Neolithic fire starting technology

PLoS ONE 7(8): e42213. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042213

The Earliest Matches

Naama Goren-Inbar et al.

Cylindrical objects made usually of fired clay but sometimes of stone were found at the Yarmukian Pottery Neolithic sites of Sha‘ar HaGolan and Munhata (first half of the 8th millennium BP) in the Jordan Valley. Similar objects have been reported from other Near Eastern Pottery Neolithic sites. Most scholars have interpreted them as cultic objects in the shape of phalli, while others have referred to them in more general terms as “clay pestles,” “clay rods,” and “cylindrical clay objects.” Re-examination of these artifacts leads us to present a new interpretation of their function and to suggest a reconstruction of their technology and mode of use. We suggest that these objects were components of fire drills and consider them the earliest evidence of a complex technology of fire ignition, which incorporates the cylindrical objects in the role of matches.

Link

Coastal-inland differences in Y chromosomes of the Levant

More on this after I get a hold of and digest the information in the paper.

Just a quick comment, based only on the abstract, that the Levantine populations should be studied in a European context as well, as they have been influenced by prehistoric populations from the Aegean, Greeks, Romans, medieval Crusaders, or Ottomans of various origins.

UPDATE: The paper has several supplementary figures and tables.

In Figure S1 we see the biallelic markers used in this study, and their representation in the various populations. It is a chronic problem with studies of this sort to undertype samples; there are phylogeographically informative markers within haplogroups G, L, E1b1b, and J2 for example, which would have added important information about the specific affinities of these haplogroups in the studied populations.


Inspit of these deficiencies, we may still make some useful observations. For example, IE-speaking Iranians have largely the same haplogroups as Arabs, but a much higher representation of haplogroup J2 compared to J1. The converse is true for all Arabs except the Lebanese. But, we do know, that even in Lebanon itself, Muslims have a higher J1/J2 ratio than Christians, and Islam was the main vehicle of Arabization in the region. The Christians are descended from the pre-Arab Byzantine Greco-Aramaic populations (with an addition of Western European Y-chromosomes in some Christian communities, which would not have substantially upset the J1/J2 balance).

It is fairly clear to me that in the Middle East, Greek and Iranian-settled regions have a higher J2/J1 ratio than regions with solid Semitic or NE Caucasian populations where J1 predominates.

UPDATE II (Aug 27):

The paper reports a near zero frequency of haplogroup J1 in Tunisia and Morocco, after an earlier study by the same authors. However, a different study (Onofri et al.) on Moroccan and Tunisian Y chromosomes report 20 and 35% respectively, which is in agreement with an earlier study on North African Y-chromosomes (Arredi et al.) The discrepancy in the J1 frequency seems too large to have arisen by chance given the sample sizes, and it would be interesting to see how it may have arisen.

Annals of Human Genetics doi:10.1111/j.1469-1809.2009.00538.x

Geographical Structure of the Y-chromosomal Genetic Landscape of the Levant: A coastal-inland contrast

Mirvat El-Sibai et al.

Abstract

We have examined the male-specific phylogeography of the Levant and its surroundings by analyzing Y-chromosomal haplogroup distributions using 5874 samples (885 new) from 23 countries. The diversity within some of these haplogroups was also examined. The Levantine populations showed clustering in SNP and STR analyses when considered against a broad Middle-East and North African background. However, we also found a coastal-inland, east-west pattern of diversity and frequency distribution in several haplogroups within the small region of the Levant. Since estimates of effective population size are similar in the two regions, this strong pattern is likely to have arisen mainly from differential migrations, with different lineages introduced from the east and west.

Link

Predomestication grain deposits in Jordan

See also: Crop domestication didn't happen overnight or in one place

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jun 22.

Evidence for food storage and predomestication granaries 11,000 years ago in the Jordan Valley.

Kuijt I, Finlayson B.

