"White" Indians the facts

A lot has been written about Native Americans with European appearance, the famous "White Indians". There are plenty of websites, with different European homelands for the origin of these white Amerindians, see the following examples: webpage I (Knights Templar), webpage II (Welsh), webpage III (white indians), webpage IV (Mormons), webpage V (Celts), Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans.

By the way, what is "white"? Personally I disagree with classifying people. The Americans, on the other hand, love it. The US Census classifies people by race and color in categories (!): White, Black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and also Hispanic or Latino ethnicity (?).

So what is a person born in Galicia, Spain, with Celtic background (blue-eyed, fair haired, typical Celtic look)? Hispanic? Latino? White? or all? And a dark-skinned Indian from Tamil-Nandu? Black? or Asian?

I hope I made my point.

Europeans in America before Columbus

The Vikings did reach the shores of America from their villages in Greenland, setting up a small base on Terranova at L'Anse aux Meadows c.1000 AD, but after 20 years they had to quit, the hostilities with the natives was something they couldn't cope with. They used it to obtain wood and the climate was better than in Greenland. But the brave and fearless Vikings met their match in Terranova. And, it should be noted, they didn't mix with the locals.

Carthaginians and Phoenicians may have strayed across the Atlantic by chance, pushed by a storm, or traded goods sourced from America. I find it difficult to believe they would have settled in the new world. Even if they did, any genetic signal they left behind must have surely diluted away over the years. The "Great Dying" after 1492 would have also erased the evidence.

Spanish chroniclers in Chile: concern with "White Indians"

The Spanish conquistadors moved into the Inca Empire's southernmost provinces (Modern Central Chile) after defeating the Incas in Peru and Cusco, the heart of the empire. The conquest of Chile took place in 1540 under the command of Pedro de Valdivia (1497-1553). During the long war that ensued, he was captured by the Mapuche natives, and executed. But in the end, the Spaniards prevailed, at least north of the Bio Bio River.

There are plenty of accounts written by those who took part of the Conquest or visited the area later. They all tell us about "white Indians". Below are some of these reports written by contemporary eye witnesses.

Father Molina wrote about them in his book Ensayo sobre la historia Natural de Chile (p.206 - Spanish), published in Italy in 1810:

"The complexion of this people is commonly a reddish-black color, which seems to be unnatural to them, because in people who are not frequently exposed to air and sun, it is decidedly white. The inhabitants of the province of Boroa, located in the center of the Araucanian state, at 39° south latitude, are generally white and red, have blue eyes and blond hair, like those of Europeans, who are born in the middle of the northern temperate zone. This effect perhaps comes from the physical constitution of that province, which is surrounded by high mountains and irrigated by the great Cautín River.

He didn't attribute the European features (bluer eyes, white skin, fair hair) to interbreeding with Europeans. He believed it was the geography of the area that caused it. Interesting theory!

Right at the beginning of the Spanish conquest, Alonso de Góngora Marmolejo (1523-1576) wrote about his experiences during the invasion and occupation of Chile in 1540, and the war against the Mapuche people that took place then, and for the next few decades in his Historia de Chile (see page 2 - Spanish). He described the natives they encountered in 1540 as follows: "They are people with a pleasant appearance, mostly white, well disposed."

Claudio Gay in his Historia Física y Política de Chile (see Vol. 1 page 225 - Spanish) published in 1846, transcribed the notes of José Antonio Pérez García from the 1780s, who described the natives in the area around the town of Valdivia as follows: "They are of good understanding, all white, the women beautiful." This version was based on records he had obtained on an expedition by Chilean Governor Hurtado de Mendoza to this region some time between 1556 and 1561.

In 1600, Father Diego de Ocaña in his journal, Relación del Viaje a Chile, año de 1600 wrote that "The women are beautiful though some are whiter than those of other places" (see p. 30 - Spanish). He included an illustration in color (below), shown below of a Mapuche chief, Lautaro, and his native wife Guacolda. The woman's image is captioned: "beautiful Guacolda, clothes of Chilean women, from Coquimbo to the Valley of Arauco.

"Beautiful" Guacolda (c.1530s-1557) was a Mapuche, the wife of the Chief Lautaro who led an uprising against the Spaniards in 1557. Her name in Mapuche language means "red corn" meaning her hair was probably fair or red. We have the following portrait of her and her husband, from Diego de Ocaña's book. Both died in 1557 when the rebellion was brutally quelled by the Spanish forces.

Lautaro and Guacolda, by Diego de Ocaña (1600). Source

Then we have Cieza de León, who wrote in 1553 about the Chachapoyas, and yes, he said they were the whitest! (La Crónica del Peru): "These native Indians of Chachapoyas are the whitest and most graceful of all those I have seen in the Indies that I have traveled through, and their women were so beautiful that, simply for their grace, many of them deserved to be enslaved by the Incas and taken to the temples of the sun; and so, we see today that the Indian women who remain from this lineage are extremely beautiful, because they are white, and many of them are very handsome." (see p. 259 - Spanish).

Dutch genes?

