Study on Ancient East Africans, 41 individuals from Ancient Kenya/Tanzania

[World]

Article:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2019/05/29/science.aaw6275

PDF:

https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/sites...stLipsonSawchuk_Science_PastoralNeolithic.pdf

Extract:

How food production first entered eastern Africa ~5000 years ago and the extent to which people moved with livestock is unclear. We present genome-wide data from 41 individuals associated with Later Stone Age, Pastoral Neolithic (PN), and Iron Age contexts in what are now Kenya and Tanzania to examine the genetic impacts of the spreads of herding and farming. Our results support a multi-phase model in which admixture between northeastern African-related peoples and eastern African foragers formed multiple pastoralist groups, including a genetically homogeneous PN cluster. Additional admixture with northeastern and western African-related groups occurred by the Iron Age. These findings support several movements of food producers, while rejecting models of minimal admixture with foragers and of genetic differentiation between makers of distinct PN artifacts.

 

[World]

Ancient South Cushitic herders =

40 % Dinka-related ancestry + 40 % Chalcolithic Israeli-related ancestry + 20 % Mota-related ancestry.

First admixture date: between 5000-6000 years ago in northeastern Africa, and this admixed group mixed with local Mota-related foragers roughly 4000 years ago.

 

[Apollo]

PDF:

https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/sites...stLipsonSawchuk_Science_PastoralNeolithic.pdf

Going to read it now.

 

[Pastoralite]

Ancient South Cushitic herders =

40 % Dinka-related ancestry + 40 % Chalcolithic Israeli-related ancestry + 20 % Mota-related ancestry.

First admixture date: between 5000-6000 years ago in northeastern Africa, and this admixed group mixed with local Mota-related foragers roughly 4000 years ago.

I believe those mota related foragers could’ve been ancient hazda’s

 

[Apollo]

Useful commentary I found elsewhere:

''Stunning to see the Elmentietan and Savanna Pastoral are one genetic cluster. Another blow to pots not people - as the Elmentietan vs Savanna Pastoral were never seriously considered to have the same Erythrean/Cushitic culture bearers, at least from a genetic point of view. One was always considered to the the classic "Hamitic" culture-bearers, the other as Nilotes or heavily "Hamiticized" Nilotes.

But the cultural divergence may be due to minor Nilotic ancestry we don't see in Elmentietan. But thats quite difficult to parse as it stands, and this will need thorough analysis on our part here.

Overall - the same phenomena we see in Europe with Anatolian farmers and the pulse of extra WHG ancestry with little more significant admixture events with WHG groups outside the Balkans (outside of incrementally increasing admixture), or with the Single-Grave/Corded Ware EN admixture pulse that remained somewhat unchanged as they encountered other farmer groups in Northern Europe with the exception of Southern Europe.

It seems admixture here however was sex biased, as the vast majority of males were E-M35, specifically E-M239 with no B2 and other hunter gatherer ydna - except for the slightly probable HG but curious case of E2 in the 4000bp+ early Erythrean/Cushitic nomad who had lesser HG ancestry than the later Pastoral Neolithic horizon. Once a ecological barrier is reached to a specific degree somewhere in southern Somalia-Ethiopia and the Northern Frontier, we have the pulse(s) of hunter gatherer ancestry to the Erythrean/Cushitic nomads who this admixture likely correlates with a change in the general Erythrean/Cushitic pastoral variant toolkit (pre-PN).

I wish they could have used Somalis instead of Bejas. It is quite clear they are the most pristine Erythrean/Cushitic population in existence, whereas the Beja are heavily admixed with presumably Late/Middle Kingdom Egyptian and Middle Eastern, in addition to minor Nilo-Saharan ancestry.''

 

[World]

I wish they could have used Somalis instead of Bejas. It is quite clear they are the most pristine Erythrean/Cushitic population in existence, whereas the Beja are heavily admixed with presumably Late/Middle Kingdom Egyptian and Middle Eastern, in addition to minor Nilo-Saharan ancestry.''

