Posted on 11/26/2024 8:09:46 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Armenians, a population in Western Asia historically inhabiting the Armenian highlands, were long believed to be descendants of Phrygian settlers from the Balkans. This theory originated largely from the accounts of the Greek historian Herodotus, who observed that Armenians were armed in Phrygian fashion when serving in the Persian army. Linguists further supported this theory, suggesting that the Armenian language shares ties with the Thraco-Phrygian subgroup of Indo-European languages.
But the first whole-genome study challenges this long-held belief, revealing no significant genetic link between Armenians and the populations in the Balkan region. The study compares newly generated modern Armenian genomes and published genetic data of ancient individuals from the Armenian highlands with both modern and ancient genomes from the Balkans...
The researchers behind the new study also disproved another belief—claims of an Assyrian ancestry for the Sasun, an Armenian population that inhabited the southern part of the Armenian highlands (modern-day southeastern Turkey). This connection had been referenced in many historical sources, including the Bible, in cuneiform texts, and local traditional stories. Instead, they found that the Sasun had experienced a significant contraction in size in the recent past, which sets them apart from other populations...
Researchers also shed light on the population structure and genetic variation of different Armenian groups, finding that populations from the eastern, western, and central parts of the Armenian highlands show a relatively high level of similarity.
['Civ: Huh?]
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Maps showing Armenia with the locations of ancient and whole-genome modern individuals, along with a proposed route of Armenian migration according to the Balkan theory.Credit: The American Journal of Human Genetics (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2024.10.022
Cher is Armenian, IIRC...............
I don’t know enough about the Ottoman-Russian wars, followed by the Ottoman genocide of Armenians, to know if the genocide was fueled by the belief that the Armenians were Balkans.
Maybe one or both of those populations had been largely displaced/replaced since the time of Herodotus. It has been a long time since I read him. I mainly remember he made great fun of the Egyptians.
The Phrygians crossed into Anatolia, but there’s only three generations of royal burial mounds in their capital. It might be a good time to do the DNA on those remains.
The parts of her that aren't plastic are anyway ...
The rest of the Phrygians keyword, sorted:
My husband’s family came straight from Italy, his grandparents immigrated from Naples and Rome in the 20s.
When my husband had his DNA done a few years ago, it showed a good percentage of his DNA came from the Balkans. He had no idea - but who knows, people migrated all over the place.
I suggested we visit the Balkans if possible to check it out.
A lot of people went from Albania to Italy in the Middle Ages.
It was typical to find Balkan people in the ranks of the condotierri. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratioti
Cherjian?
So first it was bunk, and now it is debunked?
Genetic evidence for an origin of the Armenians from Bronze Age mixing of multiple populations
It was totally bunk. :^)
Thanks!
Probably due to the various ethnic groups in the Balkans not always getting along, with Italy a boat ride away.
Exactly. Also, even in ancient times there were multiple hand-changing of that crossroads of continents. The Assyrian Empire ended because, during its struggle with the Babylonian Empire, the Medes and Scythians started out allied with one or the other, then the Babylonians got the other one to switch sides.
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