Paul Treutler, a Prussian (1822-1887) lived in Chile for more than a decade, and wrote a book about his experiences (Andanzas de un Alemán en Chile 1851-1863 - Adventures of a German in Chile. See p.311.) In it he mentions the fair and white-skinned natives of Boroa (the same that Molina had mentioned), and provides an explanation for their unusual trait:

"Furthermore, there is a tribe living a little north of the Toltén River, the Boroa, who have fair skin, blue eyes, long blond hair, slender stature, good physique, and noble manners, giving them a strong resemblance to the Germans. However, their character, customs, and culture are very similar to those of the Araucanian tribes, with the only difference being that they are, precisely, among the most savage and cruel indigenous people and least susceptible to civilization. Furthermore, they maintain few relations with other tribes and only marry among themselves. There are contradictory opinions, one of which is that they are considered descendants of the crew of a European ship that was shipwrecked on the neighboring coast, since Boroa is not very far from the sea."

They were endogamous, and the original source may have been the castaways from a shipwreck. Dutch, English, and even American ships sailed down this coast towards the Strait of Magellan or The Drake Passage, and shipwrecks were not unusual.

Why were the Colonial Spaniards so concerned with whiteness?

There were many men but few Spanish women in the Spanish colonies of America because decent women stayed in Spain, they didn't want to suffer the hardships of the colonies. It was not civilized in the European sense, it lacked safety, comfort, and all that an upper class Spanish woman would expect. It was tough, rough, dangerous, and uncomfortable. Few Spanish women ventured across the Atlantic into the New World. The Spanish conquistadors therefore married the native women. They mixed joyfully with the natives, and a new group appeared, the mestizo - creole people of Latin America, with Spanish surnames but 50% Amerindian genes, and 100% mtDNA from their mothers. Father Y-Chromosomes was European.

The Spaniards introduced a caste system in their colonies, especially in Mexico (Nueva España) and Peru, people were set in strict categories depending on their genetic mix of White, Black (African slaves) and Native Americans. It was not as strict as we'd expect, but it separated the "pure" Spanish upper classes from the mestizo creoles of the middle and lower ones.

The image below shows a Spaniard (White) and a Native American (Indian) that had a "mestizo" child. (Source). Whiteness status could be purchsed and wealthy mestizos did so. Whiter skin helped a lot too.

Spanish and Indian produce a Mestizo. Source

If white native women were available, then their offspring would be whiter and could have a better social standing. That is probably why so much emphasis was put on promoting native women's white skin.

As you'd expect, there is a high content of Amerindian genes in the current Latinamerican population. The following image also shows the African content (slave trade), which in several cases is even higher than the Native American share (Source). The remaining share, to make 100% is mostly European, with a tiny share of Asian admixed.

Indigenous and sub-Saharan African descendant populations in Latin America and the Caribbean in 21st century. (-) represents a lack of data.. Source

The following image is interesting because it shows the prevalence of European ancestry in certain regions, and Amerindian in Others. I am not sure about its sources or accuracy. (Source).

These maps show how complex it is to try to find specific information on the "real" Amerindian DNA, and its diversity. The average Latinamerican is the outcome of 500 years of epidemics, war, slavery and forced relocations of local people coupled with massive African slave trade and, after 1850, in certain locations, an influx of Europeans.

A Critique of the Prehispanic Europeans Theories

For a very good, well structured and referenced criticism of the "White" or "European" settlement in Pre-Hispanic times (Vikings, Carthaginians, Phoenicians, etc.) see: Schobinger, J. (1977). Mediterráneos, semitas, celtas y vikingos en América: Ojeada sobre algunas modernas expresiones de hiperdifusionismo transatlántico (Spanish).

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025by Austin Whittall © 

Gibraltar Neanderthal DNA sequenced: they are not the last survivors.

The DNA of two Neanderthal skulls discovered in Gibraltar has revealed their sex and their affinity with the "Older" Neanderthals such as Scladina Belgium and Russia (see my recent post on the "Old" and "New" Neanderthals) instead of more recent Neanderthals from Spain.

One skull, found in 1848 in Forbes' quarry, lacks the stratigraphic information to be able to date it correctly, and it was assumed to be recent, as Gibraltar is the southernmost part of the Iberian peninsula, and therefore the last bastion where Neanderthals managed to survive when modern Homo sapiens occupied their European range.

But, according to the paper (A genetic analysis of the Gibraltar Neanderthals, Lukas Bokelmann et al. PNAS first published July 15, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1903984116), this skull (also known as Gibraltar 1) is actually closer to the earlier Neanderthals than to the more recent ones:

"is genetically more similar to the ∼120,000-y-old Neanderthals from Scladina Cave in Belgium (Scladina I-4A) and Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave in Germany, as well as to a ∼60,000- to 70,000-y-old Neanderthal from Russia (Mezmaiskaya 1), than to a ∼49,000-y-old Neanderthal from El Sidrón (El Sidrón 1253) in northern Spain ".

