The subgroups corresponded to lifestyle as well as geography: The "wet weather" group consisted of agriculturalists, descending from the world's first known farmers. The men from drier areas were pastoralists, or semi-nomadic herders, with many traditions carried on today by Arabic Bedouins. "The fact that we observe these differences now in living populations implies that cultural barriers to migration by males between settled agriculturalist and semi-nomadic herders may have been in place for a very long time," King said. Prior work by the same team linked Y-chromosome data to the spread of Neolithic pottery and figurines in the Near East and southeastern Europe. The spread of material culture also matched the movements of the two basic groups. Aaron Brody, associate professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion, and director of the school's Bade Museum, told Discovery News that he read the new paper "with great pleasure, as it provides fresh data and insights into early settlement of the Near East." "Given regional differences in the archaeological assemblage of Neolithic villages, it is fascinating to discover genetic links over the broader territory reconstructed from modern DNA analysis," he said, adding that the authors of the paper have provided a "fundamental map for bio-archaeology in the region." In the future, King and his team hope to study mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down from mothers to their daughters, in the same region. He said women might have mixed more than men did between the farming and herding groups, but that is only speculation at this point. Since climate change may have cemented the first Middle Eastern divisions, he also suggests concern over the possible impact of modern global warming. "One wonders about the degree to which access to water for crops, and the changing climatic patterns due to global warming, might influence present and future conflicts in the region," he said. Related Links: |
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