THROUGH THE COURSE OF PREHISTORY IN INDIA: TRACING THE mtDNA TRAIL

1. THROUGH THE COURSE OF PREHISTORY IN INDIA: TRACING THE mtDNA TRAIL Mait Metspalu Tartu 19th December 2005

4. -100 000 a. -160 000 a.

5. 18 000 40 000 40 000 40 000 32 000 40 000 30 000 45 000 30 000 60 000 160 000 30 000 40 000 40 000 60 000 10 000 Middle Palaeolithic 10 000 Upper (Late) Palaeolithic 10 000 fossils

6. Linguistic groups of India Adapted from Fuller 2003 CA ME Mundari Mon-Khmer

8. Dravidians

9. Fuller’s synthetic view on agricultural origins and dispersals in South Asia

10. QUESTIONS • What is the place of the Indian mtDNA variation on the global mtDNA phylogeny? • What does the mtDNA variation in India tell us about the peopling of Eurasia? • Do the Indian tribal populations and the Austro-Asiatic speakers in particular share common ancestry with the castes or are they “more ancient” inhabitants of the subcontinent as suggested by some? • How extensive was admixture between South Asia and neighbouring regions after the initial settlement? And what can be said about the timescale for the admixture in light of i) suggestions for external origins for all language families present in India, and ii) the advent of agriculture in India?

12. What is the place of the Indian mtDNA variation on the global mtDNA phylogeny?

13. What is the place of the Indian mtDNA variation on the global mtDNA phylogeny? ~60-65 KYA ~60-65 KYA

14. What is the place of the Indian mtDNA variation on the global mtDNA phylogeny? All the mtDNA variants of Indian populations, including the tribal populations, belong to the Indian-specific sub-lineages of the two Eurasian founder macro-haplogroups M and N (including R) although frequencies of individual haplogroups may vary substantially between (drift-prone tribal) populations.

15. What does the mtDNA variation in India tell us about the peopling of Eurasia? Out of Africa routes Multiple dispersals Classical single northern route Single southern route Multiple dispersals

16. What does the mtDNA variation in India tell us about the peopling of Eurasia? NO autochthonous basal M, N or R lineages in Central Asia M-Q N-S,O R-P The presence of M and N (including R) basal lineages in South Asia and further east, together with the lack of hg M in West Eurasia, is consistent with the single Southern Coastal Route of peopling Eurasia.

17. What does the Y chromosome variation in India tell us about the peopling of Eurasia? NO autochthonous basal Y lineages in Central Asia F-K,J,I,G C-C3 K-P F-K P-R1* K-NO K-L; ???? P-R1a, R2 C-C5 P-Q,R1b2 F-F*,H,K K-L1

18. The extant Indian caste and tribal populations, covering speakers of different language groups, derive largely from a common source population that diversified within India in the Late Pleistocene.

19. Do the Indian tribal populations and the Austro-Asiatic speakers in particular share common ancestry with the castes or are they “more ancient” inhabitants of the subcontinent as suggested by some? Introduction of Sino-Tibetan languages to the east of India has evidently been coupled with large-scale immigration of men and women alike.Y-chromosome data, but not mtDNA evidence, suggest the same for the Austro-Asiatic speakers of India.

21. Only a minor part of the extant Indian mtDNA pool can be ascribed to the admixture from the West during the Holocene. This is not in agreement with putative large scale immigrations from the West like the Indo-Aryan invasion. Because genes and cultural traits may or may not migrate together, the possibility for exterior origins for all the existing language families in India cannot be ruled out by genetic evidence, but local origin for the Dravidic family appears more parsimonious.

22. Conclusions • The phylogeography of both MtDNA and Y-chromosome lineages support the Southern Coastal model of peopling Eurasia. • The introduction of Indo-European languagesand agricultureto India from the West did not occur as a mass migration of people but rather as an uptake of culture. • On the other hand, introduction of Sino-Tibetan languages to the east of India has evidently been coupled with large-scale immigration of men and women alike.And Y-chromosome data, but not mtDNA evidence, suggest the same for the Austro-Asiatic speakers of India.