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According to Professor Levon Yepiskoposyan of the Institute of Molecular Biology in Yerevan: "Y chromosome haplotypes diversity in the modern Armenian population reveals strong regional structure with marked separation of mountainous (Syunik region in the south of Armenia, and Karabakh) and valley (Ararat valley, northern and western regions of historical Armenia) groups." The mountain groups have a greater concentration of R1b1 while the valley groups have a greater concentration of J2 & J1 (and to a lesser extent, slightly greater concentrations of G & E1b1b1).
Complete mitochondrial DNA genome sequences of Armenian DNA Project members filed with GenBank (79 in total as of 3 october 2011):
Academics who want to include these sequences in their research can get in touch with the project administrators.
It remains to be seen if the ancient DNA (aDNA) of people living in the historical Armenian regions corresponds to the DNA of modern Armenians. The aDNA of people who lived in the Bronze and Iron ages on the part of the Armenian Plateau confined to the present day territory of the Armenian Republic are currently being analysed and studied. Results should be released before the end of 2016.
Good link on ancient DNA and good map of ancient DNA sites.
As per Colin Renfrew in 2010: In addition, there is one obvious path of investigation that does deserve to be explored further — ancient DNA. Of course this is a difficult field — it depends upon the availability of adequately preserved human remains, and the problems of contamination from living humans are well known. But there are puzzling findings from early farming (Linienbandkeramik) sites in central Europe, indicating that the populations in question did not survive or at least did not get fully integrated into succeeding populations. This requires further examination, as it bears on a general problem of archaeogenetics. Possible population extinctions might call into question the extent to which mtDNA or Y-DNA data from the contemporary populations represent the communities existing in the relevant locations at the times in question. This is where ancient DNA may yet prove to be of crucial importance; not in establishing detailed patterns for early populations — the data are unlikely to be rich enough for that—but in offering spot checks on the conclusions about the past which we are deriving from data taken from populations living today. This may indeed be where the future lies if speculations based on the phylogeography of haplotypes from currently living populations are to be rooted in historical reality."
As per Dienekes Pontikos in 2010: "Ancient DNA can prove the existence of a particular Y-chromosome haplogroup within a securely dated population. Of course there are issues of possible contamination, but these can be addressed beyond a reasonable doubt when appropriate protocols and tests for contamination are in place. Ancient DNA cannot prove the absence of a particular Y-chromosome haplogroup from a population. However, it can render it very improbable if a large enough sample is studied. So, ancient DNA is very relevant both for the existence and the absence of a haplogroup in a certain area at a certain time. On the whole ancient DNA, properly done, provides much better evidence for past populations than inferences from modern populations. Too many assumptions are needed to peer into the past by studying modern populations, and in the vast majority of cases -with the caveat about sample sizes- when we looked at prehistoric populations we did not get a picture of simple continuity." Also: "The more we learn about prehistory, the less we can believe in the paradigm of static people changing their subsistence, technology, language from the Paleolithic to the present. Migrationism is overdue for a comeback as an explanatory tool for the plethora of unexpected results that the bones of ancient humans present us with."
As per Luca Ermini, Clio Der Sarkissian, Eske Willerslev and Ludovic Orlando in 2015: Ancient DNA research has now come of age with replicable and stringent procedures (Fig. 1), and in 2010, i.e., no later than a decade after the reference human genome was characterized (Lander et al., 2001; Venter et al., 2001), the first ancient human genome sequence was released (Rasmussen et al., 2010). With the massive throughput of so-called next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms, the complete genomes of at least eight ancient humans have been characterized at 1X to up to 20X coverage (average number of times a genomic position is sequenced from independent templates) (Rasmussen et al., 2010, 2011, 2014; Keller et al., 2012; Raghavan et al., 2013; Olalde et al., 2014; Skoglund et al., 2014). The genome of our known closest relatives, the Neanderthals, has also been characterized (Green et al., 2010; Prüfer et al., 2014) together with that of other archaic hominins, the Denisovans (Reich et al., 2010; Krause et al., 2010a; Meyer et al., 2012). Their quality even competes with that achieved in sequencing the genome of living individuals. Ancient DNA researchers have also gathered genome-wide sequence data of a few more ancient individuals (S_anchez-Quinto et al., 2012; Skoglund et al., 2012; Fu et al., 2013a; Olalde et al., 2014) and many new complete ancient human genomes are expected in the forthcoming months. The recent success in characterizing a first draft of the genome from a 560e780 kyr (thousands of years) old horse (Orlando et al., 2013) and the almost complete mitochondrial genome of Homo heidelbergensis (Meyer et al., 2014) augurs for the genome sequencing of archaic hominins who lived in the Middle Pleistocene (Millar and Lambert, 2013). Besides nuclear genomes, many ancient mtDNA markers have illuminated our understanding of past population migration dynamics (Krause et al., 2010b; Fu et al., 2012; Brotherton et al., 2013), often revealing important features that were difficult to reconstruct from modern genetic data alone... Ancient DNA, and more generally the analysis of ancient biomolecules, promise to soon reveal our past with unprecedented accuracy.
