{"id":97,"date":"2012-06-01T16:36:49","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T20:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sintheta.org\/mcgene\/?p=97"},"modified":"2012-08-08T23:40:09","modified_gmt":"2012-08-09T03:40:09","slug":"the-familys-silk-route-connection-from-the-orient-to-the-levant-9-6-baloch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sintheta.org\/mcgene\/?p=97","title":{"rendered":"The Family’s Silk Route Connection from the Orient to the Levant – 9.6% Baloch"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Apparently we share 9.57% of our genetic material with the people of the region that straddle Pakistan (Balochistan) and Iran (Baluchestan).\u00c2\u00a0 This region lies along and roughly in the western-middle of the ancient collection of overland and sea highways known as the Silk Road or Silk Route stretching from China to Turkey.\u00c2\u00a0 Much of the over-land route is to the north of Baluchestan.<\/p>\n

Why did we not know this before?<\/p>\n

The nature of DNA genealogical analysis is that it is a relatively young field of study–roughly 10 years old.\u00c2\u00a0 From a start of, for all intents and purposes, a\u00c2\u00a0 zero population of DNA samples this field is adding DNA samples at an exponential rate.\u00c2\u00a0 However, this means two things\u00c2\u00a0 that are relevant to answering the question of “why now?”\u00c2\u00a0 First, sample collection is not even world wide.\u00c2\u00a0 There seem to be higher concentrations in certain populations determined by societal wealth, education, ethnic motivation, and marketing.\u00c2\u00a0 For the most part, homogeneous populations are not as interested in learning their DNA genealogy when their parents and ancestors as well as their archaeology and written records provide both oral and written records going back\u00c2\u00a0 hundreds or thousands of years thereby satisfying their curiosity–they know who they are.<\/p>\n

Relatively recent immigrants to “new world” regions don’t have these resources, particularly if they were forced by conflict to migrate thereby losing their family records. Intermarriage between immigrant groups confuses the oral tradition and often newly developed regions in the past t-500 years haven’t had\u00c2\u00a0 religious or civic record keeping.\u00c2\u00a0 Aside from large cracks through which data could fall, this also provided a vast canvas upon which individuals could paint new identities for themselves further obscuring their ancestral trail.\u00c2\u00a0 Gramps, Frank, stand up and take a bow.<\/p>\n

Major forces in collecting genealogical material, by DNA and other means, have been Jews and Mormons–for different reasons.\u00c2\u00a0 European antisemitism from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s was a major people and record destroyer motivating contemporary Jews to learn who they are and who their ancestors were as well as locating lost living relatives.\u00c2\u00a0 The Mormons have their own, more open-ended, motivation which they have developed into a thriving business world wide.\u00c2\u00a0 They are omnivorous.<\/p>\n

Into this mix has come a new generation of academics, geneticists, genealogists and genetic entrepreneurs bringing new DNA data collection and analysis and new analytic tools.\u00c2\u00a0 The world wide web has made this available to us all.<\/p>\n

Even as data is being collected, the analysis of\u00c2\u00a0 that data is becoming more sophisticated.\u00c2\u00a0 Researchers are sharing their databases, their analytic approaches and even their tools making them and us smarter, more knowledgeable and increasingly more accurate.<\/p>\n

The terminology is standardizing.\u00c2\u00a0 Terms like Admixture Analysis and Painting are becoming more comprehensible to the likes of us amateurs.<\/p>\n

Our Baloch\/Baluch is such an evolutionary product of this growth of data and understanding.<\/p>\n

Admixture<\/a> Analysis examines “the interbreeding between two or more previously isolated populations within a species”.\u00c2\u00a0 We are species that sleeps around.<\/p>\n

The admixture of the child of one Caucasian parent and one Chinese parent is roughly (47-53%) 50% Caucasian and 50 % Chinese.\u00c2\u00a0 However, each parent is also an admixture of their ancestors.\u00c2\u00a0 The greater the amount of DNA analysis from an ever growing sample of DNA tests, the more refined is the researcher’s ability to match specific genetic fragments to specific populations both farther back in time and more specific to geographical locations.<\/p>\n

Previously, our admixture analysis was based on samples and analysis more heavily European and North American.\u00c2\u00a0 The most motivated, therefore the most active groups providing samples and doing analysis were Jews, African Americans and Indigenous Americans–for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n

My first use of Admixture Analysis was provided by 23andMe, then FTDNA and then analysis of my DNA by separate sources other than specific DNA labs.\u00c2\u00a0 I used GEDmatch and then Dienekes Pontikos’ Dodecad Project<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0 made available by GEDmatch.<\/p>\n

Dodecad was weighted to northern Europe.\u00c2\u00a0 Two weeks ago I used a new one, Harappa Ancestry Project (HarappaWorld)<\/a><\/span>, which focuses on Asia and Africa.\u00c2\u00a0 You can find a table below comparing the analysis of my DNA by these two analytic engines.<\/p>\n

