century (107 male, 53 female). Statistically significant differences between them was found. Finally, we proposed regression equations for calculating the stature of the contemporary Czech population usable in forensic practice.

A phylogeographic analysis of haplogroup D5 and its implications for the peopling of East Asia.
M.C. Dulik
While genetic studies have focused on the Altai region of South Siberia as a possible place of origin for Native Americans, it is also possible that it played a similarly significant role in the peopling of East Asia. A Siberian connection to other East Asian populations has already been proposed based on archaeological, linguistic and classical genetic marker evidence. In this study, we examined a rare and ancient haplogroup, D5c, in an effort to elucidate early population movements in East Asia. Previous studies suggested that D5 first emerged in China and
spread northwards from there. However,given the number of D5c individuals (12) and the range of variation in D5 from the Altai region, it is conceivable that this haplogroup instead originated in South Siberia and spread from there during the initial movements of Paleolithic peoples. To est this hypothesis, we obtained complete mtDNA sequences for individuals represented by aplogroups D4 and D5 and acquired additional sequences available through GenBank and published literature. We then analyzed the entire dataset with the reduced median network approach and
phylogeographic modeling. Our results suggest that Southern Siberia did play a
critical role in the spread of the D5 haplogroup. This focus on relatively unique
mtDNA lineages specific to certain populations allowed us to better understand
the processes of ancient settlement and subsequent population movements that helped shape the current genetic landscape of East Asia.

More than meets the eye: LB1, the transforming hominin.
R.B. Eckhard et al.

LB1 is not a microcephalic.
D. Falk1 et al.

Is there biological meaning to “Hispanic” in New Mexico?
H.J.H. Edgar, C.M. Willermet

Establishing the nature of the differences between skull samples from two populations.
S.P. Evans et al.
A sample of 1188 skulls from the Romano-British site at Poundbury shows differences from the 18th century sample of 822 skulls from Spitalfields. Both sites are in the south of England, but 1400 years apart in time. The differences between the sites could be due to immigrations over time and/or to adaptation to the environment. The aim of the study was to establish the nature of the differences, in particular the relative importance of genetic and acquired traits.
Frequencies of 22 selected non-metric traits in juvenile, female and male skulls were analysed. Initial logistic regression analyses established that there was a substantial difference between the two sites and between juveniles and adults, with some sexual dimorphism. The modified mean
measure of divergence, used to calculate overall distances between the groups, showed the juvenile groups to be closer to each other than to adults from their respective sites. Across sites, males were most distant from each other. The largest distance was between Spitalfields juveniles and males. Principal coordinate analysis, followed by a jackknife stability analysis, revealed a pattern indicating that this came about through growth and adaptation. Omitting traits in turn, procrustes methods were used to identify the most influential, all of which
were acquired through ageing or lifestyle. Without these traits there was no significant
difference between the two juvenile groups and no sexual dimorphism. These results show the importance of the behavioural environment in determining morphology, and the resilience of populations to genetic change.

Peopling of the Pacific: resolving the controversy.
J.S. Friedlaender et al.
"Our survey of mitochondrial DNA, Ychromosome, and over 600 short tandem repeat polymorphisms and 200 insertiondeletions from over 40 Pacific populations indicates Polynesians have their genetic
origins to both Melanesian and Taiwanese (Southeast Asian) populations in significant degrees. In Island Melanesia, there is a small but clear ancient genetic footprint in certain Oceanic-speaking populations (i.e., linguistically related to Polynesian). The survey results underscore the extraordinary diversity of Island Melanesian populations from one language group to another, and from island to island. This is the result of the small sizes of the populations and the very long extent of modern human settlement there (over 30,000 years)."

Multivariate studies of cranial form: the impact of Howells' research on defining Homo sapiens.
J.B. Gaines et al.

Demographic simulations of the admixture between foragers and farmers in central European Neolithic.
P. Galeta, J. Bruzek.

William White Howells: A physical anthropologist in the making.
E. Giles

The relationship of Nubians with their neighbors, the Egyptians.
By, K. Godde.

