A new study published in the journal Antiquity marks the first time researchers have applied regional climate information to geographic variation in the Y chromosome (which only men possess).
"It is particularly exciting that climate may play a significant factor in the genetic patterns we see and, by extension, the long-standing cultural and lifestyle patterns of the Middle East," co-author Roy King, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, told Discovery News.
He added that "climate, namely variations in rainfall" may have "influenced the development of the three major monotheistic religions of the Near East: Judaism, Christianity and Islam," but "to what degree" remains unknown.
What is known, based on the findings of King and his colleagues, is that before around 11,000 years ago, foraging groups gathered cereals and legumes, which grew naturally thanks to the wet winters and dry summers in the Fertile Crescent region.
Between 11,000 and 10,300 years ago, the region experienced a period of climate change, becoming colder and more arid.
The researchers took the climate data, focusing on annual precipitation, and compared it with Y chromosome information from databases that document men from Turkey, Egypt, Oman, Iraq, Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.
The scientists identified a genetic branch within the chromosome's genetic tree. Called "Haplogroup J," it, in turn, was split in two, with some individuals possessing a version called J1, others J2. The researchers found that J1 individuals were more likely to come from the drier regions and J2 men from the wetter parts of present day Turkey, Iran, the coastal Levant and Northern Iraq.
Niciun comentariu:
Trimiteți un comentariu