A recent genetic study by the researchers of the Max Planck
Institute for the Science of Human history, Germany done on 55 samples of mtDNA
of hunter-gatherers who lived in Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, the Czech
Republic, and Romania from 35,000 to 7,000 years ago showed 3 of them to have
emerged from the dominant Indian pool of M
Haplogroup. Nearly 60% of all Indians have come in the lineage
of M Haplogroup which is 60,000 years old.
Another
study on this haplogroup has found out that M is
indigenously developed Haplogroup of India and from India it had migrated to
Ethiopia. But how this went to South west Europe before 25,000 years BP is
still perplexing.
It has further gone into South West Europe. The
presence of this Haplotype is marked by green spots in the map below. These are
the places where M haplogroup has been found. It was present in the period
before 25,000 years ago. This haplo type has become extinct after that.
But this haplotype is present in East Asia like
Japan and China. It is present in Native Americans too. The origin is in India.
The eastward migration from India is understandable and possible. But its
presence in South west Europe even if it is of a smaller percentage, perplexes
researchers. Though Oppenheimer suggested that all the “Eurasian Eves” have
descended from South Asia, the route of movement of M haplotype from India to
South west Europe needs more evidences. The one possible route that I can think
of is as follows.
The ancestral M from India had migrated to Ethiopia
according to genetics analysts. The Mascarene Plateau
adjacent to Madagascar was a highland until 7000 years ago. The extended
Western Ghats into the sea till Madagascar must have had many peaks projecting
above the sea level as islands.
These regions constituted Pandyan lands of the
1st Sangam age that existed
before 7000 years ago. From Mascarene Plateau, the entry into Tanzania and
Ethiopia was not at all an issue.
In my earlier article on movement
of Skanda cult to Scandinavia, I showed the route
from Tanzania to Cameroon to Basque in Spain and from there to Europe. This
route must have been a regular one for those not adept in sea routes. In that
article I had related the red haired Irish people to Skanda lineage or Skanda’s
clan, as Skanda hailing from southern latitudes was pink coloured and probably
red-haired. A 6-headed figure installed by Irish monks was found in France
leading credence to the idea of familiarity with 6 headed Skanda.
The six-faced figure installed by Irish Monks in
France in 6th / 7th century CE.
But Skanda belongs to recent history, as recent as
11,000 years ago when the first Sangam age was started under his patronage. The
present research findings attribute the presence of M haplogroup to anytime
before 25,000 years ago.
Looking for further clues at that time period, Sundaland
was a highland and population must have thrived well due to its location on the
tropics.
In my opinion, Sundaland was the original homeland
of Hinduism where Hiranyaksha, Hiranya Kashibu and Bali had lived. The concept
of churning of the ocean Samudra
Manthan was developed there with volcanic eruptions constantly disturbing
that region and the seas. The region however stood as Mandara Mountain, which perhaps
lent its name to the language spoken there (Mandarin). The
inhabitants were Daityas and Danavas whose modern equivalents were Chinese and Europeans.
This region (Sundaland) as a place of human habitation at and before 25,000
years ago serves a better candidate for growth and dispersal of early migrants
out of Africa. Together with India, which was in close proximity, this entire
south East Asian region housed the early ancestors. How did people move out of
this region to South west Europe?
Most of them must have taken the sea route or
entered the Arabian Sea or the Arabian Peninsula and moved further. The M
haplotype originating in India and moving to south west Europe might have taken
a complicated or different route as the presence of this haplogroup is found on
the western side of Europe having access from Atlantic Ocean. This type would
not have taken the route via North West India. If so its presence could have
been noticed in Southern Europe or Central Asia. Moreover North West India was
not conducive for movement of people at around 21,000 years BP. The map by
Graham Hancock shows that desert conditions thrived in NW India while most of
Peninsular and central India was a grass land. Only the coastal regions were
habitable.
The coasts were also extended beyond the Western Ghats
into the Arabian Sea. It is on this extended land Vaivasvatha Manu lived along
with his people. When Ice age ended, a sea surge pushed him and his people into
mainland via river Saraswathi. The entry point was named by them as Dwaraka.
The important info is that these people carried the memory of Skanda! Skanda
was transformed later by these people into Karthikeya as having originated in
the Himalayas.
The coastal regions bordering the Arabian sea that
include west India and east and north east Africa must have had busy movement
of people and settlements of people before or at the time of Ice age. Therefore
I am of the opinion that further movement into West Europe was possible through
Africa with Ethiopia offering the first transit spot. (The M Haplogroup had
made its presence in Ethiopia later than its presence in India). This route
must have been a regular one from time immemorial.
From Ethiopia and Tanzania to Cameroon to Basque
region in Spain must have been the route. From there, entry into South west Europe
was easy and possible.