The Phylogeography of Haplogroup N1a
Gokcumen O et al.
Recent studies have revealed a complex geographic distribution of haplogroup N1a. This rare and distinctive lineage is widely distributed across Eurasia and Africa, but always found at very low frequencies. However, despite its rarity, the genetic diversity within N1a has remained relatively high (h=0.9605). The reduced median network of N1a haplotypes not only reflects
this level of diversity, but also exhibits several relatively well-defined branches. The
distribution of N1a is intriguing because of revealing previously unrecognized connections between populations. What makes N1a even more interesting is the prevalence of this lineage in ancient European populations. Haak et al. (2005) found that 25% of their European Neolithic
samples belonged to N1a and dated to ~5000 BCE, whereas the frequency of this lineage in contemporary Europeans is only ~0.2%. In addition, an Iron Age skeleton from Kazakhstan had an N1a haplotype, suggesting the existence of this lineage in the Altai Republic in ~500BCE (Ricaut et al. 2004). Indeed, we found several haplogroup N1a mtDNAs in indigenous Altaians and Altaian Kazakhs. To further elucidate the phylogeography of this lineage in Central Asia, we sequenced the whole mtDNA genomes of our N1a haplotypes, and analyzed the resulting data with several quantitative methods and simulation programs to estimate their expansion times and spatial
distribution in Eurasia. Our findings suggest that there are two well-defined sublineages
within N1a, and that the dispersal of this haplogroup could be associated with the Neolithic expansion and with prehistoric interactions between Central Asian and European populations.


Understanding human races: the retreat of neutralism.
Henry Harpending
Discussion and debate about human races has been dominated for decades by neutral theory and statistics. Since this literature never posed a real question, it has never produced an answer. Lewontin's 1972 paper with its claim that a value of 1/8 of a statistic like Fst is “small” and that this means that human race differences are insignificant is a staple of our textbooks. Recently geneticists have had a closer look and pointed out that Fst of 1/8 describes differences among sets of half sibs and few claim that half sibs are insignificantly related. Anthony Edwards has shown that the significance of differences is in the correlation structure of a large number of traits, again denying the Lewontin assertion that human differences are small. Alan Templeton in 1998 claimed that human races were less differentiated that races of some other large mammals, but he compared human nuclear DNA statistics with statistics from mtDNA in the other species. An appropriate comparison shows that human are more, not less, differentiated than other large mammal species. Since neutral differences are a passive
record of demographic history they are not very significant for issues of functional biology. Newly available data sources allow us to study the natural selection of race differences instead of their drift. It appears that there is a lot of ongoing evolution in our species and the loci under strong selection on different continents only partially overlap. Human race differences may be increasing rapidly.

Acceleration of adaptive evolution in modern humans.
J. Hawks and G. Cochran
Humans vastly increased in numbers during the past 40,000 years. Recent surveys of human genomic variation have suggested a large surplus of recent positive selection, indicated by excess linkage disequilibrium and skewed SNP frequency spectra. We applied estimates of prehistoric and historic population sizes to estimate the importance of population growth in explaining the number of recent adaptive mutations. Our estimates are consistent with genomic evidence in suggesting that the rate of generation of positively selected genes has increased as much as a hundredfold during the past 40,000 years.

Do skeletal features reflect this genomic evidence of selection? Under positive
selection, rapid appearance of new variants during the terminal Pleistocene and early
Holocene would cause maximal phenotypic change during the last 2000-4000 years. We compared original and published series of Holocene cranial data from Europe, Jordan, Nubia, South Africa, and China, in addition to Late Pleistocene samples from Europe and West Asia, to test the hypothesis that the genomic acceleration in positive selection correlates with phenotypic evolution during this time period. A constellation of features in the face and cranial vault, notably including endocranial volume, changed globally during this time period and documents common patterns of selection in different regions. Holocene changes were similar in pattern and chronologically faster than those at the archaic-modern transition, which themselves were rapid compared to earlier hominid evolution. In genomic and craniometric terms, the origin of modern humans was a minor event compared to more recent evolutionary changes.

Patterns of admixture in Mexican Americans assessed from 101,150 SNPs.
M.G. Hayes et al.
"No significant differences were observed between the 10 subsets, allowing us to average the admixture estimates across the subsets: 68% European, 27% Asian (as a proxy for Native American), and 6% African."

Gender, wealth, and status in Bronze Age Central Asia: a dental pathology investigation.
B.E. Hemphill.

Sahara passage: the post-glacial recolonisation of North Africa by mitochondrial L* haplotypes.
AD Holden. P Forster.

