The ancient DNA “spoke”: What it showed about the history of Greece, Southern Europe and Anatolia

Three new ones scientific ancient DNA studieswith the participation of many Greek scientists and headed by a Greek from the diaspora, present the most complete to date paleogenetic history of the so-called Southern Arcof the area considered the “cradle of Western civilization” and which includes Greece, extending from Southeastern Europe and the Black Sea to Anatolia (present-day Turkey), the Pontic Steppe, the Middle East (Levante), and Western Asia .

Until recently most of the ancient history of the Southern Arc was based on archaeological finds and historical descriptions. Now advances in “reading” (sequencing) ancient genetic material provide an important new source of information about the past. The new studies are considered an important milestone for archaeogenetic research, although the interpretations of the findings are likely to be a challenge for further study in the future.

The research, published in the journal “Science”, analyzed the ancient genomes of 777 people of the last 11,000 years from the wider area (among them several people from the wider Aegean area during the Mycenaean era) and reveals how complex the history of populations is from early agricultural societies to the post-medieval years.

The three studies, led by Greek geneticist Iosif Lazaridis of Harvard Medical School, a collaborator of distinguished professor of genetics David Reich, “build” a detailed genetic history of the Southern Arc from the Neolithic era (about 10,000 years BC) to the Ottoman period (ca. AD 1700), shedding light on the complex migrations and interactions between populations, concluding that a rather inaccurate picture of early Indo-European civilizations had been given until now.

The first study (“The Genetic History of the Southern Arc: A Bridge Between West Asia and Europe”) focuses on the period between 5,000 and 1,000 BC. and, among other things, it reveals great genetic exchanges between the Eurasian Steppe (mainly the pastoral Yamnaya peoples of the Pontic Steppe of the third millennium BC) and the Southern Arc and sheds more light on the origin of the Indo-European language. According to the researchers, the Yamnaya initiated a chain of migrations that connected Europe with the East. In fact, some Balkan peoples 4,500-5,000 years ago owed almost all their genes to these movements.

The Yamnaya are estimated to have arrived in Greece between 1500-1000 BC. Those coming from the steppes soon mixed with local people, resulting in the emergence of various languages ​​(Greek, Albanian, Armenian, etc.). The researchers’ conclusion is that all ancient speakers of Indo-European languages ​​also trace their origins to the Yamnaya, whose expansion towards the Southern Arc left its traces in the DNA of the people of the region during the Bronze Age.

The second study (“A Genetic Survey of the Ancient and Medieval History of Southern Europe and Western Asia”) focuses on the more recent history of the Southern Arc, shedding more light on the demography and geographic origins of the Mycenaeans, Romans, etc.

A portion of the Mycenaeans – but not all – are thought to be descended from immigrants from the steppes. The researchers point out that while the Mycenaeans had in their blood a partial origin from the steppes (in a ratio of about 1:10), this was not the case for the Minoans of Crete, who, however, had a genetic influence from the east. However, in both cases it is reported that there was extensive genetic diversity in the ancestry of the people associated with these two cultures.

The study estimates that the genetic impact of the steppe on the Aegean populations was relatively small. The proportion of genetic ancestry of the Mycenaeans from Yamnaya-type populations is estimated to have been about one-third (1/3) of the level found in the Balkans to the north, one-half (1/2) of the genetic proportion of steppe Armenia to the east, and one-fifth (1/5) to one-eighth (1/8) of the genetic contribution of the steppe in Central/Northern Europe.

Also, the new study provides solid evidence that Athens and Attica in general had received fewer immigrants from the north, which seems to confirm the claims of the ancient Athenians. Furthermore, the genesis of the Greek language is connected on the one hand with the other Indo-European languages ​​through the common origin from the steppes, on the other hand with the peoples of the Aegean who predated the speakers of Proto-Greek.

The third study (“Ancient DNA from Mesopotamia shows distinct Neolithic migrations into Anatolia”) analyzes the first ancient genetic material (pre-pottery) from Neolithic Mesopotamia, considered the epicenter of the Neolithic agricultural “revolution”. The findings show two distinct waves of migration from the heart of the Fertile Crescent to western and SE Europe.

Greek researchers Anagnostis Angelarakis, Andreas Bertsatos, Maria-Eleni Hovalopoulou, Stella Chrysoulaki, Panagiotis Karkanas, Ioannis Lyritzis, Nikos Papadimitriou, Nikos Papakonstantinou, Anastasia Papathanasiou, Athanasios Sideris and Sevasti Triantafyllou also participated in the studies.

RES-EMP

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