How did Our Ancestors Looked Like?
Ancient people of Punjab (Punjabi: پنجابی (Shahmukhi), ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Gurmukhi), पंजाबी (Devanagri), are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group of North Indian origin; which includes parts of Sindh, Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat. Punjab region has been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world, the the Indus Valley Civilization. Excavation of pre-historic sites at Harrapa, Mohenjodaro, Ropar, Dholvira, Kalibangan, and Rakhigarhi reveal an advanced society that may be the cradle of Indian civilization.
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| Map of Indus Valley Civilization |
Political Controversy on Origin of Indo-Aryans
During 19th Century European ethnographers and, of course, most famously, Adolf Hitler, also considered Aryans the master race who had conquered Europe, although the German leader considered them to be of Nordic lineage.Hindu right-wingers believe the source of Indian civilization are the Arya - a nomadic tribe of horse-riding, cattle-rearing warriors and herders who spoke Sanskrit, and composed Hinduism's oldest religious texts, the Vedas.
Many Indian scholars have questioned the "Aryan Invasion from Europe" thesis, arguing that these Indo-European language speakers - or Aryans - were possibly just one of many streams of prehistoric migrants who arrived in India after the decline of an earlier civilization. The Aryans, they argue, originated from India and then spread across large parts of Asia and Europe, helping set up the family of Indo-European languages that Europeans and Indians still speak today.
Finding DNA of Indus Valley People
The climate of South Asia is not kind to ancient DNA. It is hot and during monsoon season, water seeps into ancient bones in the ground, degrading the old genetic material. So by the time archaeologists and geneticists finally got DNA out of a tiny ear bone from a 4,000-plus-year-old skeleton, they had already tried dozens of samples—all from cemeteries of the mysterious Indus Valley civilization, all without any success. |
| Skeletal from Rakhigarhi in Sirsa |
How did First Punjabis Look Like?
In 2019, scientists were able to generate an accurate facial representation of 2 out of 37 individuals found buried in 4,500 year old Indus Valley site at Rakhigarhi at Punjab-Haryana border. A multi-disciplinary team of 15 scientists and academics from six different institutes of South Korea, UK and India, applied craniofacial reconstruction (CFR) technique using computed tomography (CT) data of two of the Rakhigarhi skulls, to recreate their faces. Original skulls went through crano-facial reconstruction and the final facial appearance after reconstruction The case study, led by W J Lee and Vasant Shinde and supported in part by a grant of the National Geographic Society, has been published in a widely reputed journal, Anatomical Science International . |
| Craniofacial Reconstruction of Indus Valley People |
What Scientific Researches Reveal?
The most recent study on this subject, led by geneticist David Reich of Harvard University, was published in March 2018 and co-authored by 92 scholars from all over the world. By comparing the results with modern South Asians’ genomes, the study showed that South Asians today descended from a mix of local hunter-gatherers, Iranian-related groups, and steppe pastoralists who came by way of Central Asia. It’s the largest number of ancient genomes reported in a single paper, all made possible by an ancient DNA “factory” the geneticist David Reich has built at Harvard. (Priya Moorjani completed her doctorate in Reich’s lab and is a co-author on this paper, currently at the Berkeley University).The second study focuses on just a single genome from the Indus Valley civilization: I6113, a woman who died more than 4,000 years ago. Her skeleton was the only one—out of more than 100 samples the researchers tested from 10 different Indus Valley–civilization sites—that yielded ancient DNA, but even then it was contaminated and of poor quality. “We had to squeeze, squeeze, squeeze the sample really hard, more than we’ve done in any other sample we’ve ever tried,” says Reich, who is the senior author of the second paper. The team ultimately tried to sequence DNA from I6113’s ear bone more than 100 times, each time yielding a tiny dribble of genetic data.
What’s intriguing about I6113’s DNA is what she lacks: any of Eurasian steppe ancestry that is widespread in contemporary Punjabis and Sindhis. Instead, she appeared to have a mix of South Indian hunter-gatherer and Iranian-related ancestry.
First Wave of Migration to India
The study proves that there were two major migrations into India in the last 10,000 years. The first one originated from the Zagros region in south-western Iran (which has the world's first evidence for goat domestication) and brought agriculturists, most likely herders, to India.This would have been between 7,000 and 3,000 BCE. These Zagros herders mixed with the earlier inhabitants of the subcontinent - the First Indians, descendants of the Out of Africa (OoA) migrants who had reached India around 65,000 years ago - and together, they went on to create the Harappan civilization.