Secular trends of the European male facial skull from the Migration Period to the present.
E. Jonke et al.
We examined secular trends in the facial skull over three Central European samples spanning more than 13 centuries. Data are 43 conventional cephalometric landmark points for samples dating from 680–830 CE, from the mid-19th Century, and from living Austrian young adult males. Methods of geometric morphometrics demonstrate shape differences across the samples, and also
differences in allometry. There is a stronginteraction between these, so that group mean differences are different for small and large individuals (equivalently, allometry is
different from period to period). The oldest sample, from the Migration Period, exhibits
allometric features that may possibly be Turkic. There are implications for the
craniofacial biologist interested in growth trends or growth predictions in ethnically
mixed populations. There are also implications for the discussion concerning the morphology of the Avars (an ethnic group of probably Central Asian origin who conquered large parts of Central Europe during the Migration Period and who interbred with other incoming groups after their conquest by Charlemagne), and also the relation of these findings to current thinking on gnathic reduction trends.

Roman Gladiators - The Osseous Evidence.
F. Kanz, K. Grossschmidt

Paternal heritage for the Indonesian peoples.
T. M. Karafet et al.

Feeding the children: Isotopic evidence for weaning practices in the ancient Greek colony of Apollonia (5th-2nd centuries BC).
C. Kwok, A. Keenleyside.

Misconceptions about the postcranial skeleton of Homo floresiensis.
S.G. Larson et al.

A comparison of mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome DNA variation on Manus Island.
K.E. Latham et al.

Y chromosomes of Kalmyks

Forensic Sci Int. 2007 Feb 19; [Epub ahead of print]

Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes in Kalmyk population samples.

Roewer L, Kruger C, Willuweit S, Nagy M, Rodig H, Kokshunova L, Rothamel T, Kravchenko S, Jobling MA, Stoneking M, Nasidze I.

Seventeen Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (STRs), DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385ab, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, GATA-H4, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635 were typed in DNA samples from the Kalmyk population (n=99). The population is characterized by a high proportion of duplicated DYS19 alleles and deletions of the locus DYS448 on the background of the Central Asian haplogroup C*. AMOVA analysis reveals a close vicinity to Mongolian and Kazakh populations and large genetic distance to geographical neighbours from Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus.

Link

New edition of YHRD database is online

From the curators of YHRD:

Hi Dienekes,

we have launched release 20 of the YHRD database, the largest update ever with 4,755 new haplotypes. See the news below and a geographical overview as an attachment.

December 28 YHRD update (Lutz Roewer, Sascha Willuweit)

The largest update since the database was started in 2000! Release 20 is out with 46,720 haplotypes in 386 populations. 44,863 haplotypes of these are completely typed for 9 and 17,824 for 11 loci. Twenty-nine populations were added today: from Ningxia in China (Han), from Qinghai in China (Salar), from Hungary including Romani speakers, from Germany (Bonn), from Sweden (Saami from Jokkmokk), from Norway (Bergen), from Libya (Tripolis), from Yemen (Sanaa), from Mexico (Chihuahua and Mexico City), from Serbia (Novi Sad), from Siberia (Stony Tunguska Evenks, Yakut speaking Evenks, Yakuts, Yukaghir, Tuva), from Western Russia (Belgorod, Kaluga, Mineralnye Vody, Nizhnii Novgorod, Orel, Pskov, Saratov, Tula, Vladimir, Volot, Yaroslavl) and from Southeastern Poland. Ten populations were updated: from Colombia (province Antioquia), from Ningxia in China (Hui), from Taiwan (Han), from Norway (Eastern, Central, Northern, Southern, Western parts and from Oslo) as well as from Russia (Novgorod). In two populations erroneous allele calls were corrected: Taraz (Kazakhstan) and Andalucia/Extremadura (Spain). We would like to thank the following colleagues for submissions, updates and corrections: Bofeng Zhu and his group (Shaanxi, P.R.China), Pamszav Horolma and her group (Budapest, Hungary), Anke Junge and her group (Bonn, Germany), Cheng-Hwai Tzeng and his group (Taipei, Taiwan), Andreas Karlsson and his group (Linkoeping, Sweden), Anibal Gaviria and his group (Medellin, Colombia), Thomas Rothaemel and his group (Hannover, Germany), Berit Myhre Dupuy and her group (Oslo, Norway), Uta Immel and her group (Halle, Germany), Hector Rangel-Villalobos and his group (Ocotlan, Mexico), Miljen Maletin and his group (Novi Sad, Serbia), Brigitte Pakendorf and her group (Leipzig, Germany), Marcin Wozniak and his group (Bydgoszcz, Poland), Grzegorz Kaczmarczyk and his group (Krakow, Poland) and Maria Jose Farfan and her group (Sevilla, Spain).

