A PCA with Ancient and Modern Samples from Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iraqi Kurdistan

A PCA with Ancient and Modern Samples from Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iraqi Kurdistan

The Caucasian Albanian sample from Late Antiquity shows a clear shift toward Iranian populations. It does not fall along the Udi–Armenia LIA–Lezgin cline.

Ancient Iranian groups such as the Medes and Parthians would likely plot slightly to the left and somewhat below Tepe Hissar. They would probably fall near the position of Shah Tepe BA, or slightly to the left and bottom of it.

It is not yet entirely clear, but modern Iranians appear to have a slight western or northern shift compared with ancient populations.

Among modern groups, Kurds are the most western. Persians from Khorasan and Tats show the highest steppe ancestry (a shift toward the left), while the Mazandarani display the highest Zagros Neolithic ancestry.

The Shamakhi Armenian singleton appears to shift more toward the Armenia_LIA / Tat / Lezgin cluster than toward any other Iranian population.

The Dinkha Tepe BA–IA 2 sample, associated with the Grey Ware horizon in the late Middle Bronze Age, could represent an early wave of Indo-Iranian populations.

P.S. I updated the PCA and added the Shah Tepe BA sample.