The second skull belonged to a child, discovered in 1926. The study proved that he was a boy, but his DNA affinity was not mentioned.

DNA Tree Neanderthals. From the paper

As we can see there is "affinity" with the Scladina, Altai and HST branch but we can also see that it is also on the branch that led to all later Neanderthals.

What is really interesting is that these skulls had been handled by many people who left their human DNA on them (back in 1926 or THE 1800s nobody even dreamed of DNA) yet the scientists managed to remove it and focus only on the Neanderthal DNA. Also they found it in bones from a warm setting -heat tends to destroy ancient DNA. So that means that we can harbor hopes that DNA from hot settings in China or Africa can also be sequenced.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2019 by Austin Whittall © 

On the Q haplotypes in Europe (Part 2)

My previous post looked into the three theories that explain how the Y chromosome Q hg, with a clearly non-European origin, managed to get into the heart of Europe from its supposedly archaic homeland in Central Asia. We saw how the Huns, Cimbrians and Mongols may have been the human vectors bearing this haplogroup in their "Asian" Y-Chromosomes and carrying it with their invasions into the heart of Europe.

But, could there be another explanation for the presence of Q hg in Europe? To be able to address the issue, we have to look at the facts and the haplotypes of current and past Europeans. Today's post will do just that.

The Ancient Dispersal theory

As an alternative to the alleged historical dispersal that supposedly took place between 103 BCE and 1245 CE, it is probable that the Q haplogroup is actually very ancient and spread across Europe long before the Huns, Mongols or Cimmerians appeared on its eastern borders.

In fact, the genetic imprint of the repeated invasions of Asian nomads on the Y chromosome haplogroups in Moldavia, on the main route used by most of these hordes, was minimum which is in ".. good agreement with earlier studies on Y-chromosome variation in eastern and central Europe, asserting a minimal impact of gene flow from Siberia/central Asia". [1]

The European genetic data shows that Q hg found at very low frequencies: between 0.2 and 2% in most of Europe (except a few hot spots with higher frequencies). This may show the ghost outline of a population that once occuped a vast swath of Europe, but was later replaced and watered down, to its current low frequencies by other Y chromosome haplogroups during the Neolithic (as happened to I haplogroup during that same period [2]). And, once again I am thinking of our Neanderthal predecesors, who lived in this region and were replaced by modern humans (more on this below).

In other words, what we currently see are the relicts of an archaic dispersal of haplogroup Q.

Since haplogroup Q branches off from P hg much earlier than the R hg that nowadays prevails in most of Europe, it would be a reasonable assumption to find Q underlying R in the European continent, that is: widely spread out, but at lower frequencies as successive migrations incorporated other haplogroups into the continent with varying success rates in their new habitats.

In fact, Paleolithic migrants introduced R (xR1a) -the x stands for "excluding"- haplogroup into Europe from the East, and it is the most frequent (37%) haplogroup on the continent, mainly in its Western regions. The other high-frequency haplogroups are E2b (which came from the south), J (from the Southeast) with the introduction of farming, and N, among the Uralic speakers (Northeast). [3]

Could they have spread over an earlier European population?, one with hg Q? Do we even have evidence of an archaic hg Q presence in Europe? Let's see what the sequencing of ancient Europeans tells us:

The Motala remains

The remains of several persons were found at the Kanaljorden site at Motala in Central Sweden in 2009. They were deposited in a small lake, during rituals which included displaying skulls on stakes and placing human bones inside skulls. They have been dated to between 6,212 and 5,675 Cal BC, making them about eight thousand years old.

Recently the genes of six of the Motala remains were sequenced, and the Y-chromosomes of all but one of them, were classifeid as belonging to I hg; the remaining one was probably a Q1a2 hg.

This is remarkable since, as seen above, today hg I is not found at high frequencies among Europeans; yet it was prevalent among Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. This "suggest[s] an old origin" [2]. (Currently it is found in Sardinia, North Germany, Moldavia, Scandinavia and the Western Balkans, probably due to recent expansions and not to archaic settlements).

The Q element in Motala

So we have a doubtful Q1a2 haplotype found in Motala [6]; why is it questioned?

The doubts surrounding the haplogroup of Motala [6] are due to the fact that it carried the marker L55, that is: L55+ (19413335 G>A). This marker is only found in Y-haplogroup Q's haplotype Q1a2a (and branches that arise from it) and in no other haplogroup. But... and this is perplexing, it is L232 -, that is, it does not carry marker L232 which is necessary to make it part of haplogroup Q1.

These are phylogenetically inconsistent findings and the authors of the paper that describe the remains state, quite reasonably, that they "are unable to assign a haplogroup to this individual [2].

A review of all global haplotypes listed at the website www.semargl.me [4], does not show one single person with a L232- marker (that is, lacking it but belonging to Q hg). So it is either very rare or, it is not tested for unless the individual is known to belong to the Q hg, in which case it is then tested for to define the haplotype.