We wish you a happy new year !

Lutz Roewer, Sascha Willuweit
YHRD curators

Horse domestication news from Kazakhstan

See also Botai and Horse Domestication.

New evidence of early horse domestication

Soil from a Copper Age site in northern Kazakhstan has yielded new evidence for domesticated horses up to 5,600 years ago. The discovery, consisting of phosphorus-enriched soils inside what appear to be the remains of horse corrals beside pit houses, matches what would be expected from Earth once enriched by horse manure. The Krasnyi Yar site was inhabited by people of the Botai culture of the Eurasian Steppe, who relied heavily on horses for food, tools, and transport.

"There's very little direct evidence of horse domestication," says Sandra Olsen, an archaeologist and horse domestication researcher at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA. That's because 5,600 years ago there were no saddles or metal bits to leave behind. Equipment like bridles, leads, and hobbles would have been made from thongs of horse hide, and would have rotted away long ago. Likewise horses themselves have not changed much physically as a result of domestication, unlike dogs or cattle. So ancient horse bones don't easily reveal the secrets of domestication.

With research funding from the National Science Foundation, Olsen's team took a different tack. They looked for circumstantial evidence that people were keeping horses. One approach was to survey the Krasnyi Yar site with instruments to map out subtle electrical and magnetic irregularities in the soils. With this they were able to identify the locations of 54 pit houses and dozens of post moulds where vertical posts once stood. Some of the post moulds were arranged circularly, as would be most practical for a corral.

Next, geologist Michael Rosenmeier from the University of Pittsburgh collected soil samples from inside the fenced area and outside the settlement. The samples were analyzed for nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sodium concentrations by Rosemary Capo, University of Pittsburgh geochemist, and her students. Modern horse manure is rich in phosphorous, potassium, and especially nitrogen, compared to undisturbed soils. But because nitrogen is mobile in soils, it can be lost to groundwater or transferred to the atmosphere by organic and inorganic processes. Phosphorus, on the other hand, can be locked into place by calcium and iron and is more likely to be preserved in the soils for millennia.

As it turned out, the soil from inside the alleged corral had up to ten times the phosphorus concentration as the soils from outside the settlement. Lots of phosphorus can also indicate a hearth, said Capo, but that phosphorus is usually accompanied by a lot of potassium, which is not the case in the corral at Krasnyi Yar.

The corral soils also had low nitrogen concentrations, says Capo, reducing the likelihood that the phosphorus came from more recent manure. "That's good, actually," she said of the recently completed nitrogen analyses. "It suggests we've got old stuff."

Even more compelling will be if we find long-lived molecules of fat, or lipids, directly attributed to horse manure in the soils, says Olsen.

The latest results from Krasnyi Yar site will be on display Monday morning, 23 October, at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Philadelphia.

Early as the Botai were, they were probably not the first to domesticate horses, says Olsen. "The very first horse domestication was probably a bit earlier in Ukraine or western Russia," she said. "Then some horse-herders migrated east to Kazakhstan."

Horses allowed the Botai to build large perennial villages with, in one case, hundreds of homes. They did so without the benefit of agriculture, Olsen explained, as theirs was a horse economy.

The Botai were able to stay put year-round because horses are very well adapted to cold winters, she said. "Horses can survive ice storms and don't need heated barns or winter fodder," Olsen said. They are, in fact, some of the last remaining large, Ice Age, Pleistocene mammals living in one of the last places on Earth where Pleistocene vegetation survives.

Because they were domesticated, the horses supplied meat year-round and vitamin-rich mare's milk from spring through fall. "No one in their right mind would try to milk a wild mare," said Olsen.

There is also evidence that the Botai were carrying a lot of heavy material, like rocks and large skulls, over long distances. That is a lot more practical and explicable if they used pack horses.

Later people of the same region adopted shepherding and cattle raising, said Olsen. That created a more nomadic culture, since sheep and cattle are not well suited for sub-zero climates and therefore needed to be taken south in winter. The tradeoff, she says, was that cows and sheep give far fattier milk year round, which can be made into yogurt and cheese. Sheep also provide wool.

