THROUGH THE COURSE OF PREHISTORY IN INDIA: TRACING THE mtDNA TRAIL

Tartu 19th December 2005

Mait Metspalu

after J. Adam s and N icholas Ray:http://lgb.unige.ch/% 7Eray/lgm _m ap/lgm .htm

Last G lacia l M axim um

Trop ica lg rass land

P o la rdese rt

Ice shee t

Steppetund ra

Trop ica lextrem edese rt

Tem p. dese rt

F o r.s teppe B orea l

w oodland

S avanna

Trop ica lsem idese rt

Trop ica l ra in fo res t

Trop ica lw oodland

S crub

-100 000 a.

-160 000 a.

40 000

40 000

30 000

30 000

18 00040 000

40 000

160 000

10 000 Middle Palaeolithic10 000 Upper (Late) Palaeolithic10 000 fossils

60 000

60 000

40 000

45 000

40 00032 000

30 000

Adapted from Fuller 2003Linguistic groups of IndiaCA

ME

Mundari

Mon-Khmer

Dravidians

Fuller’s synthetic view on agricultural origins and dispersals in South Asia

QUESTIONS• What is the place of the Indian mtDNA variation on the global mtDNA phylogeny?

• What does the mtDNA variation in India tell us about the peopling of Eurasia?

• Do the Indian tribal populations and the Austro-Asiatic speakers in particular share common ancestry with the castes or are they “more ancient” inhabitants of the subcontinent as suggested by some?

• How extensive was admixture between South Asia and neighbouring regions after the initial settlement? And what can be said about the timescale for the admixture in light of i) suggestions for external origins for all language families present in India, and ii) the advent of agriculture in India?

What is the place of the Indian mtDNA variation on the global mtDNA phylogeny?

~60-65 KYA

~60-65 KYA

What is the place of the Indian mtDNA variation on the global mtDNA phylogeny?

What is the place of the Indian mtDNA variation on the global mtDNA phylogeny?

All the mtDNA variants of Indian populations, including the tribal populations, belong to the Indian-specific sub-lineages of the two Eurasian founder macro-haplogroups M and N (including R) although frequencies of individual haplogroups may vary substantially between (drift-prone tribal) populations.

Out of Africa routesClassical single northern route

Multiple dispersals Single southern route

Multiple dispersals

What does the mtDNA variation in India tell us about the peopling of Eurasia?

NO autochthonous basal M, N or R lineages in Central Asia

M-QN-S,OR-P

What does the mtDNA variation in India tell us about the peopling of Eurasia?

The presence of M and N (including R) basal lineages in South Asia and further east, together with the lack of hg M in West Eurasia, is consistent with the single Southern Coastal Route of peopling Eurasia.

NO autochthonous basal Y lineages in Central Asia

C-C5

C-C3

F-F*,H,K

F-K,J,I,G

F-KK-P

K-L1

K-L; ????P-R1a, R2

K-NO

P-Q,R1b2

P-R1*

What does the Y chromosome variation in India tell us about the peopling of Eurasia?

The extant Indian caste and tribal populations, covering speakers of different language groups, derive largely from a common source population that diversified within India in the Late Pleistocene.

Do the Indian tribal populations and the Austro-Asiatic speakers in particular share common ancestry with the castes or are they “more ancient” inhabitants of the subcontinent as suggested by some?

Introduction of Sino-Tibetan languages to the east of India has evidently been coupled with large-scale immigration of men and women alike. Y-chromosome data, but not mtDNA evidence, suggest the same for the Austro-Asiatic speakers of India.

Only a minor part of the extant Indian mtDNA pool can be ascribed to the admixture from the West during the Holocene. This is not in agreement with putative large scale immigrations from the West like the Indo-Aryan invasion. Because genes and cultural traits may or may not migrate together, the possibility for exterior origins for all the existing language families in India cannot be ruled out by genetic evidence, but local origin for the Dravidic family appears more parsimonious.

Conclusions

• The phylogeography of both MtDNA and Y-chromosome lineages support the Southern Coastal model of peopling Eurasia.

• The introduction of Indo-European languages and agriculture to India from the West did not occur as a mass migration of people but rather as an uptake of culture.

• On the other hand, introduction of Sino-Tibetan languages to the east of India has evidently been coupled with large-scale immigration of men and women alike. And Y-chromosome data, but not mtDNA evidence, suggest the same for the Austro-Asiatic speakers of India.

H00073

-Alw44I+

7025

-AluI+

311126

12308-HinfI+11465+TruI-

12704-MboI+

11719

-Sma+

13704+BstOI-

10394-DdeI+

15606-AluI+13366

-BamHI+

69

J

294

296

304

T

270

9052+HaeII-10397-DdeI+

146256

189

224

311

U

U5b

K

362

311 256

362

PavaoRudan

261

145

246AT

265

14766

-TruI+

CRS

291

093

192

292

114CA

192

294

231

ToomasKivisild

SirleLaos

RichardVillems

KatrinKaldma

Jüri ParikMaarja Jaanits

Helle-Viivi Tolk

063

Ene MetspaluMait Metspalu

162

KristiinaTambets

261

MarinaBermisheva

304

270

093

Ille Hilpus

093

MariaGolubenko

362

10397+AluI-

SiiriRootsi

223

10394+DdeI-

278

U5a

M

256

PiiaSerk

252

MonikaKarmin

342

U8

270

KarmenMae

R

Eva-LiisLoogväli

212

KedyKivirand

?

VladimirOrekhov

?

190LovorkaBaracic

AntonioBrehm

222SvetlanaCvetan

MarijanaPericic

18986Boris

Malyarchuk

X

MartinRichards

HV3

MaereReidlaErwan

Pennarun AlexandraRosa

Hans-JürgenBandelt Vladislava

Gusar

Tartu, Estonia

Zagreb, Croatia

Madeira, Portugal

London, UK

Hamburg, Germany

Nantes, France

Kharkov, Ukraine

Moscow, Russia

Magadan, Russia

Tomsk, Russia

Ufa, Russia

Acknowledgements