Afontova Gora 2

Genetic tests were also done on remains uncovered at the Afontova Gora 2 site in Siberia, within the city of Krasnoiarsk on the banks of the Yenisei River (56° N 92&deG;51' W). These are also old (17 kya) human remains, and inital information on it indicated that it was Q1a1 [5][6]; these were later retracted and it was classified as R1 (perhaps due to contamination during handling).

If confirmed as carriers of Q hg, both men could point at hunter-gatherers belonging to minor lineages such as Q1a and its downstream branches in both Europe [7] and Siberia between 17 and 8 kya.

Amerindians in this context

Motala [6] if Q1a2 and Afontova Gora 2, if Q1a1, would both be closer to the root of the Q hg tree, more basal, than the Amerindians (with M3 marker) and other Scandinavians (L804 lineage). Meaning that they split earlier from the branch that later led to contemporary Scandinavians and American Natives.

The data on most of the Scandinavians (which lacks detail in many cases regarding haplotype markers) places them downstream from Q1a2 (further away from the root) together with some Siberian groups. Even further away from the root we find the Native Americans with M3 and a specific haplotype found in Scandinavians (those carrying L804, L807). [8][9][20] See the tree below.

Since the split originating the two haplotypes found in America: L54 (Q1a2a1) and M3 (Q1a2a1a1) has been dated to roughly 22 kya (see my previous post), then these other European haplotypes from Motala and Krasnoiarsk, which are closer to the root should then be much older than 22 kya. (and therefore older than the remains that have been sampled - 17 and 8 kya). This pushes far back in time, to a period contemporary with Neanderthals in Eurasia.

Link between Scandinavia and America

So we have two populations, one in America and another in Scandinavia which derive from a common root, Q1a2a1a, and which are separated by thousands of kilometers of "Siberia"; this suggests that they share a common origin in Siberia [10] and that they each moved on from this source into the areas where we now find them.

Since an earlier (closer to the root) split (L54) is also found in America, we could suppose that it reached the New World first, however (see my previous post) these L54 derived haplotypes are actually younger than the M3 ones!

Then we have the more basal Scandinavians, closer to the root, whose haplotypes are closer to those found in India, Pakistan and the Middle East (Q1a2*) as well as Afghanistan, Central Asia, Russia, Georgia and Germany (Q1a2b). These haplotypes have been dated as being only 2,200 - 2,150 years old, [11], far too young in my opinion and which clearly do not fit the tree! (perhaps the dates were adjusted so they could justify the Cimbrian theory -see my last post.

So, leaving the dates alone for the time being, let's follow the mutational trail: a mutation once acquired should not be lost, but as we have seen, Motala [6] has the L55 mutation of Q1a2a, which would place it at the same level as the two mutations mentioned in the previous paragraph (Q1a2 and Q1a2b), making it older than the other Scandinavian and Amerindian haplotypes mentioned further up (M3 and L804).

But it lacks the M232 mutation which is found in all Q haplogroup members. Why? Was it lost in a back mutation?

Probably: although back mutations (or reversions) are not common, they are known to happen [12], for instance in marker P25 which has mutated at least twice [13]. Are other markers similary unstable? Most likely. A reversion would explain why the M232 marker is absent in Motala [6] and place him in the Q1a2a hg. See tree below:

Q haplogroup tree, based on [20]. Copyright © 2014 by Austin Whittall

Dispersal

We know, as per mainstream orthodox theories, that the Q haplogroup first appeared in South Central Siberia (yellow star on map below) where it sprung from P hg. It then spread (red arrows) east and west (the pink regions are the current areas where it is found in high frequencies); it also spread southeast and southwest into India and the Middle East. Those going towards America took a northern route, close to the retreating glaciers, perhaps enticed by the good hunting grounds of the Siberian tundra.

Dispersal of Haplogroup Q. Copyright © 2014 by Austin Whittall

In this context then, we can envisage a split in the ancestral Q1a2a1 hg group, into two populations:

1. The future Scandianvian Q1a2a2 with the L804 mutation
2. The future Amerindian Q1a2a1 with the M3 mutation only found in America (and some Bering Asian natives - result of a back-migration from America into Asia).

This ancestral lineage Q(xM3) -the x stands for excluding- is found among the Khakass people in Siberia, south of Krasnoyarsk, with an average frequency of 4.8% (with maxima of 28% among the Butrakthy Sagais), clearly indicating that Q hg "is the most ancient one in Siberia... mark[ing] the Paleolithic human migration along the Boreal pathway... constitut[ing] a major part of the chromosome Y pool of the first migrants to Siberia in the early stages of human expansion to North Eastern Asia." [14]

Its eastern range extended into Europe, where it is found at relativley low frequencies:

Current frequencies of Q haplogroup in Europe

Notice that some studies yield 0% frequency while others show a higher rate (i.e. among Icelandic and Khantys), perhaps due to sampling bias. Also, some studies have not dug deeper into the different haplotypes so there are many blanks in the data:

