Reconstructing Druze population history - Scarlett Marshall1
Reconstruction of Druze population history. The most parsimonious explanation for our findings is that some of the proto-Druze emerged from Armenian-Turkish tribes residing in the Zagros and surrounding mountains, prior to the end of the first millennium A.D. (Figs 3[A1,A2] and 5). It is unclear when these tribes migrated to the Levant, as there have been several small migrations of Turkish people into the region throughout the Middle Ages, and only some of these have left a detectable DNA hallmark27. However, the most significant Turkish migration was the expansion of the Seljuk Turkish Empire into the region in the years following the Battle of Manzikert, north of Lake Van (1071 A.D.). By 1079 A.D., the Seljuqs had reached Syria and Palestine and settled in Iran, Anatolia and Syria37. The Druze were first recorded in that region ~150 years later4. It is therefore possible that the proto-Druze population was part of this early Seljuk expansion. This explanation is supported by the short genetic distances found between the Druze and several Near Eastern populations reported here (Figure S2) and elsewhere12 and ancient DNA evidence indicating that this similarity has roots in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age28. During their residence in Syria, and prior to or during, their admission into Druzism, these migratory tribes have probably experienced uneven gene exchanges with Syrians and Lebanese or Arabian tribes dwelling along the Incense route (Fig. 3[A1]), which increased their genetic diversity. Yet we venture that they retained some of their habitual preferences and continued residing in mountain
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To those who haven’t connected the dots. That is why the Abusir mummies do NOT cluster with modern day Syrians, Iranians, Palestinians etc. That is why Henn don’t use them in her studies. This is not rocket science. Even Among Bedouins some are admixed but some are pure Levantines. The modern Bedouins are closest to Neolithic Levantines as Natufians….and as some of you know the Africanized Bedouins are versions of indigenous Berbers who left Africa during the early Neolithic.
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