Full text of the article from which the above mentioned is excerpted "Major transitions in human evolution revisited: A tribute to ancient DNA."
Click on this link for a complete listing of Ancient Western Eurasian DNA discoveries. There has been an enormous growth in such DNA discoveries in the past two years. The periods now covered are (oldest first): Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Copper Age/Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Chinese Dynastic, Roman, Medieval and, finally, Modern Royalty.
Complete mitochondrial DNA genome sequences of Armenian DNA Project members filed with GenBank (79 in total as of 3 october 2011):
F1b1: HQ108344 H28: JN051365 H1u: JN604117 H2a1: FJ496869 H4: JN646688 H5: HQ877768 H7b1: JF896454 H8a1: JF903930 H8a1: JF960238 H13c: HQ234355 H13b1: GU228506 H14a: JN609592 H15b: JF901940 H15b: JN651417 H26: HM775971 HV21: HQ287727 HV19: HQ436102 HV1: JF320654 HV1a2b: JF316743 HV1a1b: FJ210914 HV1a1a: HM575427 HV1b3: HM998901 HV1b (152): HQ165756 HV1b3: HQ412622 HV12a1: HQ844516 HV12a1: JN053060 HV13: JF700125 HV2a: HQ015160 I7: JF298212 I1a: HM454265 I1b: FJ234984 I4a: JN660158 J1b4a2: HM992836 J1b4a2: HQ637485 J1b8: HQ914447 J1b4a1: JN561091 J1b1a3: JF286633 J1b1b1: JF929909 J1b1b1b: JF939049 J1b2: JN648827 J1b3a: HM594676 J1c: HM775495 J1c2: JN663354 J1d4: HM453206 J1d2a: HQ325739 J1d1a: JF292900 J2b1f: HQ727682 K1a: JF303729 K1a: JF893456 K1a1b: JN048471 K1a2: JN647926_ K1a4b1: JN088539 K1a4c1: HQ435872 K1a4c1: HQ538515 N1b1a: HQ286324 N1b1a7: JF265069 N1b1a2: HQ435319 N1b1a2a: HQ315687 N2a: JF904935 N2a: JN381503 R1a1: HQ602771 R1b1: HM996895 T1a: JN083377 T2a2: FJ238094 T2b: HQ638221 T2f2: HQ286590 U1b1: HQ325737 U3a: HQ436348 U3b: JN663830 U3b2a1a: HQ257369 U4b1b1: JN647925 U5a1a2a : HQ588904 V15: HQ645963 W7: HQ844617 W7: HM352797 W6c1a: EU515252 W6: JF286634 X4: HQ456226 X2i: HQ529295
H* sequence:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/KX230570
H1ca sequence:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/KX231544
http://www.ianlogan.co.uk/sequences_by_group/h1ca-cj_genbank_sequences.htm
H13a2b sequence:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/KX230571
http://www.ianlogan.co.uk/sequences_by_group/h13a2_genbank_sequences.htm
Academics who want to include these sequences in their research can get in touch with the project administrators.
It remains to be seen if the ancient DNA (aDNA) of people living in the historical Armenian regions corresponds to the DNA of modern Armenians. The aDNA of people who lived in the Bronze and Iron ages on the part of the Armenian Plateau confined to the present day territory of the Armenian Republic are currently being analysed and studied. Results should be released before the end of 2016.
Good link on ancient DNA and good map of ancient DNA sites.
As per Colin Renfrew in 2010: In addition, there is one obvious path of investigation that does deserve to be explored further — ancient DNA. Of course this is a difficult field — it depends upon the availability of adequately preserved human remains, and the problems of contamination from living humans are well known. But there are puzzling findings from early farming (Linienbandkeramik) sites in central Europe, indicating that the populations in question did not survive or at least did not get fully integrated into succeeding populations. This requires further examination, as it bears on a general problem of archaeogenetics. Possible population extinctions might call into question the extent to which mtDNA or Y-DNA data from the contemporary populations represent the communities existing in the relevant locations at the times in question. This is where ancient DNA may yet prove to be of crucial importance; not in establishing detailed patterns for early populations — the data are unlikely to be rich enough for that—but in offering spot checks on the conclusions about the past which we are deriving from data taken from populations living today. This may indeed be where the future lies if speculations based on the phylogeography of haplotypes from currently living populations are to be rooted in historical reality."
