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From: "Steve Williamson" <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Asian content in Europeans (continued): the solution
Date: Sat, 3 May 2003 13:34:22 -0500
References: <3EB3F536.9343230F@comcast.net> <3EB3FE5A.7802DAAA@yahoo.com>


Charles, Bonnie,

Please take a look, if you have access to a copy, in "The History &
Geography of Human Genes" by Cavalli-Sforza et al (1994). Find the
unabridged version, which has all the supporting data.

On page 273, referring to Lapps, "A genetic analyis has shown that they are
an admixture of Mongoloid and Caucasoid people, in approximately equal
proportions (47.5% and 52.5%, respectively; standard error, +/- 4.9%). ....
Of the other two major European populations that speak a Uralic language,
the Finns have a proportion of 90% European genes and 10% Uralic with a
standard error of +/- 4.1% (Guglielmino-Matessi et al. 1990). An analysis of
Hungarians gave similar results. .... in the ninth century A.D....From
100,000 to 500,000...[Magyars]...occupied the territory of modern Hungary.
... The current estimate of admixture is 13% (+/- 2.3%)."

Then go to page 292, and look at Fig. 5.11.2. Note that for the second
principal (genetic) component, there is an area around southwest
Germany/northeast France (roughly Alsace-Lorraine/Rheinland-Pfalz area),
which matches Scandinavia & the area of Poland & the Ukraine. It looks sort
of like a genetic "island," in a sense, of Asiatic genes. There is a peak in
this component in Lappland, which "...may be explained by noting that Lapps
have a stronger Mongoloid component than any Eastern European population.
Thus, the simplest explanation may still be that of Menozzi et al. (1978a),
namely, gene flow caused by one or more migrations of Mongoloid Uralic
speakers from Northwestern Asia. MIGRATION OF STEPPE NOMADS OR THEIR
DESCENDANTS AND THE "BARBARIAN" INVASIONS TOWARD THE END OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
AND AFTERWARD SEEM TO HAVE NO INFLUENCE ON THIS PC." (emphasis mine)

In other words, not Sarmatians, not Huns, not Mongols, but prehistoric
Uralic migrations, plus the Magyar invasion of the 9th century A.D., are
considered the most likely sources for the persistent Asian genes in
northern Europeans; and again, note the higher presence in the places of
origin of the Pennsylvania Dutch (Rhine & Danube valleys).

Steve W.



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