Food storage is a vital component in the economic and social package that comprises the Neolithic, contributing to plant domestication, increasingly sedentary lifestyles, and new social organizations. Recent excavations at Dhra' near the Dead Sea in Jordan provide strong evidence for sophisticated, purpose-built granaries in a predomestication context approximately 11,300-11,175 cal B.P., which support recent arguments for the deliberate cultivation of wild cereals at this time. Designed with suspended floors for air circulation and protection from rodents, they are located between residential structures that contain plant-processing instillations. The granaries represent a critical evolutionary shift in the relationship between people and plant foods, which precedes the emergence of domestication and large-scale sedentary communities by at least 1,000 years.

Link

mtDNA of Jordanians

Related: Jordanian Y chromosomes

Ann Hum Biol. 2008 Mar-Apr;35(2):212-31.

Mitochondrial DNA variation in Jordanians and their genetic relationship to other Middle East populations.

González AM, Karadsheh N, Maca-Meyer N, Flores C, Cabrera VM, Larruga JM.

Background: The Levant is a crucial region in understanding human migrations between Africa and Eurasia. Although some mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) studies have been carried out in this region, they have not included the Jordan area. This paper deals with the mtDNA composition of two Jordan populations. Aim: The main objectives of this article are: first, to report mtDNA sequences of an urban and an isolate sample from Jordan and, second, to compare them with each other and with other nearby populations. Subjects and methods: The analyses are based on HVSI and HVSII mtDNA sequences and diagnostic RFLPs to unequivocally classify into haplogroups 101 Amman and 44 Dead Sea unrelated individuals from Jordan. Results: Statistical analysis revealed that, whereas the sample from Amman did not significantly differ from their Levantine neighbours, the Dead Sea sample clearly behaved as a genetic outlier in the region. Its outstanding Eurasian haplogroup U3 frequency (39%) and its south-Saharan Africa lineages (19%) are the highest in the Middle East. On the contrary, the lack ((preHV)1) or comparatively low frequency (J and T) of Neolithic lineages is also striking. Although strong drift by geographic isolation could explain the anomalous mtDNA pool of the Dead Sea sample, the fact that its mtDNA lineage composition mirrors, in geographic origin and haplogroup frequencies, its Y-chromosome pool, points to founder effect as the main cause. Ancestral M1 lineages detected in Jordan that have affinities with those recently found in Northwest but not East Africa question the African origin of the M1 haplogroup. Conclusion: Results are in agreement with an old human settlement in the Jordan region. However, in spite of the attested migratory spreads, genetically divergent populations, such as that of the Dead Sea, still exist in the area.

Link

Walking speed in different cities

The New Scientist reports on a study regarding the average walking speed over a distance of 18 meters in different cities. The times to walk 18m are listed below

1) Singapore (Singapore); 10.55
2) Copenhagen (Denmark); 10.82
3) Madrid (Spain); 10.89
4) Guangzhou (China): 10.94
5) Dublin (Ireland); 11.03
6) Curitiba (Brazil); 11.13
7) Berlin (Germany); 11.16
8) New York (United States of America); 12.00
9) Utrecht (Netherlands); 12.04
10) Vienna (Austria); 12.06
11) Warsaw (Poland); 12.07
12) London (United Kingdom); 12.17
13) Zagreb (Croatia); 12.20
14) Prague (Czech Republic); 12.35
15) Wellington (New Zealand); 12.62
16) Paris (France); 12.65
17) Stockholm (Sweden); 12.75
18) Ljubljana (Slovenia); 12.76
19) Tokyo (Japan); 12.83
20) Ottawa (Canada); 13.72
21) Harare (Zimbabwe); 13.92
22) Sofia (Bulgaria); 13.96
23) Taipei (Taiwan): 14.00
24) Cairo (Egypt); 14.18
25) Sana'a (Yemen); 14.29
26) Bucharest (Romania); 14.36
27) Dubai (United Arab Emirates); 14.64
28) Damascus (Syria); 14.94
29) Amman (Jordan); 15.95
30) Bern (Switzerland); 17.37
31) Manama (Bahrain); 17.69
32) Blantyre (Malawi); 31.60

The Arabs' leisurly pace is rather obvious from this list. Also, predictably "tall" nations tend to be on the top of the list, but so is Singapore; perhaps in a crowded city-state fast walking may be a culturally acquired trait.

