The Ancestors of Today's Poles with the Haplogroup R1a

Wojciech J. Cynarski

doi:10.13189/sa.2021.090202

Abstract

The work is about Indo-Europeans in general, which means people possessing R1a haplogroup (and following mutations) of Y-DNA, as per inheriting from father to son. Those possessing R1b, who dominated western Europe, have little in common with India and Iran. Our interest is in the group of Indo-Europeans who evolved into Slavs and, in particular, modern Poles. The article shows that the area of today's Poland was probably the cradle of people and language that gave origin to other Indo-European peoples (Aryans, Scythians, Persians, Slavic) and their languages. Today's Poles are the nation with the highest frequency of R1a haplogroup. Genetic, linguistic and anthropological-cultural studies indicate that the origin of Poles is ancient, directly from the ancestors of the Lechites or Lekhs described in the chronicles. There are also grounds for claiming that the Lekhs' connections with people from Aryans are both genetic (biological) and cultural. The author provides daring hypotheses and proceeds to check them through logical deduction (inductive-deductive method), while trying the synthetic approach to the problem and using a multidisciplinary approach. Hypotheses checks and logical justifications are backed by research results in genetics, linguistics, cultural anthropology, ancient history and hoplology – which deal with weaponry and warrior cultures.

Highlights

The thing is about Indo-Europeans in general, which means people possessing R1a haplogroup and following mutations of Y-DNA, as per inheriting from father to son
Our interest is in the group of Indo-Europeans who evolved into Slavs and, in particular, modern Poles
Indo-Europeans and Slavs are terms used by linguistics; they are representative of specific language families, used by those peoples. ”Early Slavs” is a substitute term for naming modern Slavs’ ancestors

Summary

Introduction

The thing is about Indo-Europeans in general, which means people possessing R1a haplogroup and following mutations of Y-DNA (we analyze haplogroups in the male Y chromosome), as per inheriting from father to son. Those possessing R1b (another mutation in haplogroup R1), who dominated western Europe [4], have little in common with India and Iran. Indo-Europeans and Slavs are terms used by linguistics; they are representative of specific language families, used by those peoples. Hypotheses checks and logical justifications are backed by research results in genetics, linguistics, cultural anthropology, ancient history and hoplology – which deal with weaponry and warrior cultures.

Pre-Aryan Roots

Genetic Studies Outcomes

Linguistic Justifications

Other Cultural Relations

Conclusions