The two studies piece together a history of how the people of the Indus Valley civilization are related to Punjabis and South Asians today. This civilization grew from Indus valley region of Sindh and Punjab and then spread to Haryana, Gujarat, and adjacent regions. The Sindhi people, Aroras of Punjab, and Lohanas of Gujarat are the descendants of these early migrants.
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| Indus Valley Girl with Dravidian Features |
These early migrants, people with a genetic makeup similar to I6113 mixed with people of Southeast Asian hunter-gatherer ancestry to form what has been called Ancestral South Indians.
Second Wave of Migration to India
In the centuries after 2000 BCE came the second set of immigrants (the Aryans) from the Eurasian Steppe, probably from the region now known as Kazakhstan. They likely brought with them an early version of Sanskrit, mastery over horses and a range of new cultural practices such as sacrificial rituals, all of which formed the basis of early Vedic culture. (A thousand years before, people from the Steppe had also moved into Europe, replacing and mixing with agriculturists there, spawning new cultures and spreading Indo-European languages).They merged with the Indus Valley civilization to form a group that has been called Ancestral North Indians. The Punjabi and Sindhi Khatris and Brahmins are the direct descendants of these Sanskrit speaking warrior ancestors.
Making of the Indian Ancestry
These two ancestral groups then mixed as well, giving rise to the great diversity of ethnic groups in South Asia. Go back far enough, and both sides trace to the Indus Valley civilization, which appears to be the single largest source of ancestry for modern South Asians.To many in the Hindu right wing, these findings are unpalatable. They have been campaigning to change school curricula and remove any mention of Aryan immigration from textbooks. And on Twitter, several hugely popular right-wing "history" handles have long been attacking India's leading historians who have defended the theory of Aryan migrations and continue to do so.
The Punjabi Gene
The majority of Punjabi population share genes with northern Indian populations of Kashmir, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, but also show a significant relationship with west Eurasian groups. In a 2004 Stanford University study conducted with a wide sampling from India, including 112 Punjabis displayed the following results:- Indian tribal and caste populations derive largely from the same genetic heritage of Pleistocene southern and western Asians and have received limited gene flow from external regions since the Holocene.
- About 42% of genetic markers in the Punjab were of West Asian origin, the highest among the South Asians.
- There was limited gene flow in and out of north India, but the highest amount of genetic inflow from the west showed up in the Punjab region
The Science Behind Research
A Haplotype is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent, and a Haplogroup is a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor with a single-nucleotide polymorphism mutation. More specifically, a haplogroup is a combination of alleles at different chromosomes regions that are closely linked and that tend to be inherited together. As a haplogroup consists of similar haplotypes, it is usually possible to predict a haplogroup from haplotypes. Haplogroups pertain to a single line of descent.Haplogroup J2 originated in Caucasus and southern Caspian region during the Mesolithic period. The first appearance of J2 during the Neolithic came in the form of a 10,000 year-old J2b sample from Tepe Abdul Hosein in north-western Iran towards the end of the last glaciation. I6113, a woman who died more than 4,000 years ago in Rakhigarhi belonged to this Haplogroup.
Broadly, the average proportion of mtDNAs from West Eurasia among Indian caste populations is widely distributed. In the northern States of India their share is greater, reaching over 30% in Kashmir and Gujarat, nearly 43% in Indian Punjab.
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| Haplogroup J2 Distribution in Punjab |
Haplogroup R1a is distributed in a large region in Eurasia, extending from Scandinavia, Russia, and Central Europe to southern Siberia and South Asia.
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| Haplogroup R1a Distribution in Punjab |
Links
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46616574https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/09/indus-valley-civilization-dna-has-long-eluded-researchers/597481/
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/scientists-reconstruct-faces-of-indus-valley-people/articleshow/71512919.cms
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetics_and_archaeogenetics_of_South_Asia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_R1a
Nicely done and researched, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThis is good stuff ��. Only thing I don't understand is why South India and Sri Lanka are more successful even though they have more Aboriginal blood. Logically North India should be more successful as it has more Aryan Slavic blood. Also I would have liked more diverse phenotypes in hair colours and eye colours for South Asians but I guess the blood is too 'underneath' for that to happen.
