Were the Etruscans after all native Italians?

Etruscan sarcophagus
(CC by Ecelan)

A new study casts doubt on the Anatolian origin theory of Etruscan origins.

As you may know, two main theories have been proposed for the origins of the ancient Italian civilization that taught Romans nearly everything, especially in the field of architecture: on one side that they were Bronze Age arrivals from Anatolia, maybe related to ancient Trojans, which had some support on art aesthetics, the historical presence of a close relative of Etruscan language in the island of Lemnos, some classical theories and, more recently, an ancient mtDNA study (Vernesi 2004), which found the mtDNA of ancient Etruscan aristocrats to be closest (by FST) to Turks than to any other studied population, excepted (by slight margin) modern Tuscans.

The main alternative theory proposes that Etruscans were a local development, what would be also consistent with an Anatolian genetic affinity because the Italian peninsula, including Tuscany, shows repeated waves of cultural influences from the Western Balcans first (Neolithic) and from the Aegean later on (Chalcolithic especially).

The debate seems however far away from reaching any strong conclusion, notably now that a new study revising Vernesi's data finds a different and rather puzzling set of affinities for ancient Etruscans.

Silvia Ghirotto et al., Origins and Evolution of the Etruscans’ mtDNA. PLoS ONE, 2013. Open access → LINK [doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055519]

Abstract

The Etruscan culture is documented in Etruria, Central Italy, from the 8^th to the 1^st century BC. For more than 2,000 years there has been disagreement on the Etruscans’ biological origins, whether local or in Anatolia. Genetic affinities with both Tuscan and Anatolian populations have been reported, but so far all attempts have failed to fit the Etruscans’ and modern populations in the same genealogy. We extracted and typed the hypervariable region of mitochondrial DNA of 14 individuals buried in two Etruscan necropoleis, analyzing them along with other Etruscan and Medieval samples, and 4,910 contemporary individuals from the Mediterranean basin. Comparing ancient (30 Etruscans, 27 Medieval individuals) and modern DNA sequences (370 Tuscans), with the results of millions of computer simulations, we show that the Etruscans can be considered ancestral, with a high degree of confidence, to the current inhabitants of Casentino and Volterra, but not to the general contemporary population of the former Etruscan homeland. By further considering two Anatolian samples (35 and 123 individuals) we could estimate that the genetic links between Tuscany and Anatolia date back to at least 5,000 years ago, strongly suggesting that the Etruscan culture developed locally, and not as an immediate consequence of immigration from the Eastern Mediterranean shores.

The study finds that ancient Etruscan mtDNA is closest among modern populations (by FST) to Southern Germans and, following closely, a varied array of other Europeans (totally the opposite to Vernesi's findings), and rather not too close to Turks or other Eastern Mediterranean populations.

Annotated version of Fig. S3-B, FST distances of ancient Etruscan mtDNA
(red: 0.4-0.6, orange: 0.6-0.8, yellow: 0.8-1.0)
See also Fig. S4 (multidimensional scaling graphs)
= Click to expand =

Among ancient populations, ancient Etruscans are found to be closer to Neolithic farmers from Central Europe and then to ancient Lucchesi (from Lucca, including those from the Chalcolithic era, i.e. Eneolithic):

Fig. S4-C Multi Dimensional Scaling summarizing genetic affinities between the Etruscans and (...) (C) 9 ancient populations of Europe. Population labels and sample sizes are provided in Table S2 [Neo_Farm: Neolithic Central Europeans, Med: Medieval Tuscans]

Among the study's conclusions are:

A model of genealogical continuity across 2,500 years thus proved to best fit the observed data for Volterra, and especially Casentino, but not for another community dwelling in an area also rich with Etruscan archaeological remains (Murlo), nor (as expected) for the bulk of the current Tuscan population, here represented by a forensic sample of the inhabitants of Florence. Therefore, the present analysis indicates that the Etruscan genetic heritage is still present, but only in some isolates, whereas current Tuscans are not generally descended from Etruscan ancestors along the female lines.