As per Dienekes Pontikos in 2010: "Ancient DNA can prove the existence of a particular Y-chromosome haplogroup within a securely dated population. Of course there are issues of possible contamination, but these can be addressed beyond a reasonable doubt when appropriate protocols and tests for contamination are in place. Ancient DNA cannot prove the absence of a particular Y-chromosome haplogroup from a population. However, it can render it very improbable if a large enough sample is studied. So, ancient DNA is very relevant both for the existence and the absence of a haplogroup in a certain area at a certain time. On the whole ancient DNA, properly done, provides much better evidence for past populations than inferences from modern populations. Too many assumptions are needed to peer into the past by studying modern populations, and in the vast majority of cases -with the caveat about sample sizes- when we looked at prehistoric populations we did not get a picture of simple continuity." Also: "The more we learn about prehistory, the less we can believe in the paradigm of static people changing their subsistence, technology, language from the Paleolithic to the present. Migrationism is overdue for a comeback as an explanatory tool for the plethora of unexpected results that the bones of ancient humans present us with."
As per Luca Ermini, Clio Der Sarkissian, Eske Willerslev and Ludovic Orlando in 2015: Ancient DNA research has now come of age with replicable and stringent procedures (Fig. 1), and in 2010, i.e., no later than a decade after the reference human genome was characterized (Lander et al., 2001; Venter et al., 2001), the first ancient human genome sequence was released (Rasmussen et al., 2010). With the massive throughput of so-called next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms, the complete genomes of at least eight ancient humans have been characterized at 1X to up to 20X coverage (average number of times a genomic position is sequenced from independent templates) (Rasmussen et al., 2010, 2011, 2014; Keller et al., 2012; Raghavan et al., 2013; Olalde et al., 2014; Skoglund et al., 2014). The genome of our known closest relatives, the Neanderthals, has also been characterized (Green et al., 2010; Prüfer et al., 2014) together with that of other archaic hominins, the Denisovans (Reich et al., 2010; Krause et al., 2010a; Meyer et al., 2012). Their quality even competes with that achieved in sequencing the genome of living individuals. Ancient DNA researchers have also gathered genome-wide sequence data of a few more ancient individuals (S_anchez-Quinto et al., 2012; Skoglund et al., 2012; Fu et al., 2013a; Olalde et al., 2014) and many new complete ancient human genomes are expected in the forthcoming months. The recent success in characterizing a first draft of the genome from a 560e780 kyr (thousands of years) old horse (Orlando et al., 2013) and the almost complete mitochondrial genome of Homo heidelbergensis (Meyer et al., 2014) augurs for the genome sequencing of archaic hominins who lived in the Middle Pleistocene (Millar and Lambert, 2013). Besides nuclear genomes, many ancient mtDNA markers have illuminated our understanding of past population migration dynamics (Krause et al., 2010b; Fu et al., 2012; Brotherton et al., 2013), often revealing important features that were difficult to reconstruct from modern genetic data alone... Ancient DNA, and more generally the analysis of ancient biomolecules, promise to soon reveal our past with unprecedented accuracy.
Full text of the article from which the above mentioned is excerpted "Major transitions in human evolution revisited: A tribute to ancient DNA."
Click on this link for a complete listing of Ancient Western Eurasian DNA discoveries. There has been an enormous growth in such DNA discoveries in the past two years. The periods now covered are (oldest first): Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Copper Age/Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Chinese Dynastic, Roman, Medieval and, finally, Modern Royalty.
Links to other regional DNA projects and blogs listed alphabetically:
- Aramaic DNA Project
Group Administrator: Paul Givargidze (paul.givargidze@gmail.com) - Azerbaijan DNA Project
(AzerbaijanDNAProject@gmail.com)
- Caucasus DNA Project
Multiple Group Administrators - Georgian DNA Project
Group Administrators: Jemal Gogitidze (jemal.gogitidze@gmail.com) & Kakhi Sakhltkhutsishvili (GeorgianDNA@outlook.com) - Hemshin - Hamshen DNA Project
Group Administrators: Hovann Simonian (vtornik@aol.com) & Peter Hrechdakian (kaylig@skynet.be) - Iraq DNA Project
Group Administrator: Abdul Aziz Al Asfour (iraqproject10@gmail.com) - Iranian DNA Project
Group Administrator: (dmxx_dna@hotmail.co.uk) - Kurdish DNA Blog
Blog administrator: Palisto - Ossetian DNA Project
Project administrator: Alan Berezov (alanberezov@gmail.com) - Sephardic Heritage DNA Project
Project Administrator: Alain Farhi (salain@farhi.org) - Turkey - Türkiye DNA Project
Group Administrator: Serdar Sabri (serdar.ebru@ttmail.com) - Türkiye Genetik Facebook page
Facebook Page Administrator: Semih Akgün (serasky@yahoo.com.tr)