Kazakh people today still eat horsemeat. They were forced to abandon their nomadic lifestyle during the Soviet era and have returned to small village pastoralism, Olsen says.

Human population genetic structure

I was re-reading a classic paper [1] by Wilson et al. which first used the model-based software STRUCTURE program to cluster human populations. This approach was later used by Rosenberg et al. [2] with many more populations and markers. The following two tables from the paper are quite useful. The first table shows (right column) the probability of the number of clusters K given the data.



As you can see, this probability is ~1 for K=4. Contrary to often repeated claims, the number of subdivisions ("races") of a group of individuals is not arbitrary, but for a set of individuals some numbers (in this case 4) are much better than others. Of course with more markers or larger samples, some of these clusters may be further refined, but the basic structure would not change. An alternative clustering with say 2 or 3 clusters would not emerge.

The second table shows that human populations usually fall within the clusters that correspond to the classical anthropological racial categories.



It is also interesting that the Ethiopians belong in the Caucasoid cluster A and also in the Negroid cluster C. The Ethiopians don't "fit well" in the 4-race scheme, but this is a fact that was also appreciated by traditional anthropology. In all likelihood, both ancient links between Proto-Eurasians and East Africans and recent migrations of Caucasoids into East Africa are responsible for Ethiopian intermediacy.

Admixture analysis using K clusters summarizes the genetic structure of populations and individuals with K numbers adding up to 1, i.e., with K-1 degrees of freedom. But, they cannot distinguish between similarity deriving from common descent, or from recent admixture.

For example, Kazakhs and South Asians both score highly for European and Asian ancestry in Ancestry By DNA type tests. But, in the case of the former, this is due to admixture between Caucasoids and Mongoloids in Central Asia, whereas in the latter it is due to admixture between Caucasoids and Proto-Asians, i.e., non-Mongoloid people sharing common descent with East Asians.

This is why autosomal markers are useful for determining overall (genomic) similarity, but we have to turn to haploid markers such as mtDNA and the Y chromosome to interpret this similarity. Such markers can be tied to regions and times of origin and can thus be used to determine the actual processes of expansion and admixture that have led to the observable genetic variation.

[1] J.F. Wilson et al. Nature Genetics 29, 265 - 269 (2001)
[2] N.A. Rosenberg et al. Science, Vol 298, Issue 5602, 2381-2385

Botai and horse domestication

See also the updated entry on the redating of the Dereivka stallion, including some comments from Dr. David Anthony. Now that Dereivka has been redated as belonging to the Scythian Iron Age, the Botai (east of the Urals) represents the earliest evidence of possible horse riding. Levine writes:

Another example of this commitment to an earliest date is Anthony’s argument that the domesticated horse was present in the Ukraine earlier than in Kazakhstan. His evidence for this comes from bitwear studies of two samples of lower second premolars from two Eneolithic sites, Botai in northern Kazakhstan (5 from a total of 19 teeth) and Dereivka in the Ukraine (2 from a total of 6 teeth). He implies from this that horse domestication spread from west to east (Anthony 1995).

The redating of the Dereivka stallion casts doubt on the idea that horse domestication spread from west to east. Certainly it might have, but there is no direct evidence for the prior existence of domesticated horses in Ukraine than in Kazakhstan (Botai). But is the pattern of tooth wear interpreted as bit wear unambiguous evidence of horse riding? Levine writes:

The question of whether the wear pattern described by Anthony and Brown could have had other causes has not been adequately addressed. Their unbitted sample of feral horses consisted of 20 individuals from two North American populations (mustangs from the mountains of Nevada and barrier island ponies from the Atlantic Coast). They have generalized from this small sample that unbitted horses could not manifest the wear pattern they describe as unique to bitwear. On the other hand, Angela von den Driesch (personal communication) has observed
that similar, if not identical, wear on the lower second premolar can result from abnormal occlusion with the upper second premolar.

As far as we know, then, beveling on the anterior part of the lower P2 masticatory surface could be caused by bitwear or abnormal occlusion. Either a domesticated horse or a wild one that had been tamed could be bitted. The absence of bitwear could indicate that a horse had not been ridden recently or regularly before its death, that it was ridden unbitted, or that it never was ridden. We must conclude from this that bitwear should not be used without corroboration as proof of domestication. This is not to say that bitwear studies should not be carried out. On the contrary, their use should be much more widespread, but in conjunction with other methods of analysis.

