[INDOLOGY] Genetics Research and South Asian Pre-History

[Witzel, Michael]

Dear All,

The original paper is at:
https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-017-0936-9
Here the summary:

Conclusions

Maternal lineages primarily reflect earlier, pre-Holocene processes, and paternal lineages predominantly episodes within the last 10 ka. In particular, genetic influx from Central Asia in the Bronze Age was strongly male-driven, consistent with the patriarchal, patrilocal and patrilineal social structure attributed to the inferred pastoralist early Indo-European society. This was part of a much wider process of Indo-European expansion, with an ultimate source in the Pontic-Caspian region, which carried closely related Y-chromosome lineages, a smaller fraction of autosomal genome-wide variation and an even smaller fraction of mitogenomes across a vast swathe of Eurasia between 5 and 3.5 ka.

So far the sticking point had been the variously discussed origin of the male haplogroup R1a that some saw in South Asia. (see the  good summary at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_R1a#R1a_origins. The new paper demolishes that view.

Once we will have access to ancient DNA from South Asia (so far nothing in graves of the Indus Civilization and other excavations), the matter will be further substantiated.

Similar developments can be seen in Central  Europe, where an immigration from the Pontic steppes (Ukraine) around 2500 BCE  has overlaid the local Hunter-Gatherer and the later-arrived Mediterranean agriculturalists by 75% (Haak 2015).

Similarly in Britain after the immigration of Anglo-Saxon tribes, and not to forget in Meso- and South America that of the Spaniards.
The reason in all cases was the male immigrants’ mating and marriage pattern that gradually crowded out local males.

The new findings obviously chime in very well with the established view of the origin of Indo-Aryan (Vedic) language in the steppes and its introduction in the northwestern subcontinent (along with, archaeologically attested,  steppe horses and spoke-wheeled chariots around 1800/1700 BCE). Along with a clear overlay of the pre-existing (non-Dravidian) substrate language in the Northwest.

Added are the introduction Indo-Iranian (and Indo-European) poetry (Rigveda) and even its underlying poetics, of high Vedic religion and rituals, and the expansion of the old Indo-European 3-class system as to include the śūdras.

As is well known, this question has been a political football in India since the early 1980s, and we can expect a strong pushback from such forces now.

Finally, for your amusement I may recall that I have favored this, the (Indo-)Aryan Migration view, since at least 1955 and have been attacked constantly for saying so. See my papers of 1995, 2001:
Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts. EJVS<http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/ejvs-new.htm> May 2001 pdf<http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/EJVS-7-3.pdf>

Early Indian History: Linguistic and Textual Parameters. in: Language, Material Culture and ethnicity. The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia, ed. G. Erdosy, Berlin/New York: de Gruyter 1995, 85-125; --  Rgvedic history: poets, chieftains and politics,  loc.cit. 307-352 combined pdf <http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/Erdosy1995.pdf> (uncorrected)

and the substrate paper of 1999:
Early Sources for South Asian Substrate Languages.Boston: Mother Tongue, extra number 1999 pdf<http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/MT-Substrates.pdf>

Cheers!
Michael
On Jun 16, 2017, at 7:22 PM, Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:

The list may be interested in this article.

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/how-genetics-is-settling-the-aryan-migration-debate/article19090301.ece?homepage=true<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.thehindu.com_sci-2Dtech_science_how-2Dgenetics-2Dis-2Dsettling-2Dthe-2Daryan-2Dmigration-2Ddebate_article19090301.ece-3Fhomepage-3Dtrue&d=DwMCAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=tFXzIbyKS2C0TpVqKsMrj46qwsAermBN5wzaDe51So0&m=s3ZWxrldVESXGjJXYD03qqLjXugfEduIpHoHnd-xd4A&s=RQYBpKNOt-zh9urB5jw-RM4TWA5j9sAq1uE9GKl9cbQ&e=>

Regards,
S. Palaniappan
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