The current speakers, Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian, have quite a number of Siberian ancestors. New research into ancient genomes is discovering. These roots can spread westward from a group of people who lived in forest grasslands in the Altai Mountains of Central and East Asia four to five hundred years ago.
Ancient DNA revealed that this group was paternal or organized based on descent from their fathers.
However, while ancient DNA can indicate where a group has moved over time, it is difficult to track language using genetics. Therefore, experts note that the results do not clearly demonstrate the link between speakers of these languages and ancient DNA patterns.
You might like it
Moving from Siberia
In a study published in Nature on July 2, the researchers analyzed 180 people who lived in northern Eurasia between the Messile Age and the Bronze Age (11,000-4,000 years ago). The team then added these individuals to a database of over 1,300 ancient people who had previously analyzed them, comparing these genomes to those of modern people. One important finding came from the genomes from the late Neolithic period to the early Bronze Age (4, 500-3,200 years ago).
They found that the geographical location of ancient people with a DNA pattern called Yakutia_lnba was “clearly related to the population telling ancient and present current Uralic stories,” the researchers wrote in their study.
Related: Can I forget my native language?
Uralic language is a group of over 20 tongues spoken by millions of people, most notably Estonia, Finland and Hungary. Linguists are interested in these three major uralic languages, as they are different from Indo-Europeans spoken in the surrounding countries.
“Indo-European-speaking neighboring populations tend to have no ancestors of Yaktia_lnba or any other kind of East Asian ancestor,” author Tian Chen Zeng, a graduate student in human biology at Harvard University, told Live Science in an email. “Yakutia_lnba Ancestry is the only East Asian ancestry that exists in almost all existence and the genetic composition of the ancient Uralic population.”
Researchers have identified the Yakutia_lnba group in the bones of people who lived in Siberia four to 500 to 3200 years ago. They may have been part of the Ymyyakhtakh culture, an ancient culture of Northeast Siberia with ceramic technology, bronze objects, and arrows made of stones and bones.
Archaeologists previously discovered that Ymyyakhtakh pottery spread south on forest grasslands in the Altai Seyan region near the intersection of modern Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and China. Researchers suggested that the Yakutia_lnba DNA pattern may be linked to prehistoric Uralic-speaking cultures.
“A simple interpretation of this is that the ancestors of Yakutia_lnba were dispersed from east to west along with the uralic language,” Zeng said.
“Yakutia_lnba shows that it could serve as a great tracer dye for the spread of early Uralic-speaking communities,” the researchers said in the study.
Scientists also discovered that the group, which eventually spreads west, may be organized by paternal descent based on the Y chromosomal patterns of ancient DNA.
Language Tracking Challenges
However, the connection between genetics and language is particularly complicated to prove in the past.
“My genetic makeup doesn’t provide insight into the range of languages I might speak. Which of these considers their primary language,” Katherine Freeman, an archaeologist at the Australian National University who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email.
Because people communicate in complex ways, “I think we need to consider whether multilingualism, including linguistic families, has shaped or affected the spread and change of language,” says Frieman.
Researchers have not addressed multilingualism in their studies, but Zeng said “ancient populations are very likely multilingual.” But he said, “large language changes will likely involve transitions. At the very least, a significant portion of the language newcomers have been integrated into local populations and at a level that is likely to leave behind genetic influences,” he said.
However, Frieman warns that we need to be careful not to identify genetic clusters with specific languages or families, especially when considering how people have lived in the past.
This study presents an interesting and welcome focus, but [ancient] Frieman said Frieman said Frieman.
Stone Age Quiz: What do you know about the Paleostemic, Mesosonic, and Neostemic Ages?
Source link