ReplyDeleteManpreet, thanks for your comments. How do you consider South India and Sri Lanka more successful? North India is much more successful in agriculture, business, economy, military strength, arts, music, and literature. Vedas, Purana, Panini's Sanskrit Grammar. Ayurveda, Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, and even Kamasutra were composed in North. Taxila was the most prominent center of Buddhism, and later Punjab became the center of knowledge for Sikhism. North ruled over most of India from time immaterial whether it was Rama defeating Ravana of the South or Ashoka ruling over South. Even Mughals and British ruled over South from Delhi. Ever since the independence of India, all prime minister of India were from North except one.
DeleteI also do not understand your second comment about eye and hair color. If you are from North, you would have known that its common to see people with blonde, red, and brown hair in Punjab. Similarly its common to see people with blue or green eyes among Punjabis. You will not see this in South where people have pitch black and curly hair with dark brown eyes. Wondering why you never witnessed that?
I have witnessed blue eyes, brown hair and ginger hair (gingers are evil) amongst Punjabis but this is very uncommon even in Punjab. The R1a haplogroup has around 50% prevalence in Punjab which suggests massive amounts of Slavic blood in Punjabis. But no obvious Slavic features are present in the vast majority of Punjabis such as eye colour, hair colour and sharper features. You would think as in Lebanon or Mexico where a similar mixture of male dominated European blood has occurred that there would be a great variance in hair colour and eye colour. But this is not the case at all but for maybe 1% at most.
DeleteAs for the South, economically the South has done much better than the North. Sri Lanka is two times richer than India despite having a 30 year bloody civil war and is a Buddhist country whereas in India Buddhism has completely failed apart from say Maharashtra. Sri Lanka also happens to look like a modern country unlike India which apart from Chandigarh looks Medieval with Western inventions thrown in the mix. All the biggest success stories of India in terms of businesses which are the basis for the nations existence and contribution to the world have been from the South. Infosys, Reliance, Apollo, Wipro, Dr Reddy's and etc.
I'm a Punjabi Sikh by the way so I think I have a fair understanding of what Punjabis look like. They (we) look brown and have dark eyes and hair for the most part. This doesn't conform to the expectation that we should have differing phenotypes based on the infusion of so much Slavic blood. But culturally and on a inter-personal level we are very very similar to Slavic peoples. I would say we are assholes like the Serbs and Romanians.
If Sri Lanka is really more successful than North India like you claim, then it’s because of the Indo-Aryan speaking Caucasoid Sinhalese of Sri Lanka. People of South India including those Tamil Brahmin ones are mostly Dravidian speaking Australoids or Negroids while most of the Sri Lankans are Indo-Aryan speaking Caucasoid Sinhalese. Indo-Aryan Sinhalese usually discriminate Dravidian Tumil Brahmins because Dravidian Tumil Brahmins are mostly Australoid or Negroid in apearance compared to the Indo-Aryan Sinhalese who are mostly Caucasoid Bengalis from North India – Lol.
DeleteI just think that some things need to be investigated further. Why do we not have differing phenotypes? Why are Indo-Aryan "Cow-Belt" states such as Bihar, UP, Jharkand and etc so poor whilst the Southern Australoids have managed more success than them. The amount of Slavic blood that has been indicated does not conform to the uniform phenotypes that we see in real life of mostly black hair and brown hair. If this issue was this simple then there would be a North-South economic cline but in fact we see a opposite effect. There is more to this than just Aryan invasion as so many things don't add up. Brahmins according to this theory should look White (mostly) according to this theory but Brahmins are dark, swarthy and ugly people in real life.
DeleteManpreet, I fail to understand your logic of what you call "success" as it defies common sense and shows your lack of understanding of North Indian demography. The South Indians are a mix of Australoid and Indus valley people. Calling the Adivasis of Jharkhand as Indo-Aryans is an example of your misunderstanding of this topic. And why do you keep bringing Slavic blood in this discussion. Indo-Aryans originated from the central asian steppes of Kazakhstan as the Sintashta culture (2200 BCE) and Kazakhstan is not in Slavia. The Proto-Aryans then migrated southwards and split off around 1800 BCE into two branches - Indo-Aryans migrated into Punjab, while the Parso-Aryans moved into Iran. Who said the Indo-Aryans were white?
