The Copper age also known as Chalcolithic (5300-3600BC) is one of most remarkable periods in Armenian Highlands

 The Copper age also known as Chalcolithic (5300-3600BC) is one of most remarkable periods in Armenian Highlands. Copper was abundant in mountains and populations using it and living there had an important changes in lifestyle which gave them a competitive advantage. This resulted in waves of migrations out of historic Armenia and neighbouring regions. Many haplotypes are related to this migrations. One of them is the T1a1a-L208.

It's homeland was in southern parts of the highland and North Mesopotamia. From there it moved to Levant and probably to Mesopotamia. In Levant the T-L208 makes it's first apparition in Chalcolithic period ~4000 BC. Genome wide those Levantine L208 samples have a shift toward North Mesopotamia compared to the previous period. From there they moved to Africa. A recent aDNA paper from Morocco confirmed a previous finding of T-L208 who had a significant Levantine ancestry. It's quite possible that L208 moved also to South toward Horn of Africa where it reaches its highest levels today. Although it's possible that some of L208 moved to East Africa from Yemen in Iron Age with Ethio-Semitic tribes. In any case those high levels of T-L208 in Somalian tribes are due to founder effects. T-L208 was also found in Kilis EBA and Alalakh MLBA. (South Turkey)

T-L208 has a number of branches. One subbranch that is found in modern Armenians is the Z709. An ancient sample from LBA Karashamb ( RoA ) was from this branch. It seems it was already present in Northern regions of the Highland since the Chalcolithic like the E-M84.

Z709 itself has an important subbranch which had an expansion in MBA, the P77. It's hard to pinpoint the exact culture with which it expanded. But the Khabur ware is a good bet. P77 was not found in Bronze Age Levant so we can assume that it's homeland was near historic Sasun and North Mesopotamia. One case of P77 was probably present in Roman era Boghazkoy in Anatolia. Chances are high that this T-P77 is related to Hurrian expansions in MBA. But more data is needed to confirm this theory. In modern Armenians the highest levels of haplogroup T is found in Sasun Armenians

Teisheba holds a battle axe.

 Teisheba holds a battle axe.

In Armenian it would be Tesev/Tesew.

The story of Hurrian thunder god Teshub fighting his father Kumarbi and Greek god Zeus fighting Cronus has many similarities.

 The story of Hurrian thunder god Teshub fighting his father Kumarbi and Greek god Zeus fighting Cronus has many similarities. Those similarities concern specific details which makes unlikely the possibility of random coincidence. Two possibilities can be envisaged for explaining this situation.

- That all similarities are due to Greeks influenced by Hurrian and Near Eastern myths.

- That at last part of similarities are due to IE influence on Hurrians.

In the Wikipedia page about the Teshub we can find the opinion of Beckman on this subject:

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According to Gary Beckman these similarities are not a sign that the conflict over kingship in heaven was a narrative of Indo-European origin, but rather instead an indication that it was what he deems a “theological ‘areal feature’” known across Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the Mediterranean.[247]

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Beckman do not discuss the possibility that the Hurrian themselves could have been in contact with an IE group and the story of thunder god fighting his father and a monster dragon is an introgression in to Hurrian religion from an IE source in particular the Proto Armenian. But this possibility should be envisaged given the geographic proximity of Hurrian and Armenian homelands.

This possibility is supported by many lines of evidence presented in various papers of Armen Petrosyan.

- The Hurrian snake dragon Ullikumi has an IE etymology. Derived from a reconstructed *wel. The root wel is found in Etiuni and an indirect evidence suggests that prior the term vishap Armenians did have a term wel for the dragon.

- The name of Teshub has no Hurrian etymology. But it has a good etymology in Armenian. From the IE root *teks meaning "to weave," also "to fabricate," especially with an ax. In Armenian t'eshi/t'eshik meaning spindle derives from this root. Both the meaning spindle and ax are attested in Germanic languages derived from this root. In other IE languages the meaning ax is prevalent. Thus Teshub could have mean ax holder/keeper in old Armenian. *teks + *hep > teshub

- Armenian god Vahagn and vishap are loanwords from the Iranian. The thunder god killing a dragon is present virtually in all PIE derived groups. Thus Armenians also should have their own terms. Teshub/Teisheba and Welik attested in Hurro-Urartian texts are good candidates for those terms.

- Teshub initially was not the most important deity in Hurrian gods pantheon. It is first attested at around 2200/2100 bc. But it becomes prominent only in 2-nd millennium BC. So timing do not contradict to this theory.

- Teshub is not the only thunder god having the IE root *teks as a root. In Hayasa there was a thunder god U.taksana were taksan means carpenter in Sanskrit while the U is the ideogram for thunder gods. The apparition of this god in Hayasa pantheon might be related to Mitanni Aryans presence in that region. The reason why Teshub can't have Aryan origin is that phonetic shift corresponds to Armenian. And the timing will not fit.

This were the main arguments. You can read the others in the A. Petrosyan's paper in Russian.

https://www.academia.edu/101127679...

I am preparing a large thread about the post Urartian Armenia (RoA), especially the shift from Etiuni to Armenian genetic profile.

 I am preparing a large thread about the post Urartian Armenia (RoA), especially the shift from Etiuni to Armenian genetic profile. I started to look closer to some relevant samples. For instance the two samples labeled Sarukhan_unknown.

They are supposedly from 72 BC but their autosomes are typically Lchashen Metsamorian (1500-800/600bc). This is the main reason why they are labeled as "unknown". Because their genetic age do not much their supposedly radiocarbon age.

After looking closer I realized that they were not radiocarbon dated. Here what the supplement says about their ages.

"Context: Date(s) from same site (I20437)"

This means that they are dated based on the archaeologic context and the radiocarbon dating of I20437 which is indeed from Artashessid period. Both by genes and radiocarbon.

In most likelihood their true age is LBA/EIA. Their Y DNA is also typical to that period. I2 and E-M84. This means that at this point the last sample after which we don't see anymore the typical Etiuni/Lchashen profile is dated at 603BC. A sample from Karmir Blur. This date correspond to the end of Urartu. Offcourse we have a gap between 600 and 400bc which needs to be filled. We also should keep in mind that radiocarbon dating will never give the necessary precision. But overall we can assume that it's during the end of Urartian kingdom that some important genetic changes occured in RoA.

PS Unfortunately there is also a typographic error with one of Sarukhan unknown samples. The one with id I20444 correspond to P6662 bone, but in the spreadsheet it is erroneously connected to P6644 bone. This is only a typo that do not affect the overall result.

Another example when an ancient deity is mentioned in old Armenian texts as a person

 Another example when an ancient deity is mentioned in old Armenian texts as a person.

Urartu had numerous gods. One of them was Quera. The name of this deity is also present in the city name Queraitase. Which is interpreted as a "gift of Quera".

In Hovhan Mamikinyan's texts there is a certain Quar/Kuar who was the son of Demetre and Gisane. He had also two other brothers Meltes and Hore(n). They founded cities in Armenia and gived their names to those cities.

It is remarkable that in India there is a god of wealth Kubera/Kuvera which was compared to this Quera. The Indian god has no reliable etymology. So it can be from pre-Aryan cultures.