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Ancient population of the Lake Sevan basin (paleophenetic analysis)

Mkrtchyan R.A. (1), Movsesian A.A. (2)

1) Yerevan State University, Faculty of History, Department of cultural studies, Alek Manukyan St., 1, Yerevan, 0025, Armenia; 2) Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Biology, Department of Anthropology, Leninskie Gory, 1(12), Moscow, 119234, Russia

Mkrtchyan Rusan Albertovna, PhD; ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2809-5972; rusantrop55@mail.ru; Movsesian Alla Armenovna, PhD, D.Sc.; ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1329-5904; amovsessyan@gmail.com.

Abstract

Materials and methods. A paleophenetic analysis of the Lake Sevan basin population in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age was carried out in comparison with Bronze Age populations from the other regions of Eurasia: a craniological series of Yamnaya, Catacombnaya, Afanasyevskaya and Andronovskaya cultures. The frequencies of 28 non-metric traits were studied on 534 crania. Phenetic differences between populations were estimated using the MMD (Mean Measure of Divergence) and Multiple Correspondence analysis. For visual representation of the results the Multidimensional Scaling procedure was used. Results and discussion. Despite the significant proximity of ancient populations of the Sevan basin to each other according to phenetic distances, on the map of Multidimensional Scaling the groups of the Late Bronze Age formed a relatively compact cluster in contrast to the groups of Early Iron Age, scattered in a multidimensional space. These findings may indicate an increase of genetic variability in isolation due to gene drift and/or external migrations. However, the inclusion of craniological series from burial sites of Yamnaya, Catacombnaya, Afanasyevskaya and Andronovskaya cultures in the comparative analysis demonstrated the isolated position of the Sevan basin populations of two consecutive periods and their difference from the Bronze Age populations of the other regions of Eurasia. Conclusion. We did not reveal any genetic traces of migrations from remote regions to the Lake Sevan basin territory in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, at least on the craniological material studied. The results suggest that, due to prolonged coexistence in isolation there were no significant changes in the gene pool of the Lake Sevan basin populations during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages.

Keywords

ancient Armenia; Late Bronze Age; Early Iron Age; non-metric traits; population phenetics

DOI: 10.32521/2074-8132.2020.4.079-089

Цит.: Mkrtchyan R.A., Movsesian A.A. Ancient population of the Lake Sevan basin (paleophenetic analysis) // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2020; 4/2020; с. 79-89