DeleteYou also need to study the Brahmin community before posting comments. The Brahmins of today are a mixture of priests from various locations - Mishras came from Misr or Egypt, Ojhas are the pagan medicine men, Kashmiri and Punjabi Brahmans are Maghials or Magii from Persia, and the Brahmins from South India are Saraswat Brahmins from the bans of Saraswati river from Punjab-Haryana.
Calling brahmins as dark, swarthy and ugly is in real poor taste .. beauty can be of any color. It appears as if you have never met the Brahmins of Kashmir, Punjab, Konkan, or the Iyengar Brahmins of South India?
Some of these comments here are racist and ridiculous. Why do your associate australoid genes with failure and 'slavic' genes with success? Slavic people were always poor and starved, especially during the last century.
DeleteSecond, South and North Indians are mixed between Indigenous Indians (Australoid) and Indus Valley people (Iranian farmers). Steppe ancestry which varies from 0-25% comes from Kazakhstan, it isn't 'slavic'.
Agreed... there is no need to post racist or hurtful comments. The purpose for the blog was to analyze the topic purely from historical perspective. Any comments deemed offensive will be deleted.
DeleteThis reply is for Manpreet,since you said South Indians should be a dumb if
Deletecompare with Northwestern Indians because of their elevated amount of original South Asian/Ancient Ancestral South Asian blood which is clearly racist things,they living in their own zone so why suddenly dragging them for your stupid judgement?
Judging the set of groups by their race is purely racism.
The AASA ancestry is widespread among all South Asians and South Indian castes do have 40% to 55% of it and isolated tribals do have 56% to 70% of it.
Punjabis were atleast 20% to 25% AASA and Punjabi Lahore samples have 40% AASA,You were literally humiliating your own AASA ancestors by calling them dumb and remember you were part of it.
Racism on the core.
Even the OP doesn't raise his voice against her.
Well said ... there is no place for racism in this blog that's why I have removed posts from "Manpreet". He seems to be ignorant of a lot of concepts. My objective was to look at our ancestral roots analytically. No race or caste is superior to any other. Once you agree to this principle, the learning gets easier.
DeleteExactly!
DeleteThanks Mr Arv Singh for your displaying my comment and also your response.
End of the day,we all are one and both North/South and East/West
were descendants of proud Indus Valley civilization.
Everybody came initially from Africa, But we are different and yet the same , Its ok to be different, I am south Indian but mom is fairer than any punjabi and has Sharp features, I have very light skin , but my nasal features are mid way, What happened was after we left africa and branched out we settled in different parets of the planet and Darwinian survival came into play, so we adapted as we moved north The Vit D receptor mutated and we had lighter skin and eyes this was an adaption and selection to avoid rickets , those who move to colder areasalso had to have longer noses that were narrow to humidfy air more and those by the equator retained their Darker skin and wider nose to enable better evaporation.There was also a lot of mixing after separation and then separation again driven by Economy self preservation and Ingroup behavior .Actually Endogamy is bad , it leads to more Autosomal recessive disorders and diseases,There is no shame in marrying out group. in fact ANS ANI Present Indians were formed that way.Recent endogamy does not mean that we were always endogamous.I have all kinds of friends etc Best way is
Deleteto be comfortable in your own sin.My kids are mixed Soth/North very beautiful and very Intellegent.I think its sort of counterp[roductive to call one selves superior etc all that does is create division and Animosity.The world will not stay still.Also remember there are a billion galaxies and billions of planets likely with many different species that look very different .Respect the Miracle of life .
There maybe species with 6 eyes big heads flat noses blue skin who are highly advanced and cultured. be careful ...They may even have created us in their Labs and seeded the planet!
Srilanka more rich than India........ its a joke. just name 5 made in srilanka product....dont say spices. ok. i will agree with you then
DeleteIndus Valley includes parts of Afghanistan. Sorry but Gujaratis and Rajasthanis are genetically much distant from Sindhis and Balochis. The Sindhis and Balochis added with Kashmiris are mostly all Aryan types. Punjabis and Muhajirs are from India
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong in that .. hard to deny genetic evidence. Its just telling you that Baloch are of Indian origin and related to Punjabis and Gujaratis - the two groups of people originating from Indus valley Civilization. Most Pakistanis are of Indian origin, and this includes Balochs and Afghans. They just need to find there ancestral heritage beyond the period when someone in their family accepted/forced to convert to Islam. Adopting Arabic names does not make them Arab ... genetic science will make it clear to all very soon.