• 0.0% Serbian, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, [5] Greece, Bosnia -Croats, Bosnia-Serbs, Slovenia, northeast Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Georgia and Balkaria [15] Ireland, [16], Russia (Eastern European part - Arkhangelski, Kursk, Tver, Izhemski Komi, and Priluzski Komi) [17]
• 6.10% Hvar Island, Croatia (Q*-M242) [18]
• 0.71% Herzegovina. [5] (mentioned as Q-M242 only)
• 1.10 % Ukraine (Q M242) [15]
• 0.80% Moldavia (Q M242) [1]
• 0.10 - 1.60% Bulgaria Depending on the region: 0.1% Q-M25 and Q-M346; 0.2% Q-M378. Peaks of 1.6% and 1.3% Q-M378, in Lovech and Montana on the south shores of Danube River [19]
• 0 - 3.70% Russia, Siberia (Khanty) (Q1a2...) [17][21]
• 3.00% Faroe Islands [16] Matching Norweigan haplotypes
• 2.00% Norway [16]
• 0 - 7.00% Iceland [16][22]
• 3.00% Sweden [16], but has regions with higher frequencies -up to 22.2%- (See the map [9]
• Denmark, Haplotype distribution: [9]
  
  • 10%   Q1a2b
  •  8%   Q1a2*
  •  8%   Q1a2a1a2 (with L804 - 807)
  • 60%   Q1a2 60% (unspecified haplotype)
• 0.08% Sardinia (Q1a3c) [8]

The Amerindian link revisited

We tend to imagine Q haplogroup moving towards the West, into Scandinavia and from there, dispersed widely by the Vikings to the Faroe Islands and Iceland. But could it have reached Iceland and Europe from the West? That is, from America, and spread East?

The Icelandic sagas of the Vikings mention the hostile encounters between the Norse and the "Skraelings" (Native Americans), making it unlikely that they mixed. However, in the Greenland colony the ancestors of the Innuit (Thule people) may have wed widowed Viking women, incorporating their Q hg into the local population which later reached the Scandinavian mainland and Iceland after their return in the XV^th century when they abandoned Greenland.

We would have to screen Innuit for the Q haplotypes found among Scandinavians to answer this. It is a possible explanation. Perhaps it is even older than the Vikings, and reflects the admixture of small party of archaic Innuit paddling across the fringes of the Arctic ice cap and reaching Scandinavia, where they mixed with the locals. But this would be unlikely due to the small size of the kayaking Innuits in comparison to the locals and would have minimized the impact of their Y chromosome in the Scandinavian population.

By the way, there is also a circumpolar C1 mtDNA haplogroup prevalence, one that links America (where it is found at very high frequencies), Siberia, Iceland and Northwestern Eurasia... which may be tied to the archaic Innuit Y chromosomes, or may indicate that those who carried them, once lived in this area surrounding the Arctic, but prevailed in the Americas.

The Neanderthal link

But, going full circle and returning to my opening comments, after looking at the map above I keep on thinking that there must be some link between Neanderthals and haplogroup Q.

The map is shaded with a yellow color in the territory once occupied by the Neanderthal at the time modern humans began their supposed Out Of Africa migration. The Altai source for hg Q in one of Neanderthal's known sites, is intriguing.

It would also explain its presence at low frequencies in Europe, its predominance in America, where Native Americans carry a high proportion of Neanderthal ancestry, and account for its very old age and wide range across Eurasia, underlying more recent "modern human" lineages. It may also account for the mtDNA C1 haplogroup found in the same regions.

But this will be the subject of another post.

