Abstract
Several studies have evaluated the movements of large populations to the Indian subcontinent; however, the ancient geographic origins of smaller ethnic communities are not clear. Although historians have attempted to identify the origins of some ethnic groups, the evidence is typically anecdotal and based upon what others have written before. In this study, recent developments in DNA science were assessed to provide a contemporary perspective by analyzing the Y chromosome haplogroups of some key ethnic groups and tracing their ancient geographical origins from genetic markers on the Y-DNA haplogroup tree. A total of 2,504 Y-DNA haplotypes, representing 50 different ethnic groups in the Indian subcontinent, were analyzed. The results identified 14 different haplogroups with 14 geographic origins for these people. Moreover, every ethnic group had representation in more than one haplogroup, indicating multiple geographic origins for these communities. The results also showed that despite their varied languages and cultural differences, most ethnic groups shared some common ancestors because of admixture in the past. These findings provide new insights into the ancient geographic origins of ethnic groups in the Indian subcontinent. With about 2,000 other ethnic groups and tribes in the region, it is expected that more scientific discoveries will follow, providing insights into how, from where, and when the ancestors of these people arrived in the subcontinent to create so many different communities.
Highlights
First ArrivalsHomo sapiens or modern humans spread from Africa to Asia and Europe in several migratory movements (Stringer, 2000; Walter et al, 2000)
The data revealed that 14 different haplogroups representing 14 different geographic origins were present in the 50 ethnic groups used in this study (Table 3), confirming multiple lines of ancestry and geographic origins
There was no ethnic group in these analyses that could trace the genetic ancestry of all its members to a single most recent common ancestor (MRCA)
Summary
Homo sapiens or modern humans spread from Africa to Asia and Europe in several migratory movements (Stringer, 2000; Walter et al, 2000). Based on the geographical distances between populations and measures of population differentiation derived from quantitative cranial datasets, multiple dispersals took place between ∼37 and 135 kya (1000 years ago) (Reyes-Centeno et al, 2015). The initial migrants traveled north and crossed into the Arabian Peninsula. Archeological evidence of H. sapiens fossils outside Africa was discovered in the prehistoric caves of Qafzeh and Skhul, in present-day Israel. New mass-spectrometric techniques have dated these fossils to ∼80–106 kya (McDermott et al, 1993). Some traveled further north into central Asia, which became the staging ground for migrations into Serbia and Europe
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