The website of the study has more info.

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.

Sub-Saharan African mtDNA admixture in several West Eurasian (Caucasoid) populations

The recent article on Etruscan mtDNA contains a useful overview table of mtDNA haplogroups in several West Eurasian (Caucasoid) populations, collected from both this study as well as the literature. Extracted from this table is the following table of mtDNA L (Sub-Saharan African) sequences in the listed populations. Scroll down because blogger added a lot of vertical space above the table.

POPULATION	Sample Size	% L sequences
Palestinians	117	13.68
Jordan	494	12.55
Portugal-South	203	10.84
Iraq	116	9.48
Syria	328	9.15
Portugal-Center	203	6.4
Spain-North-West	216	3.7
Portugal-North	188	3.19
Latium	138	2.9
Non-Europeans	4739	2.85
Lebanon	176	2.84
Volterra	114	2.63
Kurds	82	2.44
Sicily	105	1.9
Turks	340	1.76
Andalusia	114	1.75
Spain-North-East	179	1.68
Casentino	122	1.64
Murlo	86	1.16
Crete	202	0.99
Marche	813	0.98
Tuscans	322	0.93
Finland	121	0.83
Europe (w/o Tuscans)	10589	0.79
Bulgaria	141	0.71
Bosnia	144	0.69
Spain-Center	148	0.68
Basque	156	0.64
England	335	0.6
Sardinia	370	0.54
Switzerland	228	0.44
Campania	313	0.32
France	332	0.3
Germany	335	0.3
Iran	436	0.23
Poland	542	0.18
Caucasus-North-West	1179	0.17
Apulia-Calabria	226	0
Armenia	191	0
Austria	99	0
Azerbaijan	48	0
Bavaria	249	0
Caucasus-North-East	820	0
Czech-Republic	83	0
Estonia	558	0
Georgia	412	0
Greece	155	0
Ireland	300	0
Latvia	299	0
Lemnos	60	0
Lombardy	177	0
Norway	556	0
Piedmont	169	0
Rhodes	42	0
Romania	94	0
Russia	397	0
Scotland	1199	0
Slovakia	129	0
Slovenia	104	0
Sweden-Denmark	75	0
Wales	92	0

Calabrians as Greek descenants

Before the Roman conquest, and for a long time afterwards, Calabria was Greek speaking. Greek speakers were descended from the Ancient Greek colonists, but also from medieval Greek settlements during the Byzantine era. Greek was widely spoken in very recent times, and even today there are few Greek-speaking survivors, speaking Griko, an Italian dialect of the Greek language.

Most of the Greeks of Calabrians are now Italianized, but it is very likely that due to the mostly rural conditions of the region, the absence of significant foreign settlements and the late survival of Greek, that they may be largely descended from the medieval Greeks of the region, and even before that, the Greeks of mainland Greece. Moreover, since Greek settlement in Calabria largely pre-dates the descents of Slavs and Albanians in Greece, we may be able to (roughly) determine the extent of the impact of these elements in the modern Greek population.

Two papers in the literature [1, 2] report on the frequency of Y-chromosome haplogroups in the population of Calabira. [1] reports data labeled as "Calabrians", and [2] reports data on the population of Reggio and Paola. The cumulative sample has a size of N=87. Frequency data are shown below, with Greek frequency data also shown for comparison from [3]



Of course, frequencies may be modified by random genetic drift, and Calabrians are not descended from all Greek regions, but we can still make some general observations about their commonalities and differences.

In both Calabrians and Greeks, haplogroup J2 appears to be very frequent, and haplogroup E3b is also very frequent. It appears very likely that these two haplogroups were represented in ancient populations.

