A new study has revealed that ancient Greeks are descended from the Yamnaya culture of the Pontic Steppe. This has clarified important linguistic issues that researchers have been debating for decades, highlighting how DNA continues to enrich our understanding of the past.
The Pontic Steppe ancestry of the ancient Greeks
For many years, researchers claimed that many of the populations of ancient Europe and Asia descended from the people of the Pontic Steppe. This includes the ancient Greeks, the Celts, the Romans, the Iberians, and others.
The civilisation located across the Pontic Steppe, essentially the area just north of the Black Sea, is known as the Yamnaya culture. Scientists date it to c. 3300-2600 BCE. From this culture, various other cultures emerged as they spread out from the Pontic Steppe and migrated to other areas of Europe and Asia.
That the ancient Greeks (as well as other nations of ancient Europe) ultimately originated from the Pontic Steppe is well accepted. However, there have been questions about when and how exactly this happened, and what connection there was between the migration to Greece and the migration to other areas.
Findings of the new study
A team of 91 researchers have conducted an extensive study into this subject and found some fascinating conclusions. They sequenced the genomes of 314 individuals, which they dated to between 3200 and 100 BCE. They also carbon-dated many of these individuals, allowing them to establish when they lived.
By conducting this extensive study, they were able to link archaeological cultures with genetic information. This allowed the researchers to trace the ancestry of different groups back to the Pontic Steppe. What did they find?
One notable result was a sharp East-West divide. They found a distinct difference between the nations of central and western Europe and those of eastern Europe. Notably, the researchers found strong links between the populations of Spain, France and Italy.
Based on this evidence, the team of researchers were able to link those populations to the Bell Beaker culture. This is the archaeological culture which spread across much of central and western Europe in the Bronze Age.
Greek and Armenian origins in the Pontic Steppe
In contrast, the researchers were able to link the origins of the Greeks back to the Pontic Steppe through a different route.
The genetic results from the study show a large concentration of DNA covering the Pontic Steppe, distinguishable from the DNA of surrounding areas in c. 3000-2000 BCE, according to the dates used by the researchers. This corresponds to the population of the Yamnaya culture, distinct from the surrounding regions.
In the results from c. 2000-1000 BCE, this distinct DNA moves outwards from the Pontic Steppe on both sides of the Black Sea. On the western side of the Black Sea, we find that this Pontic Steppe DNA moves down to Greece. On the eastern side of the Black Sea, we find that it moves down to Armenia and the surrounding areas.
Hence, the researchers state the following:
“the arrival of steppe ancestry in Spain, France, and Italy was mediated by Bell Beaker (BB) populations of Western Europe… In contrast, Armenian and Greek populations acquired steppe ancestry directly from Yamnaya groups of Eastern Europe.”
Interestingly, this ties in with the era in which the Mycenaean Greek civilisation emerged, according to archaeology, which was in c. 1700 BCE. Therefore, this supports the argument that the Mycenaean Greek civilisation emerged as a direct result of these descendants from the Pontic Steppe.
How this clears up linguistic controversies
For decades, there has been debate about the relationship between Greek and other Indo-European languages. Some researchers have argued that Greek should be grouped with Indo-Iranian. On the other hand, others have argued that it should be grouped with Armenian.
The results of this new study appear to clear up the truth behind this controversial topic. Since the populations of Greece and Armenian appear to have both spread to their respective territories directly from the Yamnaya culture at the same time, this suggests that it would be most appropriate to group their languages together.
In contrast, there does not appear to be any comparable connection between the Greeks and ancient Indo-Iranian speakers on the basis of this study. Therefore, the researchers note that this strongly supports the Graeco-Armenian hypothesis.
This highlights how DNA research continues to shed light on the ancient world. Additionally, it also demonstrates how it can clarify controversies from other disciplines.
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