Genes, Culture, and the Levant

Paper.

I have discussed this paper before (see here), interpreting the genetic-cultural correlations with respect to long-term pan-European biopolitics. I consider that interpretation very important, and the main reason why the paper is important (from my perspective). I would suggest re-reading those Western Destiny posts.

However, there are some more minor points of interest with respect to the paper, which I will briefly examine here.

Excerpts, emphasis added, plus my comments:

Abstract

The Levant is a region in the Near East with an impressive record of continuous human existence and major cultural developments since the Paleolithic period. Genetic and archeological studies present solid evidence placing the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula as the first stepping-stone outside Africa. There is, however, little understanding of demographic changes in the Middle East, particularly the Levant, after the first Out-of-Africa expansion and how the Levantine peoples relate genetically to each other and to their neighbors. In this study we analyze more than 500,000 genome-wide SNPs in 1,341 new samples from the Levant and compare them to samples from 48 populations worldwide. Our results show recent genetic stratifications in the Levant are driven by the religious affiliations of the populations within the region. Cultural changes within the last two millennia appear to have facilitated/maintained admixture between culturally similar populations from the Levant, Arabian Peninsula, and Africa. The same cultural changes seem to have resulted in genetic isolation of other groups by limiting admixture with culturally different neighboring populations. Consequently, Levant populations today fall into two main groups: one sharing more genetic characteristics with modern-day Europeans and Central Asians, and the other with closer genetic affinities to other Middle Easterners and Africans. Finally, we identify a putative Levantine ancestral component that diverged from other Middle Easterners ∼23,700–15,500 years ago during the last glacial period, and diverged from Europeans ∼15,900–9,100 years ago between the last glacial warming and the start of the Neolithic.

Again, culture, relating to endogamy vs. admixture, can significantly influence a people’s genetic makeup and their relative genetic kinship (and, hence, ethnic genetic interests) with other populations.

We show that religious affiliation had a strong impact on the genomes of the Levantines. In particular, conversion of the region’s populations to Islam appears to have introduced major rearrangements in populations’ relations through admixture with culturally similar but geographically remote populations, leading to genetic similarities between remarkably distant populations like Jordanians, Moroccans, and Yemenis. Conversely, other populations, like Christians and Druze, became genetically isolated in the new cultural environment. 

Thus, the main point of interest.

We reconstructed the genetic structure of the Levantines and found that a pre-Islamic expansion Levant was more genetically similar to Europeans than to Middle Easterners.

This is an interesting secondary point, and one that must be considered when evaluating Levantine populations in the Classical World; for example, in the Roman Empire (and as immigrants to Rome itself).  The Levantines of that time were genetically more similar to Europeans than are Middle Easterners of today.  It is also reasonable to consider pre-Turkish Anatolians to be more similar to Europeans than Turks of today.

Genome-wide surveys in the Levant are limited and most of our knowledge comes from studies assessing the relationship of Diaspora Jewish groups to a Levantine/Middle Eastern origin [6], [7]. These studies show that the Jews form a distinctive cluster in the Middle East…

Note – Middle East. 

In this study we analyze newly-generated genome-wide data from Lebanon in addition to individuals from 48 published global populations…The results suggest endogamous practices among the religious groups of Lebanon within a small geographical area not exceeding 10,452 km2 (half the size of the state of New Jersey or one third the size of Belgium…

Culture can lead to endogamy, with consequent genetic effects.

…an unsupervised…

Unsupervised = more objective,

…clustering method (ADMIXTURE) [10] was applied to the Lebanese dataset (Figure S1A). At K = 2, which showed the lowest cross-validation error (Figure S1B), Christians present one major component (∼82% on average per individual), which is also found in Druze and in lower frequencies in Muslims; in contrast, the second component is almost exclusive to Muslims with a lower representation in Druze. At K = 3 and K = 4, new components most abundant in Lebanese Muslims are shown, probably reflecting recent admixture after the split from the other Lebanese groups.

OK.

Ashkenazi Jews are drawn towards the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, reflecting historical admixture events with Europeans, while Sephardi Jews cluster tightly with the Levantine groups. These results are consistent with previous studies reporting higher European genome-wide admixture in Ashkenazi Jews compared with other Jews…

This is exactly what I’ve been talking about with Eurasian PCA and why some Ashkenazi Jews begin to overlap with Southern Europeans; it is because of the Eastern European admixture in those Jews.