Calabrians have a higher frequency of haplogroup R1b. This haplogroup originated in Asia, but its most recent expansions mark the movements of people from Iberia and Anatolia after the Last Glacial Maximum. Italians have a generally higher frequency of this haplogroup, and hence it appears likely that R1b in Calabrians may partially represent the contribution of native Italians to their gene pool.

Calabrians also have a higher frequency of haplogroup J1. This haplogroup originated in the southern part of the Fertile Crescent, and is often (but not exclusively) found in modern Semitic speakers such as Jews and Arabs. This may represent remnants of Near Eastern people during post-Roman times, even though its earlier arrival cannot be entirely excluded.

Finally, a striking feature of the frequency table is the paucity of R1a and I lineages in Calabrians. R1a originated in the Ukraine and spread after the Last Glacial Maximum, but more recently with Slavic speakers. I1b originated in the Balkans and spread during late Paleolithic and early Neolithic and subsequent times.

It is fairly interesting that in a study which included a Cypriot sample [4], only 2% of Cypriots carried haplogroup R1a chromosomes. Cypriots are also a population which separated from mainland Greeks before the medieval period. The frequency of haplogroup I chromosomes is not available for Cypriots.

Also, of interest is the fact that in regions of Anatolia [5] inhabited by Greek speakers until recently, and in which the native population may be assumed to be descended partially from Islamized Greeks, the frequencies of haplogroups R1a and I are also low. In the Aegean region (8) they are 3.3% and 6.7%, and in the eastern Black Sea region (3) where Muslim Greek speakers still exist, they are 4.8% and 2.4%. Moreover in Anatolia R1a1 frequency is correlated with longitude, declining towards Greece. R1a frequency also decreases from north to south in the Balkans [6].

In conclusion, this small survey provides some evidence against the notion that Y-haplogroups I and especially R1a were substantially represented in ancient Greeks. The relative absence of these haplogroups in populations thought to be partially descended from Greeks, in addition to the decrease in frequency of R1a both north-to-south in the Balkans and east-to-west in Anatolia are the main reasons for this observation.

Naturally, I doubt that we can statistically exclude the presence of either haplogroup -at some low frequency- in ancient Greeks using these relatively small samples, but at least we have some indication that they probably did not form a substantial part of their patrilineal descent.

Update

In a larger sample of Calabrians, the haplogroup I frequency is 5.4%, and that in Sicilians is 8.8% [7]. Haplogroup I lineages in the Balkans and Italy are divided mainly into I1a, I1b, and I*(xI1a, I1b).

Update 2

I also came across this interesting paper (Coll Antropol. 2001 Jun;25(1):189-93.) which further substantiates the idea of the genetic isolation of Reggio Calabria, listed as REG above:

Surnames of grandparents were collected from children in the primary schools of the Albanian-Italian, Croat-Italian, and Greek-Italian villages. The coefficients of relationships by isonymy show almost no relationship with ethnicity. Ethnolinguistic minorities of Southern Italy and Sicily are geographically subdivided in two main clusters: the first cluster comprises the Albanian, Croat, and Greek communities of the Adriatic area; and the second cluster comprises the Albanian communities of the Ionian, Thirrenian and Sicilian area. The Greeks of Reggio Calabria Province are completely separated from the other communities.

It would be extremely interesting to see a study that focused only on Greek speakers of Reggio Calabria.

References

[1] O. Semino et al., "The genetic legacy of Paleolithic Homo sapiens sapiens in extant Europeans: a Y chromosome perspective", Science, 290(5494): 1155-1159.
[2] F. Di Giacomo et al., "Clinal patterns of human Y chromosomal diversity in continental Italy and Greece are dominated by drift and founder effects." Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 28(3): 387-395.
[3] C. Flores et al., "Isolates in a corridor of migrations: a high-resolution analysis of Y-chromosome variation in Jordan", Journal of Human Genetics (in press).
[4] Z. Rosser et al., "Y-Chromosomal Diversity in Europe Is Clinal and Influenced Primarily by Geography, Rather than by Language", American Journal of Human Genetics, 67(6): 1526-1543.
[5] C. Cinnioglu et al., "Excavating Y-chromosome haplotype strata in Anatolia", Human Genetics 114(2): 127–148.
[6] M. Pericic et al., "High-Resolution Phylogenetic Analysis of Southeastern Europe (SEE) Traces Major Episodes of Paternal Gene Flow Among Slavic Populations", Molecular Biology and Evolution (in press).
[7] S. Rootsi et al., "Phylogeography of Y-chromosome haplogroup I reveals distinct domains of prehistoric gene flow in europe", American Journal of Human Genetics 75(1): 128-37.