Sources

[1] Varzari A, Kharkov V, Nikitin AG, Raicu F, Simonova K, et al. ,(2013). Paleo-Balkan and Slavic Contributions to the Genetic Pool of Moldavians: Insights from the Y Chromosome. PLoS ONE 8(1): e53731. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053731
[2] Lazaridis, I. et al. (2013), Ancient human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for Europeans. biorxiv.org, pre-print online 23 December 2013.
[3] Mark Jobling and Chris Tyler-Smith., (2003) The Human Y chromosome an evolutionary marker comes of age. Vol 4. Aug. 2003, p598 www.nature.com/reviews/genetics
[4] www.semargl.me
[5] Y-SNP calls for Afontova Gora 2. Genetiker. May 2014
[6] Source: See first column under AF2
[7] Europedia. Geographic spread and ethnic origins of European haplogroups.
[8] Paolo Francalacci et al., (2013). Low-Pass DNA Sequencing of 1200 Sardinians Reconstructs European Y-Chromosome Phylogeny. Science 341, 565, DOI: 10.1126/science.1237947
[9] Svenska Haplogruppdatabasen
[10] Danish Demes, A Regional DNA Project for Danish Americans and Danes around the World
[11] I. Rozhansky, (2010). Riddle of the Cimbri. Experience the historical and genealogical investigation. Proceedings of the Russian Academy of DNA Genaology, v.3., p. 545 (Russian language)
[12] Jennifer F. Hughes and Steve Rozen, (2012). Genomics and Genetics of Human and Primate Y Chromosomes. Annu. Rev. Genom. Human Genet. 2012.13:83-108. 10.1146/annurev-genom-090711-163855
[13] Adams SM, King TE, Bosch E, Jobling MA., (2006). The case of the unreliable SNP: recurrent back-mutation of Y-chromosomal marker P25 through gene conversion. Forensic Sci Int. 2006 May 25;159(1):14-20. Epub 2005 Jul 18.
[14] V.N. Khar’kov et al., (2011). Genetic Diversity of the Khakass Gene Pool: Subethnic Differentiation and the Structure of Y Chromosome Haplogroups. Molekulyarnaya Biologiya, 2011, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 446–458.
[15] Battaglia V, Fornarino S, Al-Zahery N, Olivieri A, Pala M, et al. (2009) Y-chromosomal evidence of the cultural diffusion of agriculture in Southeast Europe. Eur J Hum Genet 17: 820–830. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2008.249
[16] Allison Mann., (2009). Vikings, Merchants and Pirates at the Top of The Wold: Y-Chromosomal signatures of recent and ancient migrations in the Faroe Islands, Thesis Univ. of Louisville. Table 3, pp. 27
[17] Sheyla Mirabal et al., (2009). Y-Chromosome distribution within the geo-linguistic landscape of northwestern Russia. Eur J Hum Genet. 2009 October; 17(10): 1260–1273. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2009.6
[18] Saric T, An Asian trace in the genetic heritage of the Eastern Adriatic Island of Hvar. International Society for Applied Biological Sciences Abstract number: ABS-282-ISABS-2013
[19] Karachanak S, et al,. (2013). Y-Chromosome Diversity in Modern Bulgarians: New Clues about Their Ancestry. PLoS ONE 8(3): e56779. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056779
[20] Y-DNA Haplogroup Q and its Subclades - 2014. The International Society of Genetic Genealogy.
[21] Ville N Pimenoff et al., (2008)., Northwest Siberian Khanty and Mansi in the junction of West and East Eurasian gene pools as revealed by uniparental markers. European Journal of Human Genetics (2008) 16, 1254–1264; doi:10.1038/ejhg.2008.101
[22] The Shetland Y-DNA Surname Project www.davidfaux.org

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2014 by Austin Whittall © 

On the Q haplotypes in Europe (Part 1)

Y chromosome haplogroup Q is always mentioned as being prevalent among Native Americans and used as proof of their Asian origin because some minor Asian groups also carry the same haplotypes found in America. With this incorrect generalization one would assume that it is the most recent haplogroup as it is carried by the latest group of humans to people a continent: Amerindians.

Actually Q is found not only in America, but also in Southeastern Asia, Papua New Guinea, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, Western Asia, the Middle East and all across Europe. This is rather striking since it is portrayed as a relatively young haplogroup but has the most extended global dispersion: from Cape Horn in Tierra del Fuego on the southernmost tip of South America, to Scotland and Iceland in Europe, to Sri Lanka, Sicily, Sweden and Israel.

This post will look into the European Q haplotypes since some of them are closely related to those of Amerindians.

The origin of European Q haplogroup

The map below shows that hg Q is found in central Europe between an imaginary line that joins Marseille with Hambourg and another joining the Black Sea with Finland. It encompasses large portions of Scandinavia with in pockets in the UK, Iceland, Sicily, South Western Iberia, Cotentin, Dalmacia and South Sardinia. The voids are interesting too, it is absent from most of Western France, Spain, Italy, the Balkans and Slovenia, Belarus and central-western Poland.

Map showing the frequencies of Q haplogroup in Europe. Copyright © europedia.com

The "hot spots" are found in Scandinavia, South Sicily and the Rhone Valley in France. Why?

Several theories have been put forth to explain the distribution of an "Asian" haplogroup in European soil, and all must somehow explain how the Q hg got from Asia to Europe, to do so different dispersal "agents" originating in Asia are proposed:

• The Huns
• The Cimmerians - Cimbrii
• The Mongols

Let's look into the different options

Huns

The only contemporary written record on their origin was penned by Ammianus Marcellinus (IV^th century CE), who reported them [1] in Ukraine, clashing witht the Alans along the Don and then uniting them into a coaliton to invade Western Europe.

The Huns were nomads which came from beyond the Sea of Azov and moved towards the Danube around 150 CE.

After defeating the Alns, they raided the Roman Empire and the territories of the Barbarian Germanic nations that surrounded it (territories of the Goths, Taifalia and Sarmatae).

Their conquests spanned the Danube and their most known leader Attila was defeated in the battle of Catalunian Plains (or Battle of Chalons) in 451 CE, bringing an end to the hunnic "empire".

The descriptions that the Romans made of them clearly point to a prevalent Mongoloid strain, but how strong it was, is a mystery.[2] Furhtermore, the scant 300 years (roughly 10 generations)during which they dominated central Europe would not admit great admixture into their vassals or enemies. Furthermore, many of their soldiers were exterminated [2] after their defeat by the Romans, during the two Goth wars that ensued, and those that survived would have quickly melted into the original inhabitants of the lands they had formerly conquered, admixing into them.

