The high frequency of G2a haplogroup in Neolithic specimens, whereas this haplogroup is very rare in current populations, also suggests that men could have played a particularly important role in the Neolithic dissemination that is no longer visible today. This would imply that intra-European migrations related to the metal ages may have strongly affected the modern gene pool.
I was intending to comment more, but for now I'll just mention:
(1) I agree with Jean M.: "MtDNA haplogroups were K1a (3), T2b (2), and one each of H3 and U5. Since it seems very likely that all of these except the U5 arrived in the Neolithic, I cannot agree with the conclusions of the authors that the spread of farming was male-led."
(2) The confirmed presence of E-V13 in Neolithic western Europe reinforces for me that those wanting to attribute the reported elevated levels of E-V13 in NE Wales to "Roman soldiers" or the like are probably mistaken.
7 comments:
So, where are Old Europeans still found? Sardinia? Or are they just an isolated branch of New Europeans?
Who are some famous Sardinians? I've heard of a famous Corsican, but the most famous Sardinian I could find was Gramsci, but he was from a group of Albanian refugees who fled to Italy went the Turks took over. A Sardinian woman won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1926, but I'd never heard of her.
Racially/sub-racially, who/what are the Sardinians...?
I mean you hear so much about that dump of an island Sicily so damn much I was just curious as to why we never hear, as Steve-O mentions, next-to-nothing about Sicily's island neighbor-to-it's- North.
Steve,
Sardinians probably have the greatest degree of Neolithic W. European ancestry today. Neolithic W. Europeans, in turn, probably consisted of a predominant Near Eastern element with varying degrees of Mesolithic SE European and Mesolithic W. Euro ancestry.
R1b, the dominant Y lineage in W. Europe today, was likely brought by Indo-European speakers, who probably had Mesolithic E. Euro ancestry (along with ancestry from other sources). I suspect the post-Neolithic Indo-European element is the single largest component in the ancestry of modern Europeans (at least north of the Alps), but the earlier layers will still be there in varying degrees throughout Europe.
Who are some famous Sardinians?
Apparently Franco Columbu and 1/2 of Joe Calzaghe.
Anonymous,
According to Coon: "Measurements and indices of the head and face related the Sardinians to the smaller Berber groups and to the Portuguese,131 and this resemblance is confirmed by the study of modern Sardinian crania, which show that the Sardinians are low-vaulted dolichocephals and mesocephals, with short faces and skeletally mesorrhine noses. Among Sardinian crania are a number which show a combination of prognathism, a primitive condition of the lower border of the nasal aperture, and extreme dolichocephaly.132 Regional studies within the island show that among the living population the inhabitants of the more remote mountain villages are shorter-statured, longer-headed, and more purely brunet than are those living nearer the coast. The relatively great antiquity of the most primitive small Mediterranean type is indicated, while at the same time the Nordic nucleus found in Corsica seems to be lacking here.
Sardinia and Corsica were peopled at the beginning of the Neolithic by a race of short-statured, dolichocephalic, low-vaulted, brunet Mediterraneans, coming probably from several quarters, including the adjacent European coasts, North Africa, and the eastern Mediterranean. Subsequent immigrations of other Mediterranean peoples have affected the racial composition of these islands but little."
Thanks. Most informative.
I have quite a few questions.
" Sardinians probably have the greatest degree of Neolithic W. European ancestry today."
But which areas do you think have more "old European", or pre neolithic European?
My guess is that Finland would be up there along with the British and Scandinavians depending on the composition of the indo Europeans.
What about the earliest Europeans? Do you think there is even much cro magnon in the Europeans gene pool? I don't know if there was large non European replacement during the mesolithic like there was during the neolithic.
Also, do you think there was much of a population living north of southern France and the alps during the ice age (a place like doggerland)? If so do you think they would have much of an impact on the genes of modern Europeans from that area?
" Also, do you think there was much of a population living north of southern France and the alps during the ice age"
No
Steve Sailer,
Franco Columbu is Sardinian. Famous bodybuilder and best friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger. When they both moved to California they worked together as brick layers. They advertised themselves as European stone masons as a gimmick, despite the fact that there was nothing particularly european about their bricklaying.
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