Jordanian Y chromosomes

New paper on Y chromosomes in Jordan, showing how the smoothness of macro-scale genetic variation often finds significant deviations at the more micro-scale level. It is imperative that such studies be conducted in more Near Eastern populations so that we can understand better the origin and evolution of Caucasoids in the region.

The Y-haplogroup frequency table is also interesting because it lists frequency of haplogroups in several populations. Greek frequency data are compiled from the literature and appear in the final column, and allow us to quantify the non-Caucasoid admixture in Greeks (0.2% Sub-Saharan haplogroup A and 1.3% Asian haplogroup C; total 1.5%). Haplogroup B (0.2%) reported in Greeks in the table is an error (see update below).



Update:

I contacted the authors of the study, pointing out that haplogroup B did not occur in the studies used to obtain results for the Greek population, and they have confirmed that this is the case:

Thank you for your careful revision of our article about Y chromosome in Jordan. Yes, you are right. There is a mistake in table 1. The greek B haplotypes are in fact indeterminated Y*.
We apologize for this error.
Sincerely yours,

A.M. González
e-mail: amglez@ull.es

Journal of Human Genetics (Online early)

Isolates in a corridor of migrations: a high-resolution analysis of Y-chromosome variation in Jordan

Carlos Flores et al.

Abstract A high-resolution, Y-chromosome analysis using 46 binary markers has been carried out in two Jordan populations, one from the metropolitan area of Amman and the other from the Dead Sea, an area geographically isolated. Comparisons with neighboring populations showed that whereas the sample from Amman did not significantly differ from their Levantine neighbors, the Dead Sea sample clearly behaved as a genetic outlier in the region. Its high R1*-M173 frequency (40%) has until now only been found in northern Cameroonian samples. This contrasts with the comparatively low presence of J representatives (9%), which is the modal clade in Middle Eastern populations, including Amman. The Dead Sea sample also showed a high presence of E3b3a-M34 lineages (31%), which is only comparable to that found in Ethiopians. Although ancient and recent ties with sub-Saharan and eastern Africans cannot be discarded, it seems that isolation, strong drift, and/or founder effects are responsible for the anomalous Y-chromosome pool of this population. These results demonstrate that, at a fine scale, the smooth, continental clines detected for several Y-chromosome markers are often disrupted by genetically divergent populations.

Link

Athens 2004

Dae Sung Moon, right, from Korea, competes against Alexandros Nikolaidis, from Greece, in the men's over 80 kg taekwondo gold medal match at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, Sunday, Aug 29, 2004. Moon won the gold medal. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)



Gold medallist Moon Sung Dae (C) of South Korea (news - web sites), silver medallist Alexandros Nikolaidis (L) of Greece and bronze medallist Pascal Gentil of France wave during the medal ceremony for the over 80kg taekwondo tournament final at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 29, 2004. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon



China's Luo Wei (L) is kicked by Greece's Elisavet Mystakidou during the women's under 67 kg gold medal taekwondo match at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, August 28, 2004. China's Luo Wei won the taekwondo women's under 67kg gold medal at the Olympics on Saturday, Greece's Elisavet Mystakidou took the silver and South Korea's Hwang Kyung-sun the bronze. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon



ATHENS - AUGUST 28: Elisavet Mystakidou of Greece shows her silver medal after the medal for the women's under 67 kg Taekwondo event on August 28, 2004 during the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games at the Sports Pavilion part of the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)