The 4 Admixture analysis engines produced results not that far off each other, in the macro, such as Mediterranean and Western\/Northern\/Eastern Europe and Asian\/East Mediterranean.\u00c2\u00a0 The analysis by first 3 engines identified lots of general regional (Asian and Eastern Mediterranean) fragments without attachment to specific national geography.\u00c2\u00a0 However, Harappa appears to have pulled many of the fragments together and assigned a specific region and national group–Baloch.<\/p>\n

The technology is more nuanced and sophisticated than I can adequately represent but as far as I have examined, they are reasonable presentations.\u00c2\u00a0 Will they change? Probably.\u00c2\u00a0 But they will become more precise as the years go on, perhaps even pinpointing specific small geographic regions, such as a province and a specific point in time.<\/p>\n

So what’s the big deal about only 10% of my\/our DNA being Baloch?\u00c2\u00a0 Big deal<\/em> is a stretch but fascinating<\/em> is closer to the truth–for me anyway.<\/p>\n

For one thing, our major Y-haplogroup, E, came out of Africa.\u00c2\u00a0 We all originated there but not all haplogroups originated there.\u00c2\u00a0 Recent analysis suggests<\/a>, contrary to previous analysis, that the migratory route was NOT up the Rift Valley from Kenya through Egypt into the Eastern Mediterranean. “The patterns of recombination diversity in the X chromosome from 30 populations Old World suggest that anatomically modern human first left Africa through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait<\/a> rather than through present Egypt.”\u00c2\u00a0 This was about 60,000 years ago when the oceans were much lower and the straits were much shallower or dry, allowing a series of emigrations along the southern coast of Asia.\u00c2\u00a0 They went across the now 80 mile long and minimum width 20 mile strait located between Yemen<\/a> on the Arabian Peninsula<\/a>, Djibouti<\/a> and Eritrea<\/a>, north of Somalia<\/a>, in the Horn of Africa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From there they then went either across the Arabian Peninsula (Yemen et al) or by sea north across to Balochistan (Iran or Pakistan). Alternatively it could have been overland towards the Mediterranean and then back east along the Silk Road<\/a> through Iran.\u00c2\u00a0 Our E Y-chromosome, even E1b1b1c1a (M-84), is found in Yemen. I don’t know yet if there are many M-84s in Balochistan but I presume that there are.\u00c2\u00a0 Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

The further importance is that the flow, as the scientists suggest, was then west along the Silk Road by land and by sea.\u00c2\u00a0 Overland arrives at the small triangular region bounded by the upper coast of the northeastern Mediterranean and then over to the Syrian\/Turkish border near Haran where Abraham lived and, according to a genealogical study<\/a>, may have been an E1b1b1c1a like us.\u00c2\u00a0 Analysis suggests that in this triangular region of about 300x150x400 km is where our most recent mutation, giving us E1b1b1c1a, is believed to have taken place in<\/strong> our Most Recent Common Ancestor about 1515 BCE, give or take a few hundred years.<\/p>\n

A further fascinating question about the Baloch connection, the answer to which might lead to further fascinating revelations, is “why is my Baloch fragment 10%?” \u00c2\u00a0 Clearly, or perhaps not so clearly, my mother and grandmother should have diluted my Baloch connection substantially–by at least 75%.\u00c2\u00a0 If they had no Baloch DNA themselves, then Frank would have had Baloch DNA of approximately 40%. \u00c2\u00a0 Bear in mind that this extrapolation math is being done by a DNA amateur.\u00c2\u00a0 But if true, one of Frank’s parents would have had Baloch DNA approximating 80%.\u00c2\u00a0 Obviously, this would have implications for ancestry migration prior to Eastern Europe where Frank seems to have come from.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

In 10 years all this analysis will look quite primitive as then we will better know the migratory steps.<\/p>\n

Below you will find some of the information and sources on the Balochs and Baluchs for you to explore, if you are interested.<\/p>\n

Note: Eventually I will edit the following material\u00c2\u00a0 but it is sufficiently clear to get you started–if you are curious.<\/p>\n

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The ancient Silk Route straddles it and ends up near Harran in Turkey at the eastern tip of the area where our Y-chromosome originated. As the crow flies it is 2,643 km from Quetta in Pakistan to Harran.\u00c2\u00a0 It just skirts (40 km) the southern suburbs of Tehran en route.<\/p>\n

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The Silk Route or Silk Road<\/a> meandered over 6,500 kms over land and there were sea links as well. See the map.<\/p>\n

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  1. \u00c2\u00a0IRAN<\/strong> Baluchestan Province Wikipedia<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. \n

    PAKISTAN \u00c2\u00b7 \u00c2\u00a0Balochistan<\/strong>, Pakistan – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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