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closeOrigin Point or Destination?
Posted by JK2010 on 21 Jan 2010 at 09:31 GMT
What this study shows is that the focus of diversity of R1b1b2 is the Aegean coast of westernmost Anatolia. The authors make no direct connection of this location to the origin(s) of agriculture further east and south other than the vaguely worded formula "Near East via Anatolia".
Having identified the focus of R1b1b2 diversity as western Anatolia, the history of this area becomes essential. It is well known to have been a densely-populated, cosmopolitan region in ancient historical times, largely inhabited by a series of invading Indo-European peoples from the Bronze Age through Roman Empire. Slavs in-migrated in Byzantine times, and the Ottoman Janissary system of importing child soldiers from the Balkans continued into the modern era. This gives a great potential for the diversity of R1b1b2 variants that the authors' data claims for this area, to be the result of a re-concentration of variants present at low levels among each of the different incoming Indo-European peoples.
RE: Origin Point or Destination?
scimom replied to JK2010 on 29 Jan 2010 at 04:22 GMT
I would love to know the author's response to this. Could further support be gained through testing ancient DNA?