The Eastern-Side Armenians

The Eastern-Side Armenians

Hovhannisyan et al. (2024) published numerous DNA samples from the Artsakh, Syunik, and Gardman regions. In addition, a member of our group, Diana Sarkisova Vikutan, provided several coordinates from Shamakhi Armenians, as well as DNA samples with mixed ancestry from the Shamakhi and Artsakh regions. We are grateful to her for sharing these data.

All these datasets were combined into a single PCA and ancestry proportion chart together with other modern and ancient samples spanning the area from Syunik to Shamakhi. The analysis was performed using unscaled coordinates. Based on this, several observations can be made:

• Artsakh and Syunik Armenians: Artsakh Armenians are genetically very similar to Syunik Armenians. Both belong to the genetic cline of historic Armenia, which shows a strong affinity with the so-called “Central farmer” ancestry. Gardman Armenians are also close to this cluster, though with a slight shift toward Caucasus hunter-gatherer (CHG) ancestry.

• Distance from Armenia LIA samples: All Armenian subgroups plot away from the Armenia LIA samples from Syunik. This is due to a so-called “southern” shift that may have occurred in these eastern regions sometime after the fall of Urartu.

• Shamakhi Armenians: Shamakhi Armenians show higher steppe ancestry than any other known Armenian subgroup. The two samples from the Shamakhi region differ somewhat from each other. One of them (Sham01) displays more Zagros Neolithic ancestry. The source of this shift is currently unclear. It is worth noting that a Late Antiquity sample (3rd century AD) from the Shamakhi region already showed extra Zagros/Iran Neolithic ancestry, almost certainly due to Iranian influence in that region. Another possibility is that the Zagros shift in Sham01 reflects ancestry from a more recent non-Armenian population. Yet another possibility is that the shift derives from a still poorly sampled subgroup of Tat Armenians.

• Mixed Shamakhi–Artsakh samples: Three DNA samples show mixed Shamakhi and Artsakh ancestry. As expected, they plot between the Shamakhi and Artsakh clusters. However, their dispersion suggests that the real diversity among Shamakhi Armenians could be greater than what the currently available two samples indicate.

• Udi population: The Udi people plot far from their linguistic relatives, the Lezgins. Moreover, they are also shifted away from the Late Antiquity Shamakhi sample that may represent Caucasian Albanian ancestry. The formation of the Udi genetic profile is still unclear, but their proximity to Armenians—who themselves are shifted toward the southwest—suggests that Udis may have acquired Armenian ancestry either in antiquity or, more likely, during the medieval period. It is also noteworthy that some Azerbaijanis from the Shaki region plot close to Udis, indicating that the influence of Armenian-like ancestry was not limited to the Udi population.

Additionally, the Skourtanioti et al. (2024) paper noted an “Anatolian” shift in Iberia and linked it to the spread of Christianity. It is possible that similar processes occurred in Caucasian Albania during Late Antiquity and the Early Medieval period. Hopefully, with the publication of a temporal transect from the Kakhetia region, we will gain a better understanding of how the genetics of Caucasian Albania evolved during historical times.

In summary, the genetic history of the territory of the modern Azerbaijani Republic appears to have become quite complex after the Bronze and Iron Ages. Multiple influences shaped the genetic diversity of the region. The single Caucasian Albanian sample remains somewhat puzzling: it is still unclear whether it represents typical Albanian ancestry or an outlier. As usual, more modern and ancient samples from these regions are needed to better understand their genetic history.

If You are an Armenian and have ancestry from Gardman, Shaki and Shirvan including Shamakhi regions You can join the relevant FTDNA project. You can find the link below. The title of the project will change in the future.

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/gardmank-gandzak/about

Y-DNA from Rasuloğlu Höyük and the Hattian Context

Y-DNA from Rasuloğlu Höyük and the Hattian Context

Yediay et al. (2024) published Bronze Age samples from the North Anatolian site of Rasuloğlu Höyük in Çorum province. These samples were explicitly labeled as representatives of the Hattian cultural context, making it particularly interesting to examine their Y-DNA lineages.