Most seem to cluster closer to Somalis than to Bejas as well.

 

[Apollo]

Most seem to cluster closer to Somalis than to Bejas as well.
View attachment 73314

They are basically Cushites who took the route through Ethiopia to Kenya rather than through Somalia.

 

[World]

They are basically Cushites who took the route through Ethiopia to Kenya rather than through Somalia.

Before they mixed with local Mota-related foragers, they clustered much closer North Africans/Levants than all other HOAs. You can see this via the hypothesized position of ENP, and the two "early pastoralist in Kenya" individuals.

 

[Apollo]

Before they mixed with local Mota-related foragers, they clustered much closer North Africans/Levants. You can see via the hypothesized position of ENP, and the two "early pastoralist in Kenya" individuals.

I have been saying for ages that the Cushitic language family (and also Afro-Asiatic) came from a more MENA-like population inhabiting the region of Upper Egypt/Northeast Sudan.

This study has vindicated this view.

 

[Nilotufian]

They were more Eurasian than us? Interesting.

 

[Apollo]

They were more Eurasian than us? Interesting.

These guys were only a few hundred years removed from the original Cushites.

 

[World]

They were more Eurasian than us? Interesting.

The ENP (early northeastern pastoralists) were more Euroasian than us, probably around 60~ %.

 

[Apollo]

The Hamitic hypothesis was largely correct, even though it is so taboo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamites#Hamitic_hypothesis

 

[World]

"With regard to the “moving frontier” model, we find that while sampled PN individuals carry ~20% admixture from local forager groups, this gene flow almost all occurred well before the core PN era, as herders entered new environments. By contrast, the rapid spread of pastoralists into Kenya and Tanzania after ~3300 BP involved minimal gene flow between herders and foragers, plausibly due to the formation of a static frontier along which social barriers prevented largescale gene flow, despite possible social and economic interaction (8, 15)."

Ancient South Cushites wanted to keep their ethnic purity.

 

[Apollo]

Kenyans and Tanzanians could have been so beautiful if it was only populated by these people (+70% ENP).

R.I.P.

 

[World]

Kenyans and Tanzanians could have been so beautiful if it was only populated by these people (+70% ENP).

R.I.P.

The Luxmanda sample stands out as a bit more forager admixed than the rest of the samples, but even that individual was ~40 % Levant-admixed, so I'm guessing the rest are probably between 40-50 %.

 

[Apollo]

The Luxmanda sample stands out as a bit more forager admixed than the rest of the samples, but even that individual was ~40 % Levant-admixed, so I'm guessing the rest are probably between 40-50 %.

Will have to look into it.

By the way, considering this data: my theory on the post-Cushitic inter-riverine ethnogenesis for the Somali ethnic group is not so crazy any longer.

 

[Apollo]

Kenya_Early_Pastoral_N (~4000BP):

50.0% (+/- 0.9%) Levant_N
22.6% (+/- 3.4%) Dinka
26.7% (+/- 3.6%) Mota


Somali (Single individual from Garissa, Kenya):

40.2% (+/- 1%) Levant_N
54.8% (+/- 3.6%) Dinka
5.0% (+/- 3.7%) Mota

They descend from NE Sudan-Ethiopian Highland route Cushites. They are poor proxies for the NE Sudan-Eritrea-Somalia route proto-Somalis.

 

[EDsomali]

Interesting paper, but most of this was already well known.

No haplogroup T in any of the individuals they tested.

So I guess it's not a NE African lineage.

 

[Apollo]

Interesting paper, but most of this was already well known.

No haplogroup T in any of the individuals they tested.

So I guess it's not a NE African lineage.

Paternal lineages are noteriously different even in small distances (e.g. look at the Saho vs Afar case). It is not conclusive. The data is simply too limited.

We need Ancient DNA from Somalia or the Eastern part of Ethiopia to discover Somali-specific Ys (like E-Y17859 and the Somali T subclade).