From the conclusions:

The results of the analyses carried out on the data from Dereivka and Botai suggest that the vast majority of the horses from those sites were killed in the hunt. Different hunting techniques were employed at each of them: stalking or chasing at Dereivka and driving or surrounding at Botai. The possibility that some of the horses might have been tamed or domesticated, as suggested by Anthony and Brown’s bitwear studies, is certainly not excluded. However, the possibility that the wear pattern they define as bitwear could have other causes has not been disproved.

See also Domestication, Breed Diversification and Early History of the Horse.

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
Volume 18, Issue 1 , March 1999, Pages 29-78

Botai and the Origins of Horse Domestication

Marsha A. Levine

Abstract

This paper explores some issues related to the origins of horse domestication. First, it focuses on methodological problems relevant to existing work. Then, ethnoarchaeological and archaeozoological methods are used to provide an alternative approach to the subject. Ethnological, ethological, and archaeological data are used to construct a series of population structure models illustrating a range of human–horse relationships. Analysis of assemblages from the Eneolithic sites of Botai (northern Kazakhstan) and Dereivka (Ukraine) suggests that horses at these sites were obtained largely by hunting.

Link

UPDATE

Dr. Anthony writes in the comments section. I have placed his comments in the blog entry because haloscan comments get deleted after a few months.

1. I have argued that horse domestication spread from west to east because the cultures of Ukraine and the the Volga-Ural region certainly had domesticated animals (cattle and sheep) before 5000 calBC, while the cultures of northern Kazakhstan remained foragers until at least 3500 calBC (when they probably adopted horse-herding), and perhaps until 2500 calBC (when they finally began to adopt domesticated cattle and sheep, 2500 years after the cultures of the western steppes). Horses were included with cattle and sheep in funeral sacrifices in the western steppes between 5000-4500 calBC and were portrayed there in mobile art, while in the eastern (Kazakh) steppes horses played no special role in ritual or in art until the Botai culture appeared, about 3500 BCE. Botai was a radically new kind of culture in the Kazakh steppes, with large settlements and dense deposits of animal bone consisting of 70-90% horse bones. This specialized horse hunting economy appeared with bit wear and stabling soils full of horse dung in the settlement of Botai. Bit wear also appeared at the related settlement of Kozhai 1. The Botai people were foragers who rode domesticated horses to hunt wild horses, a peculiar adaptation that existed only in Kazakhstan and only between 3500-3000 calBC.

2. Levine is incorrect in stating that what we have defined as bit wear can appear on the teeth of wild horses; her description of our sample size is incorrect; and her statement that bit wear could have other causes is an unsupported speculation. In a forthcoming paper in a BAR volume edited by Sandra Olsen we describe a new sample of 74 never-bitted Pleistocene equid teeth, studied with our methods. None of them shows a bevel measurement of 3mm, our threshold for bit wear. No one, including von den Dreisch and Levine, has described a population of wild horses that exhibits this kind of wear facet as the result of natural wear. Bit wear clearly distinguishes bitted from never-bitted populations at better than the .001 level of confidence. Levine's criticism of our bit wear statistics in the Journal of Anthropological Anthropology confused the issue by comparing our median measurement for bitted horses to our maximum measurement for never-bitted horses, implying that only .5mm separated them. This was a basic error. Comparing median to median and maximum to maximum, the statistical separation is very good.

3. Levine distinguishes between horses that are merely 'tamed' and those that are 'domesticated'. Tamed horses might have been ridden regularly in the hunt and in war, but this is unimportant in her scheme if they do not show the measurements she expects for a 'domesticated' horse. Culturally, this turns anthropological zoology upside down. When people began to ride horses regularly the world was changed. Whether leg bone measurements changed at the same time is an interesting question, but not nearly as interesting as identifying ridden horses.

Horses were not ridden in the fifth millennium BC

The first domesticated horses were used for meat and for drawing wheeled vehicles. The idea that horses were ridden before the 1st millennium BC is one of the arguments of the adherents of the Pontic steppe thesis of Indo-European origins, because ridden horses would give a significant military advantage, and thus allow the steppe people to overwhelm the settled agricultural populations of Old Europe.