The population tree (Figure 3A) splits Levantine populations in two branches: one leading to Europeans and Central Asians that includes Lebanese, Armenians, Cypriots, Druze and Jews, as well as Turks, Iranians and Caucasian populations; and a second branch composed of Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians, as well as North Africans, Ethiopians, Saudis, and Bedouins. The tree shows a correlation between religion and the population structures in the Levant: all Jews (Sephardi and Ashkenazi) cluster in one branch; Druze from Mount Lebanon and Druze from Mount Carmel are depicted on a private branch; and Lebanese Christians form a private branch with the Christian populations of Armenia and Cyprus placing the Lebanese Muslims as an outer group. The predominantly Muslim populations of Syrians, Palestinians and Jordanians cluster on branches with other Muslim populations as distant as Morocco and Yemen. 

Once again, we see how cultural affiliation, in this case religion, influences genetic affiliation.

ADMIXTURE identifies at K = 10 an ancestral component (light green) with a geographically restricted distribution representing ∼50% of the individual component in Ethiopians, Yemenis, Saudis, and Bedouins, decreasing towards the Levant, with higher frequency (∼25%) in Syrians, Jordanians, and Palestinians, compared with other Levantines (4%–20%). The geographical distribution pattern of this component (Figure 4A, 4B) correlates with the pattern of the Islamic expansion, but its presence in Lebanese Christians, Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews, Cypriots and Armenians might suggest that its spread to the Levant could also represent an earlier event. Besides this component, the most frequent ancestral component (shown in dark blue) in the Levantines (42–68%) is also present, at lower frequencies, in Europe and Central Asia (Figure 4A, 4C). We found that this Levantine component is closer to the European component (dark green) (FST = 0.035) than to the Arabian Peninsula/East Africa component (light green) (FST = 0.046). Our estimates show that the Levantine and the Arabian Peninsula/East African components diverged ∼23,700-15,500 y.a., while the Levantine and European components diverged ∼15,900-9,100 y.a. 

All minor points of interest.

Our time estimate of divergence between the Levantine and European components (∼15,900-9,100 y.a) overlaps with the transition to agriculture in the Levant ∼11,000 y.a but is also slightly earlier than the proposed expansion to Europe starting at ∼9,000 y.a. [23]–[25]. In agreement with this, a recent study of complete mtDNA sequences also proposed earlier expansion dates (19,000-12,000 y.a) of certain female lineages from the Near East to Europe [26]. These results suggest that population migration to Europe from the Near East could have started after the LGM warming and continued until the Neolithic. 

Historical genetic points of some interest.

In addition, these results show that the modern European genetic component is more recent than would be expected from a component that developed from the initial peopling of Europe in the Upper Paleolithic ∼40,000 y.a.

The “movement” weeps bitter Ice Age tears.

…recent cultural developments, such as the founding and spread of major world religions, have had a strong impact on population stratifications in the Levant.

Thus, as the aforementioned Western Destiny posts make clear, raciocultural-civilizational political constructs (e.g., an Imperium restricted solely to indigenous Europeans) can have strong genetic population effects leading to greater pan-European cohesion and greater distinctiveness compared to other groups.

Genetic Continuity in the Levant

Extant Canaanites.

Read this paper:

The Canaanites inhabited the Levant region during the Bronze Age and established a culture that became influential in the Near East and beyond. However, the Canaanites, unlike most other ancient Near Easterners of this period, left few surviving textual records and thus their origin and relationship to ancient and present-day populations remain unclear. In this study, we sequenced five whole genomes from ∼3,700-year-old individuals from the city of Sidon, a major Canaanite city-state on the Eastern Mediterranean coast. We also sequenced the genomes of 99 individuals from present-day Lebanon to catalog modern Levantine genetic diversity. We find that a Bronze Age Canaanite-related ancestry was widespread in the region, shared among urban populations inhabiting the coast (Sidon) and inland populations (Jordan) who likely lived in farming societies or were pastoral nomads. This Canaanite-related ancestry derived from mixture between local Neolithic populations and eastern migrants genetically related to Chalcolithic Iranians. We estimate, using linkage-disequilibrium decay patterns, that admixture occurred 6,600–3,550 years ago, coinciding with recorded massive population movements in Mesopotamia during the mid-Holocene. We show that present-day Lebanese derive most of their ancestry from a Canaanite-related population, which therefore implies substantial genetic continuity in the Levant since at least the Bronze Age. In addition, we find Eurasian ancestry in the Lebanese not present in Bronze Age or earlier Levantines. We estimate that this Eurasian ancestry arrived in the Levant around 3,750–2,170 years ago during a period of successive conquests by distant populations.

So, essentially, modern-day indigenous Lebanese demonstrate highly significant – the large majority of their ancestry – genetic continuity with ancient Canaanites, with some more minor “Eurasian” admixture, tied to historical events, which mostly took place during the “ancient” Classical era.