Greece's Mirela Manjani competes in the women's javelin throw final at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 27, 2004. Manjani won the bronze medal. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich



Cuban women's javelin gold medalist Osleidys Menendez, centre, is flanked by Germany's Steffi Nerius, silver, left, and Greece's Mirela Manjani, bronze, following the medal presentation ceremony at the 2004 Olympic Games in The Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 27, 2004.(AP Photo/Ben Curtis)



Italy's Alexandra Araujo (L) and Evangelia Moraitidou of Greece fight for position during the women's Olympic water polo gold medal match in Athens, August 26, 2004. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh



Greece players celebrate their silver medal placing in the women's Olympic water polo gold medal match against Italy during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, August 26, 2004. Greece were beaten 10-9 by Italy in extra-time. REUTERS/Andy Clark



Fani Halkia of Greece celebrates crossing the line to win the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2004 Olympic Games Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2004 in Athens, Greece. Jana Pittman, 2nd left, of Australia, and silver medalist Ionela Manolache, right, of Romania, follow. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)



ATHENS - AUGUST 25: Gold medalist Fani Halkia of Greece celebrates on the podium during the medal ceremony of the women's 400 metre hurdle event on August 25, 2004 during the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in the Sports Complex in Athens, Greece. Ionela Tirlea-Manolache of Romania came second and Tetiana Tereshchuk-Antipova of Ukraine came third. (Photo by Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)



Greece's Artiom Kiouregkian (top) grapples with Ukraine's Olesksiy Vakulenko (bottom) on his way to win the bronze medal in their men's Greco-Roman (under 55kg) wrestling bout at the Athens 2004 Olympics August 25, 2004. REUTERS/Yves Herman



Greece's Bronze medallist Artiom Kiouregkian, Hungary's gold medallist Istvan Majoros and Russia's silver medallist Gueidar Mamedaliev (R-L) stand on the podium during the award ceremony for the men's Greco-Roman (under 55kg) wrestling at the Athens 2004 Olympics August 25, 2004. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings



Greece's Nikolaos Kaklamanakis pumps his sail in light winds on his way to winning the silver medal in the men's mistral class at the Olympic Sailing venue during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, August 25, 2004. REUTERS/Nigel Marple



Greece's Nikolaos Kaklamanakis sailing in men's windsurfer mistral shows thumbs up at award ceremony after wining silver medal in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games regatta August 25, 2004.



Greece's Hrysopiyi Devetzi competes in the women's triple jump at Olympic Stadium at the 2004 Olympic Games August 23, 2004. Devetzi won the silver medal in the event. REUTERS/Jason Reed



Medalists for the women's triple jump (L-R) Greece's Hrysopiyi Devetzi, silver medal winner, Cameroon's Francoise Mbango Etone, gold medal winner and Russia's Tatana Lebedeva, bronze medal winner, pose during the medals ceremony at Olympic Stadium at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 23, 2004. REUTERS/Mike Blake



Greece's Athanasia Tsoumeleka celebrates after winning the women's 20km walk. Russia's Olimpiada Ivanova won the silver and Australia's Jane Saville won bronze.(AFP/Jeff Haynes)



Greece's Athanasia Tsoumeleka carries her national flag as she wears her gold medal for the women's 20 km walk at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 23, 2004. Tsoumeleka won the gold in a time of one hour 29.12 minutes ahead of Russia's Olimpiada Ivanova and Australia's Jane Saville. REUTERS/Mike Blake


Greece's Dimosthenis Tampakos performs his gold medal routine on the rings during the men's gymnastics individual apparatus finals at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games (news - web sites) in Athens, Sunday, Aug. 22, 2004. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)



Dimosthenis Tampakos of Greece (C) celebrates his gold medal with silver medallist Jordan Jovtchev of Bulgaria (L) and bronze medallist Yuri Chechi of Italy, after their rings event at the gymnastics competition at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 22, 2004. REUTERS/Reinhard Krause