The argument behind the Hun Q haplogroup admixture in Europe goes like this: as they were Asians, from central Siberia, apart from other haplogroups, they also carried the Q hg in them. This explains the presence of Q hg in the areas formerly occupied by the Hunnic Empire (central Europe); it is also found in Provence / Burgundy because many huns settled there after their defeat at Chalons. Furthermore, the Huns supposedly employed Scandinavian (i.e. Goth and Heruli) warriors and many Huns marched north with them after being beaten by the Romans, dispersing their Y chromosomes in that area.

The Norse peoples (Vikings, Normans) descended from this admixture later spread the hunnic Q hg widely when they raided Europe (ca. 900 CE): this explains its presence France (Cotentin - Normandy), Great Britain (Danelagh), Sicily (conquered by Normans in 1091 CE) and, as they went across the Atlantic, in Iceland, the Shetland and Faroe Islands.

Another theory is outlined below:

Cimmerians or Cimbri

The Cimmerian culture was centered in Crimea (a current Russian -Ukrainian hot spot) and Kerch, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, and around the Sea of Azov about 3,000 years ago. It was born from different ancestral roots: One was local, Ukranian, originating in the Belozerka culture; another was the Koban culture of Caucasian origin, and yet another, linked with the Ananino Culture from the Volga - Kazhan area. Finally people from further East (Ordos region). [3]

Remains of their bimetallic daggers, horse bits and arrowheads have been found across a vast region of Eastern and Central Europe (see the brown area in the map below).

Dispersal of the Cimmerian - Cimbri in Europe. Copyright © 2014 by Austin Whittall

The oldest written record on them, is from Homer, in his Odyssey (ca. 8^th century BCE), [4], he imagines their territory as wild: "where is the land and city of the Cimmerians, wrapped in mist and cloud...", set on the northern shores of the Black Sea.

Greek historian, Herodotus, [5] (ca. 484–425 BCE) also wrote about the savage Cimmerian invasions in Asia: reporting that the Cimmerians were forced to migrate from their homeland, pushed by the Scythian nomads (pressed in turn by the Massagetai).

The Scyths were Asians, which after crossing the Araxes (Volga) River invaded Cimmeria ca. 713 BCE, causing them to flee in two directions: One group invaded Asia Minor (Phrygia) and settled in Sinope on the northern coast of Turkey. Another marched west after a fratricide battle on the shores of the Dniester (Tyras) River and then entered Thrace.

Herodotus reports their plundering raids on Ionia (675 or 695? BCE) during the reign of Ardys; and they also captured Sardis. It was later, ca. 600 BCE, that they were repulsed from Asia Minor by Ardys' son. [5]

Despite the Scyths, some Cimmerians remained in their homeland, by the Sea of Azov (Lake Maeotis). Pliny [6] quotes Greek poet Philemon (362 – ca. 262 BCE) when he says that they called their "ocean" Mori Marusa or, "Dead Sea" (either Azov or Black Seas). Some sources [7] incorrectly assume that this is the Baltic Sea, but, as we will see below, they are mistaken.

These Cimmerians from the Chersonesus (Crimea) several centuries later, sent an embassy to Emperor Augustus in Rome with gifts, to ask for pardon for their raids one century before (Plutarch [8] and Strabo [9]).

But the largest part of these people, had migrated from their Crimean home and lived in the wooded lands of Central Europe, along the Danube River and at the sources of the Elbe and the Vistula rivers, which they settled long before the appearance of the Germanic tribes. [10] They were considered Celtic people and they took part in the attack upon Delphi in Greece (279 BCE) allied with the Illyrians, but were defeated. [12]

After five centuries in central Europe and Thrace, they moved once again invading the Roman Republic in 113 BCE.

The Romans at that time occupied the coastal areas around the Mediterranean sea (green in map below), they ignored the homeland of these barbarians who " sallied forth against Italy, being called at first Cimmerians, and then, not inappropriately, Cimbri." [8]. Their twelve year campaing ended in defeat, and they retreated to the north, deep within the forests, into Jutland, which is now Denmark, where, according to Strabo [9] they occupied the country west of the Elbe. A map by Claudius Ptolemy (ca. 90 – ca. 168 CE) that is, roughly 220 years after their invasions, places the land of the Cimbri at the northernmost tip of Jutland.

Their campaign would explain the presence of their Q hg across the central parts of Europe. Its later dispersion from Denmark into Scandinavia and the rest of Europe would be identical to the "Hun's Q hg dispersal" already mentioned above. The presence of Cimbrian Y Chromosomes in the Valley of the Rhone belonged to the refugees escaping the defeat at Vercelli, crossing the Alpine passes into current Savoy and Haute Rhone. Or (chose your option): (1) the survivors of the Cimbri garrison that remained in Belgium (who later became the Aduatuci), after their defeat by Julius Caesar in 57 BCE (most were killed or sold as slaves). (2) Later moves towards the south (400 CE) of the Burgundians from Scandinavia, to current Poland, and finally to France, bearing Cimbrian admixture in their genomes.

