African Heritage in Iberia?

[Ebusitanus]

I have come across some articles I would like our racial experts to discuss (if interested) and take apart (hopefully)

Pereira, Luisa "African Female Heritage in Iberia: A Reassessment of mtDNA Lineage Distribution in Present Times"

Human Biology - Volume 77, Number 2, April 2005, pp. 213-229
Wayne State University Press

Abstract

The Iberian peninsula is a peripheral region of Europe in close proximity to Africa. Its inhabitants have an overall mtDNA genetic landscape typical of European background, although with signs of some African influence, whose features we deemed to disclose by analyzing available mtDNA HVRI distributions and new data. We analyzed 1,045 sequences. The most relevant results are the following: (1) North African sequences (haplogroup U6) present an overall frequency of 2.39%, and sub-Saharan sequences reach 3.83%, values that are, in both cases, much higher than those generally observed in Europe; and (2) there is a substantial geographic heterogeneity in the distribution of these lineages (haplogroup L being the most frequent in the south, whereas haplogroup U6 is generally more common in the north). The analysis of the observed diversity within each haplogroup strongly suggests that both were recently introduced (in historical times). Although for haplogroup U6 the documented event that is demographically compatible is the Islamic period (beginning of the 8th century to the end of the 15th century), for haplogroup L the most probable origin is the modern slave trade (mid 15th century to the end of the 18th century). However, the observed geographic structuring for one of the haplogroups does not fit the expected distribution provided by simplistic historical considerations. In fact, although for haplogroup L the north-south increasing frequency is corroborated by historical data, the opposite trend, observed for haplogroup U6, is more difficult to reconcile with the magnitude and time span of the Islamic political and cultural influence, which lasted longer and was more intense in the south. To clarify this conundrum, we need not only a substantial increase in the amount of mtDNA data (particularly for North Africa) but also new historical data and interpretations.

http://muse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/access.c...ssion=80555952

and....

The Spanish Caste System of the late 18th & Early 19th Century:

Spaniard and Indian produce a Mestizo


From Spaniard and Mestiza, Castiza


Spaniard and Castiza, produce Spaniard

[Menydh]

Looks like a replay of another paper by Pereira, this one published in 2000, "Diversity of mtDNA lineages in Portugal: not a genetic edge of European variation".

But that previous paper, although it gave higher frequencies for L sequences in mtDNA, it also restricted them to Southern Portugal.

For U6, this paper is interesting: "Mitochondrial DNA transit between West Asia and North Africa inferred from U6 phylogeography"


Now, I have no idea what you think that is the relation of that paper with those pictures that belong to The Americas, not to Iberia.

[Gil]

First of all, i've already presented that study here and it's a study which lacks proper respectability, mainly because of the number of subjects she used and their distribution (as always, you cannot judge the population of a country basing your study on 200 individuals from the capital city....that's plain retardness...)

ALso, the images present the caste system in the spanish colonies, not in the mainland, and i don't see the connection between them and the study....

[Alkman]

Pre-Roman Iberian mtDNA





A new study has been published on the ancient DNA of Iberia. Here is a link to several other ancient DNA articles reported previously on this blog:

The most frequent haplogroup is H (52.9%), followed by U (17.6%), J (11.8%), and pre-HV, K and T at the same frequency (5.9%). No samples were found to correspond to other haplogroups that are widely present in the Iberian peninsula populations (Table 7), such as V, X, I or W. The North African U6 subhaplogroup and Sub-Saharan African L lineages are also absent from the ancient Iberians analyzed so far; therefore, the possible entry of U6 lineages prior to the Muslim conquest in the 8th century A.D., as suggested by some authors, remains unproven. However, it is recognized that the sample size is at present too small to exclude any competing hypothesis about a possible North African genetic contribution to the genesis of the Iberian peninsula populations.

This appears to be in general agreement with the recent paper on the origin of African mtDNA in Iberia. The absence of mtDNA haplogroup V, common today in Iberia, is confirmed. Interestingly haplogroup H1, which is a subclade of the frequent haplogroup H was also found in the prehistoric sample. H1 is believed to have originated in Iberia.

Annals of Human Genetics (Early View)

The Genetics of the Pre-Roman Iberian Peninsula: A mtDNA Study of Ancient Iberians

M. L. Sampietro et al.

Summary

The Iberians developed a surprisingly sophisticated culture in the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula from the 6th century BC until their conquest by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. They spoke and wrote a non-Indo-European language that still cannot be understood; their origins and relationships with other non-Indo-European peoples, like the Etruscans, are unclear, since their funerary practices were based on the cremation of bodies, and therefore anthropology has been unable to approach the study of this people. We have retrieved mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from a few of the scarce skeletal remains that have been preserved, some of them belonging to ritualistically executed individuals. The most stringent authentication criteria proposed for ancient DNA, such as independent replication, amino-acid analysis, quantitation of template molecules, multiple extractions and cloning of PCR products, have been followed to obtain reliable sequences from the mtDNA hypervariable region 1 (HVR1), as well as some haplogroup diagnostic SNPs. Phylogeographic analyses show that the haplogroup composition of the ancient Iberians was very similar to that found in modern Iberian Peninsula populations, suggesting a long-term genetic continuity since pre-Roman times. Nonetheless, there is less genetic diversity in the ancient Iberians than is found among modern populations, a fact that could reflect the small population size at the origin of the population sampled, and the heterogenic tribal structure of the Iberian society. Moreover, the Iberians were not especially closely related to the Etruscans, which points to considerable genetic heterogeneity in Pre-Roman Western Europe.

Link




This was a new article in Dienekes blog about this issue: http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2005/07...ian-mtdna.html

[Faísca]

Originally Posted by Alkman

Nonetheless, there is less genetic diversity in the ancient Iberians than is found among modern populations

Please correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't that be a little too obvious?

[Ebusitanus]

My apologies for mixing both subjects. I found all of the above in a different thread by some resented frenchman as a way of sluring Spain on a diferent forum. Since I´m not a specialist I thought it would be just good to see you guys take this study apart.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Ebusitanus

I found all of the above in a different thread by some resented frenchman as a way of sluring Spain on a diferent forum.

Umh.. a French backstabbing Iberians? How very surprising!