Notice that this is always in relation to the ancient Etruscan mtDNA data, which comes from the tombs of aristocrats, not commoners. However they insist:

Because Medieval Tuscans appear directly descended from Etruscan ancestors, one can reasonably speculate that the genetic build-up of the Murlo and Florence populations was modified by immigration in the last five centuries.

Villanovan urn
(CC by Sailko)

An intriguing issue not considered apparently by the authors is the appearance of greatest genetic similitude with some populations of Central Europe. I would consider preliminarily that a possible line of interpretation of this data might be that the Etruscan elites might have arrived with the Urnfields expansion peoples (Indoeuropeans most probably) but were culturally and linguistically assimilated by the native substrate (proto-Etruscans did participate of the fashion of corpse incineration and burial of the charred remains in urns, which even led some to propose that they were Indoeuropeans in fact).

However this clashes with the fact that they also appear extremely close to Central European Neolithic peoples, which are not at all similar to modern nor Urnfields period Central Europeans. So I have to admit that a local Neolithic origin may be the most reasonable hypothesis with this data and that the irregular Central European affinities may have other explanation (such as local preservation of a mtDNA pool closer to Neolithic one than usual).


Update (Feb 15): Gail Tonnesen has researched in greater depth what haplogroups could the ancient Etruscans have specifically → LINK

Kenyan mtDNA suggests admixture upon Bantu expansion

The most interesting element of this new paper is probably in the sampling of the previously unstudied Taita and Mijikenda ethnic groups. However I do not have access to it, so I cannot comment further.

Ken Batai et al., Mitochondrial DNA Diversity in Two Ethnic Groups in Southeastern Kenya: Perspectives from the Northeastern Periphery of the Bantu Expansion. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2013. Pay per view → LINK [doi:10.1002/ajpa.22227]

Abstract

The Bantu languages are widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Genetic research supports linguists and historians who argue that migration played an important role in the spread of this language family, but the genetic data also indicates a more complex process involving substantial gene flow with resident populations. In order to understand the Bantu expansion process in east Africa, mtDNA hypervariable region I variation in 352 individuals from the Taita and Mijikenda ethnic groups was analyzed, and we evaluated the interactions that took place between the Bantu- and non-Bantu-speaking populations in east Africa. The Taita and Mijikenda are Bantu-speaking agropastoralists from southeastern Kenya, at least some of whose ancestors probably migrated into the area as part of Bantu migrations that began around 3,000 BCE. Our analyses indicate that they show some distinctive differences that reflect their unique cultural histories. The Taita are genetically more diverse than the Mijikenda with larger estimates of genetic diversity. The Taita cluster with other east African groups, having high frequencies of haplogroups from that region, while the Mijikenda have high frequencies of central African haplogroups and cluster more closely with central African Bantu-speaking groups. The non-Bantu speakers who lived in southeastern Kenya before Bantu speaking groups arrived were at least partially incorporated into what are now Bantu-speaking Taita groups. In contrast, gene flow from non-Bantu speakers into the Mijikenda was more limited. These results suggest a more complex demographic history where the nature of Bantu and non-Bantu interactions varied throughout the area.

Olive domestication origins tracked to West Asia

Olive tree - Pelion, Greece
(CC by Dennis Koutou)

A new genetic study claims that the origins of olive domestication are in West Asia, more precisely at the Turkish-Syrian border (Kurdistan again?), apparently settling the doubts on whether this tree's domestic variant may have originated either in that area, the Aegean Sea basin, Southern Iberia or North Africa, or even that many independent domestications had taken place.

G. Besnard et al., The complex history of the olive tree: from Late Quaternary diversification of Mediterranean lineages to primary domestication in the northern Levant. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2013. Pay per view → LINK [doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.2833]

Abstract

The location and timing of domestication of the olive tree, a key crop in Early Mediterranean societies, remain hotly debated. Here, we unravel the history of wild olives (oleasters), and then infer the primary origins of the domesticated olive. Phylogeography and Bayesian molecular dating analyses based on plastid genome profiling of 1263 oleasters and 534 cultivated genotypes reveal three main lineages of pre-Quaternary origin. Regional hotspots of plastid diversity, species distribution modelling and macrofossils support the existence of three long-term refugia; namely the Near East (including Cyprus), the Aegean area and the Strait of Gibraltar. These ancestral wild gene pools have provided the essential foundations for cultivated olive breeding. Comparison of the geographical pattern of plastid diversity between wild and cultivated olives indicates the cradle of first domestication in the northern Levant followed by dispersals across the Mediterranean basin in parallel with the expansion of civilizations and human exchanges in this part of the world.