Greek rower Vasileios Plymeros (L) raises his arm in victory after he and team mate Nikolaos Skiathitis won their heat in the lightweight men's double sculls during competition at the Athens 2004 Olympics August 15, 2004. The Greek team had a time of six minutes 15.22 seconds. REUTERS/Andy Clark



Silver medalists Pascal Touron, left, and Frederic Dufour of France, gold medalists Tomasz Kucharski, third from right, and Robert Sycz of Poland, and bronze medalists Vasileios Polymeros and Nikolaos Skiathitis of Greece, right, wave on the podium after the Men's Lightweight Double Sculls event at the 2004 Olympic Games in Schinias near Athens, Greece, Sunday, Aug. 22, 2004. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)



ATHENS, Greece: Anastasia Kelesidou of Greece competes in the women's discus throw final, 21 August 2004, during the Olympic Games athletics competitions at the Olympic Stadium in Athens.Sadova won the gold. Kelesidou won the silver medal, Natalya Sadova of Russia won the gold and Irina Yatchenko of Belarus won the bronze. AFP PHOTO/JAVIER SORIANO (Photo credit should read JAVIER SORIANO/AFP/Getty Images)



ATHENS, Greece: Anastasia Kelesidou of Greece holds up her national flag after she won silver in the women's discus throw final, 21 August 2004, during the Olympic Games athletics competitions at the Olympic Stadium in Athens.Kelesidou won the silver medal, Natalya Sadova of Russia won the gold and Irina Yatchenko of Belarus won the bronze. AFP PHOTO/TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA (Photo credit should read TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images)



Pyrros Dimas of Greece looks to the crowd of his countrymen while lifting 375 lbs (170 kg) in the snatch during the Men's 187 lb (85 kg) event at the Nikaia Olympic Weightlifting Hall during the Summer Olympics in Athens, Saturday Aug. 21, 2004. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)



Georgia's George Asanidze (C),lanked by silver medallist Belarus' Andrei Rybakou (L) and Greece's bronze medallist Pyrros Dimas, celebrates on the podium after he won the gold medal in the men's weightlifting 85kg event. REUTERS/Andrea Comas



Greek skipper Sofia BEKATOROU (L) and crew member Emilia TSOULFA as they cross the finish line, during the Women's Double-handed Dinghy-470 race nine, 19 August 2004, at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The Greek pair went on to win the gold Medal.



Greek 470 class skipper Sofia Bekatorou, right, and crew Aimilia Tsoulfa wave during the medal ceremony of the women's double-handed 470 dinghy sailing event at the 2004 Olympic Games (news - web sites) in Athens, Greece, Saturday, Aug. 21, 2004. The Greek team won the Gold medal. (AP Photo/Herbert Knosowski)



Greece's Olympic champion Ilias Iliadis (R) grapples with Ukraine's Roman Gontyuk (L) on his way to win the gold medal in their men's judo half-middleweight (under 81kg) competition at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 17, 2004. REUTERS/Charles Platiau



Medal winners pose together during the victory ceremony after the Judo men's half-middle weight (-81 kg) event during the Summer Olympics in Athens, Tuesday Aug. 17, 2004. From left is silver medalist Roman Gontyuk of the Ukraine, gold medalist Ilias Iliadis of Greece, bronze medalists Robert Krawczyk of Poland and Flavio Canto of Brazil. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)



Greece's Nikolaos Siranidis and Thomas Bimis dive in the men's synchronised 3-metre diving final to take the gold medal at the Athens 2005 Olympic Games, August 16, 2004. Host nation Greece won its first gold medal of the Athens Olympics on Monday when Siranidis and Bimis triumphed in the men's synchronised 3-metre diving. REUTERS/Arko Datta



Gold medal winners in the men's Olympic synchronised diving 3 metre springboard final Thomas Bimis (L) and Nikolaos Siranidis of Greece (C) stand on podium and wave to the crowd during the medal ceremony in Athens, August 16, 2004. REUTERS/Toby Melville