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

a a.

Middle Palaeolithic Upper (Late) Palaeolithic fossils

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

Dravidians

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

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?

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

~60-65 KYA ~60-65 KYA 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Conclusions The phylogeography of both MtDNA and Y-chromosome lineages support the Southern Coastal model of peopling Eurasia. The introduction of Indo-European languages and agriculture to 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.