The study was made only on chloroplast DNA, roughly equivalent to animal mtDNA, transmitted only by the "female" line (notice that olive trees, as most plants are dioic, having both sexes and also that the preferred method of agricultural reproduction today is growing new trees from stumps, i.e. cloning). However André Berville, geneticist of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research prefers to remain cautious because, in his opinion, looking only at chloroplast DNA is not enough.

"Pollen from the olive tree is wind-transported, so it can migrate long distances" he said. 

Combining both types of DNA would allow researchers to understand both how local olive tree cultivation occurred and how more long-distance changes occurred, he said. 

Secondary source: NBC News (via Pileta). 

Large concentration of decorated stones found in the Scottish Highlands

An area holding a dense concentration of stones with engraved "cup marks" has been unveiled near Evanton, Scotland. The discoverer, Douglas Scott, has mapped the 28 decorated rocks and found that they are aligned with the rising and setting of Sun and Moon. 

He has also found a wide circular ditched enclosure, with a small central standing stone next to a cupmarked stone, which suggested it was the remains of a henge. The entrance of this enclosure aligns with the winter solstice sunrise.

He believes that this was a major ritual center between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. 

Sources: Ross-shire Journal, Stone Pages' Archaeonews (via Pileta).

New rock art findings of India

A new rock art site has been found by the Archaeological Survey of India on the Satpura mountain range, near Batul, at the Maharastra-Madhya Pradesh border. The site includes nothing less that 71 rock shelters with paintings and engravings dating from c. 12,000 years ago (Late Upper Paleolithic) to recent times.

Decors comprise petroglyph's in various forms, such as engravings, bruising, pecking and pictographs in various colours, viz red, various shades of red, white, black and green. The pictographs or paintings usually illustrate human, animal, bird, tree and abstract geometric figures and are depicted by stick figures, outlines, solid and X-ray figures. he engravings usually exhibit elements of natural world as well as abstract themes. The decorated shelters are spread in an area of approximately 40 square kilometres, Sahu said. 

No pictures are available.

Source: Indian Express (via Pileta).

Large Chalcolithic stone circle found in Bashkiria

The remains of a stone circle comparable in size to Stonehenge have been unearthed in the Republic of Bashkortostan (Bashkiria, Eastern Europe, under Russian control). The megalith remains are about 50 m in diameter and may be from c. 3000 BCE, a thousand years older than the better known Bronze Age site of Arkaim, being located near the village of Novo-Bayramgulova. Previously smaller stone circles had been found in the country but none of even comparable size.

Source: Pravda, via Pileta.

Alert: 12,000 years old major site in Kurdistan threatened by mega-dam

Only one is needed, and the 12,000 years-old village Hasakyef fulfills nine of the ten possible reasons to be declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Yet the Turkish colonial authorities are not interested in seeing this village recognized in any way and therefore the site remains mostly forgotten. 

Ankara wants to build there one of the most important reservoirs of the Turkish state and another interested party is the Austrian company VA TECH, subsidiary of the German multinational Siemens AG, which would get the bulk of the construction deal. 

It is not just a problem of resettlement, of opposition by the locals, who actually don't even feel represented by the Turkish state at all (they are all Kurds and feel oppressed in a colonial way in fact), it is not just a problem of water robbery to other states like Iraq, it is a problem of a major heritage site of Humankind, dating to the Neolithic (Kurdistan was probably the major boiling cauldron of innovation in the early Neolithic, even more important than the Levant surely) and transiting through all ages until present day, being destroyed by the imposition of a colonial government and the lack of interest of the World. 

While the dam has been planned for decades, this time it seems very serious. Conservation laws have been sidelined and 3000 people are already working in the preliminary part of this destructive work.

Source: Paleorama[es].