Likely, most indigenous peoples would represent significant genetic continuity with ancient peoples that occupied the same territories, with of course some degree of subsequent admixture, some of which would be “ancient” and some “modern.”  There would be exceptions, there are always exceptions, and the degree of admixture would vary from case to case. But one suspects that continuity is greater than what Der Movement typically postulates, with its breathless accounts of retconned population changes to explain whatever ethnic fetishism is in style at any particular time. Changes in population character are more likely to be due to dysgenic degeneration of native stocks than it is wholesale population replacement, or admixture of such an extent that it is practically equivalent to population replacement. No doubt such extreme cases have occurred in human history, but those are the (relatively rare) exceptions, not the rule.

The problem of course is that today, European-derived peoples are actually faced with real population replacement, dealing with a catastrophic combination of extremely low birthrates, mass migration of far more fecund alien peoples, and treasonous native elites (coupled to clever anti-White aliens) dedicated to facilitating native race replacement.  However, one cannot always project current trends to past eras. Sometimes, perhaps. Always, no.

Importance of Culture for EGI

Culture influences EGI.

At my other blog I had written about the importance of gene-culture interactions and how the concept can be used prescriptively, not only descriptively, through the convergence of European genetics (without panmixia!) through a sealing off of Europeans from non-Europeans, and low level gene flow over time among the former and none between the former and the latter – a concept of genetic concentration based on Identity (current genotypes and phenotypes, culture, history, etc.). Thus, culture is directly related to EGI, and directly influences it over historic time.

I again cite this paper that I briefly mentioned before that describes the process as occurring in the past. Note how NEC genetics has been radically changed by an important cultural-historical shift (Islamization). Note also that the more EC-like genetics in the Levant (of important when considering pre-Islamic Levantine gene flow into Europe) were Middle Easternified. In general, actual genetic data tend to go against the fantasies of “the movement.” Emphasis added:

Abstract 

The Levant is a region in the Near East with an impressive record of continuous human existence and major cultural developments since the Paleolithic period. Genetic and archeological studies present solid evidence placing the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula as the first stepping-stone outside Africa. There is, however, little understanding of demographic changes in the Middle East, particularly the Levant, after the first Out-of-Africa expansion and how the Levantine peoples relate genetically to each other and to their neighbors. In this study we analyze more than 500,000 genome-wide SNPs in 1,341 new samples from the Levant and compare them to samples from 48 populations worldwide. Our results show recent genetic stratifications in the Levant are driven by the religious affiliations of the populations within the region. Cultural changes within the last two millennia appear to have facilitated/maintained admixture between culturally similar populations from the Levant, Arabian Peninsula, and Africa. The same cultural changes seem to have resulted in genetic isolation of other groups by limiting admixture with culturally different neighboring populations. Consequently, Levant populations today fall into two main groups: one sharing more genetic characteristics with modern-day Europeans and Central Asians, and the other with closer genetic affinities to other Middle Easterners and Africans. Finally, we identify a putative Levantine ancestral component that diverged from other Middle Easterners ∼23,700–15,500 years ago during the last glacial period, and diverged from Europeans ∼15,900–9,100 years ago between the last glacial warming and the start of the Neolithic. 

Author Summary 

Population stratification caused by nonrandom mating between groups of the same species is often due to geographical distances leading to physical separation followed by genetic drift of allele frequencies in each group. In humans, population structures are also often driven by geographical barriers or distances; however, humans might also be structured by abstract factors such as culture, a consequence of their reasoning and self-awareness. Religion in particular, is one of the unusual conceptual factors that can drive human population structures. This study explores the Levant, a region flanked by the Middle East and Europe, where individual and population relationships are still strongly influenced by religion. We show that religious affiliation had a strong impact on the genomes of the Levantines. In particular, conversion of the region’s populations to Islam appears to have introduced major rearrangements in populations’ relations through admixture with culturally similar but geographically remote populations, leading to genetic similarities between remarkably distant populations like Jordanians, Moroccans, and Yemenis. Conversely, other populations, like Christians and Druze, became genetically isolated in the new cultural environment. We reconstructed the genetic structure of the Levantines and found that a pre-Islamic expansion Levant was more genetically similar to Europeans than to Middle Easterners. 

These results suggest that population migration to Europe from the Near East could have started after the LGM warming and continued until the Neolithic. In addition, these results show that the modern European genetic component is more recent than would be expected from a component that developed from the initial peopling of Europe in the Upper Paleolithic ∼40,000 y.a.