An interesting paper (I. Rozhansky, 2010) [11] views the Cimbrians as carrying different haplogroups in their genome, but after being subjected to a bottleneck (the battles against Rome), male lineages were reduced and only a small part of it reached the Jutland refuge after a 1,700 km march. Their long settlement there (100 BC - 400 CE) subjected them to further genetic drift yielding two haplotypes of Q1a3 unique to Scandinavia which date back to a common ancestor 2200 - 2150 ya. (coincidental with the date of the Cimbrian Invasions).

Next, the least likely origin for Q hg in Europe:

Mongolians & Tartars

The Mongol hordes employing cavalry and gunpowder advanced West (1235) and occupied the Russian principalities. They continued their advance into Poland, Hungary and Serbia, defeating all forces of armored knights that faced them. The death of the Great Khan and perhaps the dense forests and fortified castles of Western Europe stopped their advance in 1242. They conducted ther invasions until 1295 into Thrace and Poland, but finally retreated East. Their "Golden Horde Empire" later declined and fell prey to civil war.

The recency of this invasion (800 years ago) and the lack of penetration into areas where we currently find Q hg (Scandinavia, England, France), makes it an extremely unlikely vehicle for the introduction of it in Europe. Furthermore, they did not settle the land, they returned back to their Asian homes.

Above I have outlined the theories that try to explain how Asian Q haplogroup ended up in Europe. Personally none of them satisfy me. I find them too recent in comparison with the "sister" branch that entered America over 15 kya. Furthermore the low frequency but wide coverage of Q hg in Europe hints at an ancient origin: the other "latecomers" (in the sense of their later branching-off the P hg root), such as Hg N and R - with all its haplotypes, have covered the same territory with a higher frequency, overlaid on the archaic Q hg substrate. But this will be the subject of my next post.

Read the second part: An Ancient Dispersal

Sources

[1] Ammianus Marcellinus XXXI, 2, 12 The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus
[2] Otto Maenchen-Helfen, (1973). The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. University of California Press
[3] Gocha R. Tsetskhladze, Ed., (2001). North Pontic Archaeology: Recent Discoveries and Studies. Brill, 2001
[4] Homer, Odyssey 11:14
[5] Herodotus, History, Translated by Rawlinson, George, Blakeney, Edward Henry. London, Dent. 1919. [1:1,6] [1:8,15][4:9,11 - 13]
[6] Pliny, 4:13
[7] David K. Faux, (2011). The Cimbri of Denmark, the Norse and Danish Vikings, and Y-DNA Haplogroup R-S28/U152 - (Hypothesis A)
[8] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives . Vol. IX, 11, Loeb Classical Library edition, 1920
[9] Strabo Vii. 293. 294 pp
[10] Anthon Charles, 1872. A classical dictionary... Harper. pp. 539.
[11] I. Rozhansky, (2010). Riddle of the Cimbri. Experience the historical and genealogical investigation. Proceedings of the Russian Academy of DNA Genaology, v.3., p. 545 (Russian language)
[12] Appian's Roman History. Vol II, pp 59

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2014 by Austin Whittall © 

Neanderthal and their European Extinction

 
I have just read an interesting article which summarizes the following paper: Partial genetic turnover in neandertals: continuity in the east and population replacement in the west, by Love Dalén, Ludovic Orlando, Beth Shapiro, Mikael Brandström Durling, Rolf Quam, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, J. Carlos Díez Fernández-Lomana, Eske Willerslev, Juan Luis Arsuaga and Anders Götherström. Molecular Biology and Evolution. Mol Biol Evol (2012). doi: 10.1093/molbev/mss074. First published online: February 23, 2012.

Basically it seems that an analysis of Neanderthal DNA suggests that nearly all of the Neanderthals in western Europe died out about 50,000 years ago (long before modern humans appeared on the European scene), perhaps due to extremely cold weather. Later, the Neanderthals that survived elsewhere, re-entered Europe, peopling it again for about ten thousand years before becoming extinct themselves...

Abstract

Remarkably little is known about the population-level processes leading up to the extinction of the neandertal. To examine this, we use mtDNA sequences from 13 neandertal individuals, including a novel sequence from northern Spain, to examine neandertal demographic history. Our analyses indicate that recent western European neandertals (<48 kyr) constitute a tightly defined group with low mitochondrial genetic variation in comparison to both eastern and older (>48 kyr) European neandertals. Using control region sequences, Bayesian demographic simulations provide higher support for a model of population fragmentation followed by separate demographic trajectories in subpopulations over a null model of a single stable population. The most parsimonious explanation for these results is that of a population turnover in western Europe during early Marine Isotope Stage 3, predating the arrival of anatomically modern humans in the region.

Neanderthal Cave art

Another recent find were some "seals" discovered in a cave on the southern coast of Spain at Nerja.

These were apparently drawn by Neanderthals 48 ky ago!!. And if so, are older than any modern human rock art and a clear sign of the intellectual capabilities of the Neanderthals.

More on the Nerja drawings here,

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

 Copyright 2009-2012 by Austin Whittall ©