The most recent movement through this corridor must
have happened in or after Skanda’s times when Irish people originated. Another
reason to link this migration from India to or via Ireland was a map that I
happened to see of the Roma Era from Ptolemy. The following was the map created
on the basis of the coordinates given by Ptolemy.
Though the names like Gangani and Magnate {It is
Nagnate – (Naga nadi?) in other maps} sound like Indian, the name Velabri in south west corner near the Atlantic Ocean sounds
like Vela / Velir / Muruga / Skanda. Ptolemy identified them Celtic –
pronounced as “Keltoi” people. How these names came into Ireland?
I have dealt
with the Celtic connection to the Druhyu (descendant of King Yayati) in my
article Celts
from Kelta and Anatolia from Andolana. In that
article I had traced the movement of those people (who came to be known as
Celts or Kelts) as follows:
But this is also after the end of Ice age, that is,
sometime after 12,000 years BP. The current research on presence of M
haplogroup very much predates that. That could have taken the above shown route
from India to South Europe. In other words, this could have been a common
corridor in those days.
At the end of the Ice age, a migration had taken
place carrying the memory of Skanda. The name Velabri in Ireland reminds me of
Vel tribes who carried the memory of Skanda and who were known for fighting
prowess. More info is needed about Velabri and its people to look for possible
links between Vel people who could have once inhabited a coastal region
bordering the Arabian Sea or to the south of it and the Velabri people. The present research on the presence of M
Haplogroup in South West Europe certainly throws open the possibilities of
movement of people of Indian origin to West and North west Europe
(Scandinavia).
Related articles:-
Skanda in Scandinavia – http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2013/09/is-vedic-astrology-derived-from-greek_27.html
Suverneya or Ireland, Naga worship and
Vedic Purana- Sanskrit connect -http://vediccafe.blogspot.in/2016/02/suverneya-or-ireland-naga-worship-and.html
5000 year old Iceman Otzi from Alps was from India! -
5000 year old Iceman Otzi from Alps was from India! -
24,000 year old remains of the Malta boy - connected to Indian gene pool? -
**********
From
Pre-Neolithic DNA Suggests Major Late
Glacial Population Turnover in Europe
Feb 5, 2016 by Editors
The study supports a single and rapid dispersal of
all non-Africans populations around 50,000 years ago not only across Asia but
also into Europe. Image credit: Annette Guenzel / Max Planck Institute for the
Science of Human History.
“We uncovered a completely unknown chapter of human
history: a major population turnover in Europe at the end of the last Ice Age,”
said Dr. Johannes Krause, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the
Science of Human History, Germany, and senior author on a study published this
week in the journal Current Biology.
Dr. Krause and co-authors analyzed 55 complete human
mitochondrial genomes (mtDNAs) of hunter-gatherers who lived in Italy, Germany,
Belgium, France, the Czech Republic, and Romania from 35,000 to 7,000 years
ago.
“There has been a real lack of genetic data from
this time period, so consequently we knew very little about the population
structure or dynamics of the first modern humans in Europe,” Dr. Krause said.
The analysis of these ancient mtDNAs unexpectedly revealed that three individuals
from before the coldest period in the last
Ice Age (Last Glacial Maximum) that were excavated in present-day
Belgium and France belong to a type of mtDNA called haplogroup M.
“This lineage is absent in contemporary Europeans,
although it is found at high frequency in modern Asians, Australasians, and
Native Americans,” Dr. Krause and his colleagues explained.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Dr. Cosimo Posth from
the University of Tübingen, lead author on the study. “The first time I got
this result I thought it must be a mistake, because in contemporary Europeans
haplogroup M is effectively absent, but is found at high frequency in modern
Asians, Australians and Native American populations.”
The absence of the M
haplogroup and its presence in other parts of the world had previously
led to the argument that non-African people dispersed on multiple occasions to
spread across Eurasia and Australasia.
“The discovery of this maternal lineage in Europe in
the ancient past now suggests instead that all non-Africans dispersed rapidly
from a single population, at a time they place around 50,000 years ago. Then,
at some later stage, the M haplogroup was apparently lost from Europe,” the
scientist said.
“When the Last Glacial Maximum began around 25,000
years ago, hunter-gatherer populations retreated south to a number of putative
refugia, and the consequent genetic bottleneck probably resulted in the loss of
this haplogroup,” Dr. Posth said.
The biggest surprise, however, was evidence of a
major turnover of the population in Europe around 14,500 years ago, as the
climate began to warm.
“Our model suggests that during this period of
climatic upheaval, the descendants of the hunter-gatherers who survived through
the Last Glacial Maximum were largely replaced by a population from another
source,” said co-author Dr. Adam Powell, of the Max Planck Institute for the
Science of Human History.
_____
Cosimo Posth et al. Pleistocene
Mitochondrial Genomes Suggest a Single Major Dispersal of Non-Africans and a
Late Glacial Population Turnover in Europe. Current Biology,
published online February 4, 2016; doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.01.037
