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STUDY: ARMENIANS HAVE GENETIC LINKS TO ITALIANS AND CHINESE
Relations with modern-day Iranians, Georgians and Turks confirmed
by Emil Sanamyan
Published: Friday February 14, 2014
Tuscany's genetic make-up.
WASHINGTON - A newly released study of human genetic history offers
new insights into relations of Armenians with nations of the world,
including significant presence of Armenian-like DNA in as far-flung
populations as Italy, Russia's North Caucasus and even China.
"A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History" was published in the
Science magazine on February 14 and an accompanying map posted. The
study - prepared by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for
Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, Oxford University and
University College London (UCL) - looked at genetic samples from
1,490 individuals in 95 populations across the world, including
Armenia and most of its neighbors.
"When individuals from different groups interbreed, their offspring's
DNA becomes a mixture of the DNA from each admixing group," researches
note in the summary of the article. "Pieces of this DNA are then passed
along through subsequent generations, carrying on all the way to the
present day" allowing researchers to establish genetic histories of
nations over millennia.
Perhaps most striking is the significant presence of Armenian-like
DNA in several Italian populations, particularly that of Tuscany
(10.7 percent); only English and German samples show greater affinity
to Tuscany's. The study also shows notable Armenian genetic links
to populations in southern Italy (6 percent) and Sicily (about 4
percent). The findings appear to point to migrations from Armenia
possibly as early as Byzantine re-conquest of Italy in the 6th century
or as late as the collapse of the Armenian kingdoms and the emergence
of the Florentine republic in the 11-12th centuries.
Armenians' other far-flung genetic connections include the Han of
northern China (3.9 percent), Persian-speaking Hazara of Afghanistan
and Pakistan (3.7 percent) and Indian Jews (3 percent), all most
likely a result of the activity of Armenian merchants along the
so-called Silk Road in the 11th-13th centuries.
Not surprisingly, some of the greatest genetic affinity to Armenians
is found in their immediate neighborhood. Lezgins, who inhabit
northeastern Azerbaijan and southern portion of Russia's Dagestan, had
the largest share - nearly 14 percent. Samples from among Armenia's
immediate neighbors, showed the following Armenian connections:
Georgia - 12 percent; Turkey - 10 percent and Iran - 7.5 percent;
Azerbaijani sample is not part of the published study. There are also
significant Armenian connections with the population of Cypriots (but
not the mainland Greece), the Druze (who have shunned intermarriage
for centuries) and the Adygei of Russia's northwestern Caucasus.
Findings from the study's Armenia sample point to anticipated ties
to Iranians (23 percent of the Armenia sample genetic material) and
Georgians (11 percent). There also appears to have been significant
genetic input from Poles and Lithuanians, at 8 and 7 percent,
respectively. Authors, however, are uncertain about specific admixture
events in the genetic make-up of modern Armenians.
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2014-02-14-study-armenians-have-genetic-links-to-italians-and-chinese
Relations with modern-day Iranians, Georgians and Turks confirmed
by Emil Sanamyan
Published: Friday February 14, 2014
Tuscany's genetic make-up.
WASHINGTON - A newly released study of human genetic history offers
new insights into relations of Armenians with nations of the world,
including significant presence of Armenian-like DNA in as far-flung
populations as Italy, Russia's North Caucasus and even China.
"A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History" was published in the
Science magazine on February 14 and an accompanying map posted. The
study - prepared by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for
Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, Oxford University and
University College London (UCL) - looked at genetic samples from
1,490 individuals in 95 populations across the world, including
Armenia and most of its neighbors.
"When individuals from different groups interbreed, their offspring's
DNA becomes a mixture of the DNA from each admixing group," researches
note in the summary of the article. "Pieces of this DNA are then passed
along through subsequent generations, carrying on all the way to the
present day" allowing researchers to establish genetic histories of
nations over millennia.
Perhaps most striking is the significant presence of Armenian-like
DNA in several Italian populations, particularly that of Tuscany
(10.7 percent); only English and German samples show greater affinity
to Tuscany's. The study also shows notable Armenian genetic links
to populations in southern Italy (6 percent) and Sicily (about 4
percent). The findings appear to point to migrations from Armenia
possibly as early as Byzantine re-conquest of Italy in the 6th century
or as late as the collapse of the Armenian kingdoms and the emergence
of the Florentine republic in the 11-12th centuries.
Armenians' other far-flung genetic connections include the Han of
northern China (3.9 percent), Persian-speaking Hazara of Afghanistan
and Pakistan (3.7 percent) and Indian Jews (3 percent), all most
likely a result of the activity of Armenian merchants along the
so-called Silk Road in the 11th-13th centuries.
Not surprisingly, some of the greatest genetic affinity to Armenians
is found in their immediate neighborhood. Lezgins, who inhabit
northeastern Azerbaijan and southern portion of Russia's Dagestan, had
the largest share - nearly 14 percent. Samples from among Armenia's
immediate neighbors, showed the following Armenian connections:
Georgia - 12 percent; Turkey - 10 percent and Iran - 7.5 percent;
Azerbaijani sample is not part of the published study. There are also
significant Armenian connections with the population of Cypriots (but
not the mainland Greece), the Druze (who have shunned intermarriage
for centuries) and the Adygei of Russia's northwestern Caucasus.
Findings from the study's Armenia sample point to anticipated ties
to Iranians (23 percent of the Armenia sample genetic material) and
Georgians (11 percent). There also appears to have been significant
genetic input from Poles and Lithuanians, at 8 and 7 percent,
respectively. Authors, however, are uncertain about specific admixture
events in the genetic make-up of modern Armenians.
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2014-02-14-study-armenians-have-genetic-links-to-italians-and-chinese