There are however no depictions of horse riding in art before the 1st millennium BC, or in the earliest texts of Indo-European speakers. So, some archaeologists have sought alternative ways of establishing that horses were ridden. To ride a horse, one needs a bit which is put in the horse's mouth and reins by which the horse is controlled. The teeth of a horse that have a hard bit will show evidence of wear in a distinctive pattern, and this will allow us to infer that it was ridden.

The following excerpt from a recent review of Robert Drews' Early riders: the beginning of mounted warfare in Asia and Europe by Karlene Jones-Bley in Journal of Indo-European Studies vol 33, no. 1/2 shows how this ingenuous hypothesis has not survived radiocarbon dating.

Nevertheless, the entire bit wear thesis collapsed once the skull of the "cult stallion" was subjected to radiocarbon dating and was found to have died before 700 and 200BC. Thus, even if the evidence for bit wear were valid (and there are those who still question even this), it didn't happen at Dereivka until the Iron Age when no one doubts the existence of horse riding and hard bits.

UPDATE

Dr. David Anthony, who proposed the bit wear hypothesis has sent me an e-mail in which he gives some additional information.

The date of the domestication of the horse is still poorly understood, but horses certainly were domesticated and used for riding in the northern Eurasian steppes by the middle of the fourth millennium BCE, and they were grouped with cattle, sheep, and humans in funeral rituals that excluded obviously wild animals during the fifth millennium BCE. The 3500BCE date for riding is supported at Khvalynsk in northern Kazakhstan, dated 3500-3000 BCE, where in addition to bit wear on horse premolars, stabling soils full of horse dung were found, and whole horse carcasses were regularly brought into the settlement for butchering as a regular practice over the course of hundreds of years. The occupants had no cattle or sheep, no draft animals other than horses, so if the horses at Botai were wild it is difficult to understand how they were brought into the settlement. The inclusion of horses in human graves dated 4500 BCE is documented at Khvalynsk on the middle Volga, a cemetery where the sacrificed animals included parts of 52 sheep/goat, 23 cattle, and 11 horses, and no obviously wild animals. Khvalynsk sites also have yielded stone maceheads shaped like horseheads and bone plaques carved in the shape of horses. The bit-worn horse teeth at Dereivka were re-dated to 700-200 BCE by me, the same person who identified the bit wear, but the article in which I announced the re-dating of the Dereivka teeth also described the evidence from Botai and Khvalynsk. Dereivka was not the only site with early bit wear in the steppes. No credible or accurate criticisms of bit wear analysis have yet been published, so the detection of bit wear remains a valid way to identify bitted horses in the archaeological record. Please see Anthony, David W. and Dorcas Brown, 2000, "Eneolithic horse exploitation in the Eurasian steppes: diet, ritual and riding," Antiquity 74: 75-86.

New YHRD Release

There has been a new release of YHRD which now contains 31,319 haplotypes in a set of 258 populations. I have used YHRD in the past to see the distribution of various interesting haplotypes, and it will be interesting if some of the patterns I identified still hold in the new release.

For example, in Global prevalence of Mongolian and Kazakh modal haplotypes I showed that the modal haplotypes of Mongolians and Kazakhs are quite specific to these populations and absent in the other listed populations, except in a sample of Turks and Poles, thus making them excellent for tracking the presence of Altaic admixture. In the new release, the Buryat modal haplotype that was previously found in a samples of Poles, has now been detected in a sample of Germans from Cologne.

Spencer Wells responds (again)

Via an e-mail forwarded to the GENEALOGY-DNA-L list:

We will primarily be collecting males from the indigenous populations around the world, which will maximize the number of Y-chromosomes while providing mtDNA as well. It is also easier to study X-chromosome variation in men, since the X is only present in one copy and it is therefore easier to infer haplotypes.

The populations will be chosen through a process of consultation with elders and the people themselves. I have been in Australia for the past few days getting this started, and am off to Singapore and India this week. We will sample both ‘ethnically defined’ (by language, customs, etc.) and ‘geographically defined’ (i.e. if a group, such as the Kazaks of Central Asia, are widespread then we will attempt to sample roughly on a grid) groups.

