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The genomic origin of Zana of Abkhazia - Ashot Margaryan
Abstract Enigmatic phenomena have sparked the imagination of people around the globe into creating folkloric creatures. One prime example is Zana of Abkhazia (South Caucasus), a well-documented 19th century female who was captured living wild in the forest. Zana's appearance was sufficiently unusual, that she was referred to by locals as an Almasty—the analog of Bigfoot in the Caucasus. Although the exact location of Zana's burial site was unknown, the grave of her son, Khwit, was identified in 1971. The genomes of Khwit and the alleged Zana skeleton were sequenced to an average depth of ca. 3 using ancient DNA techniques. The identical mtDNA and parent offspring relationship between the two indicated that the unknown woman was indeed Zana. Population genomic analyses demonstrated that Zana's immediate genetic ancestry can likely be traced to present-day East-African populations. We speculate that Zana might have had a genetic disorder such as congenital generalized hypertrichosis which could partially explain her strange behavior, lack of speech, and long body hair. Our findings elucidate Zana's unfortunate story and provide a clear example of how prejudices of the time led to notions of cryptic hominids that are still held and transmitted by some today.
-------------------- Without data you are just another person with an opinion - Deming Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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I always wonder about hypertrichosis in Wooly haired African people,as most cases seems to involve straight hair people.
Interesting they found a connection to people in East African but why did the author wrote "can likely be traced",that opens up the interpretation of Zana's true history not being directly related to African people if her population was already there before any suppose slave trade.
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Zana of Abkhazia's granddaughter
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Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
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I guess some of the 'recent' African in the southeast Black Sea region goes back to supposed northeast African impetus re ancient Greek lit.
From RogersSex and Race: Speaking of the Colchians who lived in the vicinity of the Black Sea, he said, "There can be no doubt that the Colchians are an Egyptian race... My own conjectures were founded first in the fact that they are black-skinned and have woolly hair, which certainly amounts to but little since several other nations are so too, but further and more especially on the circumstance that the Colchians, the Egyptians, and the Ethiopians are the only nations who have practised circumcision from the earliest time." 7
7 Herodotus. Book II, Chap. 104.
By genome, Schue' found 2% of the brown K, exemplified by Bedouin B and Ethiopian Jews, in her Abkhazians, in line with Georgia.
<< space holder for ADMIXTURE >>
Trying to find that chart from a Comorros study and hope it has Abkhazia and in as much detail as CEU (where the authors exposed up to seven African genomes.
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ES has posts on Abkhazian blacks who appear very recent to the Caucasus.
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