DeleteYou are right Max, all these group of people are linked ancestrally. Afghans and Baloch do not remember their ancestral roots. Ancestors of Afghani, Balochi, Sindhi, and Punjabi Pakistanis were idol worshiping pagans just like our ancestors. For some people religion is more important than their cultural heritage. Religion comes and go but the cultural roots - mother tongue, folk traditions, music, attire, and food lives longer.
DeletePashtuns like Afghans and balochis who are from balochistan do not share the same ancestors of the indus valley civilisation like punjabis and sindhis and kashmiris. These are just facts. The Afghans are bactrain civilisations not indus and the balochis part of the sogdian civilisation. Still pashtuns/Afghans and balochis may have had some interaction with each other you know with both being iranic peoples from the iranic nation.
DeleteIndus people like punjabis and sindhis and gujjars are part of the indic nation and are an indic peoples.
Arv Singh has no idea what he's talking about. We don't identify as South Asians because we aren't us Afghans are not in any way South Asian nor do we look it. We are central Asian bactrain people who speak pashto a completely alien langauge to yours and we follow seperate culture you don't understand. Our lineage is from Iran and the caucasus steppe. Your lineage is mostly Indian with some migrant fingerprints here and there known as background noise which everyone has! We aren't the same bro no disrespect what supposed South Asian are we to accept? We know who we are we don't need ethnic indus people whom we have absolutely nothing in common with to tell us otherwise. We are an ancient nation and our langauge proves that it has never been altered nor has our culture. Culture is proof we aren't the same we don't follow desi culture you guys have.
We are all different variations of brown. No indians look white or even close. Please ask any punjabi of any cast to stand next to a serb or slavic person, and you will see a big difference. Indians have been confused with trying to be white for so long. Whether you are from the north or south, you are genetically mixed, but we are all brown. Get over it, be happy with it, and stop trying to identify with the nordic people. We have stopped evolving for a while now.
ReplyDeleteThat is so true
DeleteI find culture & genetics so very interesting. My husband is Punjabi from the Ludhiana area of India. I am mixed European decent. Interestingly my two sons who are half Punjabi look 100 percent Northern/Central European. My youngest was a towhead as a baby and young child and from what I have researched concerning genetics both parents would need to carry this gene for hair color.
DeleteOh wow I do have to agree with that although I'm a Lahori punjabi, my mother is mixed with half punjabi and half Dutch Portuguese-Malay. Although she is far off from her European genes, she looks quite caucasian. I was told that when she was born she had very light brown hair with blond roots at the front. She also had really light hazel eyes and was of a very fair complexion. Now that I think of it it is quite interesting. The fact that the gene has to be present in both the parents has to be true in my mother's case. Surprisingly, even her children (my siblings and I) possess slight European features but nevertheless I'm still happy with the melanin and exotic look that I have :)
DeleteI am Half Punjabi Arora and half Punjabi Brahmin. Would this mean my Arora blood comes from the mixing of Harrapans and Zagros migrants and my Brahmin blood from Aryans and Harrapans? Would this mean I am mostly of harrapan/Indus valley civilization lineage?
ReplyDeleteI am Half Punjabi Arora and half Punjabi Brahmin. Would this mean my Arora blood comes from the mixing of Harrapans and Zagros migrants and my Brahmin blood from Aryans and Harrapans? Would this mean I am mostly of harrapan/Indus valley civilization lineage?
ReplyDeleteVedic/Aryan/Devi/Devtas traditions deemed cows holy because they were cattle hearers while Harrapans/Dravidians/Asurs/Danavs/Rakshas ate wild animals.
ReplyDeleteWhere do Punjabis do their DNA ? I want to know more since I am very curious. I did a stupid DNA test and my indigenous turn out to be Mexican and Peruvian. Like how ? I know that is definitely not true since I found out the whole of States has 23% Punjabi. I am full blood Punjabi for generations and I was I also was 23%. I feel everyone here has about the same but percentage wise was different according to one of DNA company that I check into . I am so unsatisfied that I am asking which company is most reliable ?
ReplyDeleteAnyone ?
You can get an dna test kit from ancestory.com
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