Sampling from indigenous groups will be through blood draws, which will yield hundreds of micrograms of DNA. This amount of DNA if far more than we need for typing Y and mtDNA, and it will allow us to apply new markers to the study of migratory patterns in the future. Particularly as the HapMap data becomes available, new autosomal haplotype systems should provide great resolution for questions that are unanswerable using Y and mtDNA (remember that these only assess a tiny fraction of your complete genomic ancestry). The DNA will be stored at the regional center that collected it, and will be available for study in the future by all members of the scientific community – effectively a virtual, global biobank. These studies will only take place as collaborations, and the proposed genotyping must follow the guidelines for the study – e.g. only markers that tell us about historical or anthropological information. Also, the actual laboratory work will take place at the regional center(s) – one of our project goals is to build scientific capacity in the less developed countries (Brazil, South Africa, India, etc.) where we have centers. No medical research will ever be conducted using these samples, for reasons having to do with informed consent and intellectual property. We will release all of the anonymous data into the public domain as we analyze it. We feel that this information is part of the ‘commons’ of our species – it belongs to everyone – and no attempt will be made to patent it.

We will be testing every indigenous sample collected for Y and mtDNA. In the case of the former, a multiplex PCR technique will be used to type AT LEAST the 12 STR markers typed by Family Tree DNA. We will probably be typing more – perhaps as many as 20 – in the initial screen. We will also sequence HVR-1 in each individual. Initially, we will also SNP type every Y-chromosome and mtDNA to confirm the haplogroup. Once we have a sufficient database, we will probably be able to predict haplogroup affiliation with a high degree of precision, allowing us to simply type the STRs for most individuals. Over time new markers will be discovered – some perhaps by us, to answer specific questions – but the key will always be having access to the indigenous DNA samples to type these markers. These are the most valuable asset of the project, and we don’t have to limit ourselves to any particular markers – we’ll choose the best ones to answer the questions we are investigating.

The maps shown on the website atlas at the moment demonstrate the routes followed by the markers that will be reported in the public component at the moment. Over time we will add more routes (= subhaplogroups) as the information on them improves. Remember that this is a GLOBAL project of enormous logistical complexity, and therefore that we may not show all of the details of a well-studied region like Europe at this time. We will be improving the level of detail over the coming years, and European users in particular should see their routes become much more detailed. Purchasing a participant’s kit is like purchasing a ‘subscription to your genome’, and you will be able to check back every few months to see what has been updated in your profile.

Finally, the data collected from the public part of the project will allow us to add an enormous number of genotypes to the database, giving us the power to answer some key questions. For instance, at the moment there is no evidence for interbreeding with Neanderthals as modern humans migrated into western Europe, but this is based on only 15-20,000 individuals who have been genotyped. Will we find a rare Neanderthal lineage in the 234,000th sample we type? Also, the public samples will allow us to assess patterns of genetic variation in admixed populations. There are some interesting studies we hope to do with the US census data, comparing Y and mtDNA patterns to that database. So these samples really are part of the project, not simply a way to raise funds - although that is a great aspect as well. Most people I've spoken to love the fact that all of the net proceeds from their kit - slightly more than 20% of the $99.95 price - get plowed back into the research and Legacy project.

Spencer Wells

See the earlier response as well.

DNA testing of Xinjiang mummies

Genetic testing reveals awkward truth about Xinjiang’s famous mummies

“I spent six months in Sweden last year doing nothing but genetic research,” Mair said from his home in the United States where he teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

“My research has shown that in the second millennium BC, the oldest mummies, like the Loulan Beauty, were the earliest settlers in the Tarim Basin.

“From the evidence available, we have found that during the first 1,000 years after the Loulan Beauty, the only settlers in the Tarim Basin were Caucasoid.”

East Asian peoples only began showing up in the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin about 3,000 years ago, Mair said, while the Uighur peoples arrived after the collapse of the Orkon Uighur Kingdom, largely based in modern day Mongolia, around the year 842.

“Modern DNA and ancient DNA show that Uighurs, Kazaks, Krygyzs, the peoples of Central Asia are all mixed Caucasian and East Asian. The modern and ancient DNA tell the same story,” he said.

Mair hopes to publish his new findings in the coming months.

China has only allowed the genetic studies in the last few years, with a 2004 study carried out by Jilin University also finding that the mummies’ DNA had Europoid genes, further proving that the earliest settlers of Western China were not East Asians.

See also this 2004 study on ancient Central Asians from Kazakhstan which essentially agrees with the content of this story, and a paper on a modern Caucasoid-Mongoloid population from Xinjiang.