Grooved ware (ակոսավոր խեցեղեն), the missing piece of puzzle.
We had many discussions about the modern genetic profile of Armenians in this group. How, where and when it formed. Nareg Asatrian posted many times genetic qpadm models showing the modern Armenian profile as a mixture of two populations. Similar models were reproduced by other commentators and finally they started to appear in academic papers also. The most notable being the Hovhannisyan et al. 2025.
Even though those models are feasible by statistic tools and they are useful as a rapid abstraction, the real historic events behind the formation of modern genetic profile was more complex.
Two key events are usually emphasized. The Middle Bronze Age migration from steppe and Urartu expansion (840-600 BCE) with their politics of relocations. More than 1500 years separate this two events and it would be odd that nothing remarkable occurred between them. In reality an important demographic event had affected historic Armenia at 1200 BCE. And its known as the spread of grooved ware, which is also known as Nairi ware.
Based on the comprehensive study of Guido Garducci we can say that the oldest forms of grooved ware, which he call Proto-Nairi appears in South Caucasus, mostly in Lchashen culture sites and northwestern Iran (1400-1300BCE). The attached map is from Guarducci's book. The red part is the Proto-Nairi. The color painting can be confusing, because he included western Georgia also which didn't have any grooved ware. So the best way to understand this map is to look on archaeologic sites (dots) and not on colors.
Around 1200BCE all the regions colored by green suddenly witness the apparition of this new grooved pottery type. Some scholars believe that this event was associated with large migrations. However scholars have very different opinions about the real geographic origin of migrants. Summing up the opinions we can include them in three groups.
1. Grooved ware in green zone came from South Caucasus
2. Grooved ware in green zone expanded from Van basin
3. The origins of grooved ware in green zone was in upper Euphrates where we see extremely large numbers of sites with this type of pottery.
The pottery found in red and green zones is not completely identic, but they share some important features. Its obvious that the initial impulse came from South Caucasus but a direct migration of Lchashen people into all this "green" lands would imply that modern Armenians should have higher steppe ancestry than they have today. Another possibility is that the initial impulse from South Caucasus affected groups living in Van basin or upper Euphrates and later they expanded on their own spreading a different genetic profile than that of Lchashen. Such a scenario would fit better with modern Armenian genetic profile.
Offcourse later Urartu empire activities are also important for the shaping of modern Armenian genetic profile. However grooved ware period is crucial for understanding the genetic history of Highlands prior the Urartu formation. Unfortunately the currently available ancient DNA is absolutely insufficient to prefer any forementioned theory. As usual we will look forward for new data.