One of the individuals carried haplogroup G2-M406, as expected. Many commentators have previously suggested that G2-M406 could serve as a marker associated with Hattic populations, and these results provide additional support for that idea.

Another interesting finding from Rasuloğlu was haplogroup T1a2a. It should be noted that T1a2 lineages have repeatedly been identified in ancient Anatolia, including both T1a2a and T1a2b branches. Apparently, this was a minor Neolithic lineage that spread somewhat later into Europe and appears only rarely in Neolithic European contexts, largely restricted to the Balkans.

Later, during the Early Chalcolithic period, the expansion of groups related to the Hattian cultural sphere in northern Anatolia (and later associated with Hittite and Palaic populations) seems to have increased the frequency of T1a2-L131 alongside G2-M406.

Another T1a2 lineage has been identified in an ancient sample from the Hellenistic period in Samsun, a region that likely had Hattic and possibly Kaskian populations during the Bronze Age. Additional occurrences of T1a2 have also been reported in western Anatolia.

It is noteworthy that, similar to G2-M406, T1a2 is rare or virtually absent in Bronze Age Minoan Crete. This suggests that the population involved in the rise of the Minoan civilization differed from the groups that expanded into northern Anatolia during the Early Chalcolithic.

The distribution of T1a2 among modern Armenians also supports these observations. The lineage is found predominantly among western Armenians and is rare in eastern Armenia. Interestingly, a modern Armenian individual occupies a basal position within T1a2*, which provides additional evidence that the early homeland of T1a2 may have been located in the vicinity of historic Armenia.

Aratta

Aratta

Aratta was a semi-legendary land known from Sumerian epics. It probably existed during the first half of the third millennium BCE.

Its location has long been debated. Gamkrelidze and Ivanov proposed an Indo-European etymology for Aratta based on river terminology. Indeed, a river named Aratta is attested in the Urmia Basin during the Iron Age—about two thousand years after the legendary Aratta.

Despite this semantic parallel, other theories placing Aratta in more eastern regions, such as Afghanistan or eastern Iran, remain popular and are supported by various arguments.

It is noteworthy that Aratta was not only the name of a land in Sumerian sources but also an ordinary word. One meaning is “heavy,” “glorious,” or “important,” while another meaning is “tin.”

The interpretation of Aratta as “tin” may be understood in two ways. Either Aratta was a land rich in tin mines, or it was a place from which the Sumerians obtained tin through trade, or from which they learned about the use of tin.

Tin was an important metal in the Bronze Age. There were two main techniques for producing bronze from copper: alloying copper with arsenic or with tin. Both types of bronze are found in Armenia during the Kura–Araxes period. Moreover, Armenia also possessed tin deposits. However, Central Asia also has tin mines, and tin bronze was widely used in Europe as well.

For a long time, considerable uncertainty existed about the origin of tin used in the Near East. A recent study using isotopic analysis has challenged the theory that most of the tin used in the Levant, Greece, and Anatolia originated in Central Asia. Instead, the authors propose a European source.

However, Aratta itself cannot have been located in Europe. If we follow this line of reasoning, two possibilities emerge. Either Aratta was a trading hub somewhere in the Near East that obtained tin from Europe and redistributed it to the Sumerians, or Aratta was located in Armenia or the nearby northern Zagros region, where the Kura–Araxes culture existed during that period. These two hypotheses are not mutually exclusive. Isotopic studies of tin from historic Armenia may help clarify this question in the future.

Finally, the Armenian word for tin, anag (անագ), is related to the Sumero-Akkadian-Hurrian word for tin or lead (anna, annaki, anagi). This linguistic connection may reflect long-standing trade contacts between Mesopotamia and the Armenian Highlands.