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Correlation of annual precipitation with human Y-chromosome diversity and the emergence of Neolithic agricultural and pastoral economies in the Fertile Crescent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jacques Chiaroni ,
Roy J. King  and
Peter A. Underhill
Jacques Chiaroni
Affiliation:
French Blood Establishment of Alpes Mediterranée (EFSAM), 149 Boulevard Baille, 13005 Marseille, France and UMR6578 (CNRS/Faculty of Medicine of Marseille) Biological and Cultural Adaptability, Faculty of Medicine, Marseille, France
Roy J. King
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5722, USA
Peter A. Underhill
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA 94305-5120, USA
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Extract

Examining the beginnings of agriculture in the ‘Fertile Crescent’, this research team has compared the distribution of rainfall with the distribution of Y-chromosome haplogroups. The extended families signalled by J1 and J2 haplogroups seem to have had different destinies in the era of agro-pastoralist experiment: J2 were the agricultural innovators who followed the rainfall, while J1 remained largely with their flocks. Acknowledging the fuzzy edges of such mapping, the authors nevertheless escort us into new realms of the possible for the early history of peoples.

Keywords

NeolithicFertile Crescentagriculturepastoralismannual precipitationY-chromosome haplogroupsphylogeography
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 82 , Issue 316 , June 2008 , pp. 281 - 289
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2008

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