Ancient DNA from the Armenian Highlands Leads to Modern Europe

A recent study (BBC) says that ancient tribes from the Armenian Highlands and Northern Eurasia were the ancestors of modern Europeans.

The results based on the analyses of the genomes of ancient Europeans (reports from the journal Nature) showed that the modern European gene pool was formed as a result of the migration of three ancient populations over the last 7,000 years.

Blue-eyed swarthy hunter-gatherers mixed with black-eyed pale-skinned farmers and also with northern Eurasians, which played an important role in the emergence of modern Europeans (BBC report).

Two of the three tribes migrated from the territory of the Armenian Highlands to Europe at different periods.

A group of hunters from the Armenian Highlands arrived in Europe thousands of years before the advent of agriculture and took shelter in southern shelters during the ice age. Then, they expanded during the period called the Mesolithic, after the ice sheets retreated from central and northern Europe.

7,000 years ago, another group migrated from the Armenian Highlands to the west and to Europe. These tribes consisted of farmers with pale skin and brown eyes, which share a genetic affinity with modern people of the Middle East.

The blue-eyed, swarthy hunters who had moved here earlier mixed with black-eyed, pale-skinned farmers during the migration to Europe from the Middle East. Apparently, those tribes native to the Armenian Highlands along with the northern Eurasian tribes are the ancestors of modern Europeans.

Read also: A genetic atlas of human admixture history