Mysterious human populations challenge our understanding of the world. Some of them remain shrouded in the shadow of time; others are enigmatic because of their isolation or unique origin stories. The more we learn, the more complex human history becomes.
1. Population Y
America was the last frontier of human expansion. Most scientists are of the opinion that they were inhabited 15 thousand years ago in the course of one wave rushing from Eurasia through the Bering Isthmus. However, recent research has provided us with facts that relate to a completely different story. Recently, geneticists studying ancient skeletons discovered that the Americas were inhabited by two different groups. The first, the Asiatic, were related to most of today's American Indians; the second, earlier - with the modern inhabitants of Australasia, a region that includes Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the adjacent Pacific islands.
Researchers found that some indigenous American populations from the Amazonian Lowland (also known as the Amazon) descended from people who were genetically more related to the Onge people of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, New Guineans, Papuans and Australian Aborigines than modern Eurasians. or American Indians. They have already named this new group - Population Y.
It remains unclear when and how Population Y reached South America. Scientists don't know how this genetic link came about. They think that the mixing took place many thousands of years ago, presumably between the first colonizers of America. Most likely they came across the Bering Isthmus.
In 2013, Brazilian scientists unexpectedly discovered Polynesian genetic traces in DNA extracted from the teeth of the South American Botocudo Indians who once lived in Brazil. The tribe's genes were different from what they found. The history of the settlement of the Americas turned out to be much more interesting and varied than previously imagined.
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2. Inhabitants of the Ramapo mountains
50 kilometers from New York City, in the Appalachian Mountains of New Jersey, there is a mysterious group of people known as the Ramapo Mountain People (they are also often called the "Jackson Whites"). Some scholars describe them as inbred gypsies. Others insist that they are albinos who are descendants of circus artists. Still others claim that the Jackson Whites are descended from Indian defectors, escaped slaves, Hessian mercenaries and West Indian prostitutes. However, in reality they are the Ramapo Indians (or Lenape Indians).
Many of them have surnames such as De Groot, De Freiss, Van der Donk and Mann. In order to hide their origin, some representatives of the people of the Ramapo mountains, which consisted of Afro-Danish runaway slaves and Lenape Indians, took the names of their masters, others - prominent New Yorkers. They are discriminated against on all sides because they do not conform to the stereotypes of Native Americans. In 1993, Donald Trump said: "To me, they don't look like Indians at all."
3. Guanches
Guanches are the indigenous people of the Canary Islands. According to the researchers, they had blue eyes and blonde hair, despite the fact that the islands are located 100 kilometers off the coast of Morocco. According to most, they descended from the Berbers, the indigenous people of Morocco. Many scholars believe that they represented the best example of Cro-Magnon man, preserved due to the geographical isolation of the island.
Most of the Guanches had a haplogroup U6b, unknown on the African mainland. However, it is structurally similar to the U6 haplogroup characteristic of the Berbers. The Spanish colonized the Canary Islands in the 15th century. The predominance of Iberian paternal DNA suggests that the number of Guanche males in some period has sharply decreased - most likely due to the war.
4. Inhabitants of the Chinese village of Litian
Lician is a village located in northwest China, on the edge of the Gobi Desert. For many years, there have been heated debates over the origin of its inhabitants, who have an atypical appearance for the indigenous Chinese - they have blonde hair, blue eyes and long noses. Most scholars are convinced that the inhabitants of Litzian descended from the lost Roman legion.
In 53 BC, the Romans were defeated by the Parthians. Legend has it that the soldiers fled to the east, where they settled and became mercenaries fighting against the Han Chinese. A recent genetic study showed that many residents of Liquian have up to 60% of Caucasian genes. However, without evidence in the form of artifacts, "Roman theory" is nothing more than a myth.
However, this did not stop the Chinese government from transforming Liqian into a Roman theme park for amusement. The authorities invested $ 160 million in the project. Here visitors can admire the ancient Roman architecture and watch the reenactments of battles. Also, the Chinese government plans to build a copy of the Colosseum in Liqian.
5. Yamnaya culture
Representatives of the Yamnaya culture were mysterious people with tremendous influence. About five thousand years ago, these nomads left their homeland in the Pontic-Caspian steppe to spread their technologies and genes. Representatives of the Yamnaya culture are considered the first people to tame horses. They moved from place to place with the help of wheeled carts and were engaged in converting ore into bronze.
Norwegians owe half of their genes to this group. Also, representatives of the Yamnaya culture traveled eastward and reached the Altai Mountains. Perhaps it is to them that Europeans owe the fact that today they can drink milk. Before the Bronze Age, 90 percent of Europeans were lactose intolerant. The Yamnaya culture had a mutation that allowed them to digest milk.
6. Duhara
The Duhares were a mysterious group that the Spaniards encountered when exploring the coast of modern Georgia. The first mentions of them are contained in the book "On the New World" ("De Orbe Novo") and date back to 1530. They were taller than the Spanish, with reddish hair, light eyes, and bushy beards. They bred deer, from whose milk they made cheese; this practice was not common to Native Americans. According to one fundamental theory, the Duhares descended from the pre-Columbian Irish discoverers.
When scientists re-examined the Duhare's connection with Ireland, they got startling clues. They could not make out the Duhare language until they compared it with Irish. Many in scientific circles reject the theory of Irish descent, considering it untenable.
7. Conquerors of the Ice Age
Most scholars believe that Europe was settled in three waves: hunter-gatherers, farmers from the Middle East, and pastoralists from the steppe. However, recent genetic studies have identified a fourth wave. More than 16 thousand years ago, hunter-gatherers were driven out by invaders from the south of Spain and the Balkan Peninsula. This happened at the end of the last ice age, during a sharp warming, when mammoths and saber-toothed tigers died out.
Scientists have established this by analyzing the remains of ancient Europeans. In European genomes, unlike Asian and American ones, haplogroup M (mtDNA) is completely absent. The researchers were able to find that haplogroup M was present in the genome of Europeans up to the last glacial maximum. Earlier, the reason for the absence of haplogroup M in the European genome was considered to be the influx of immigrants from Africa.
8. Hazaras
The Hazaras, the third largest minority in Afghanistan, have been targeted for centuries. They are Shiites, unlike their Sunni neighbors. Many historians believe that they inherited their East Asian features from the Golden Horde. In the 19th century, about half of the Hazaras were killed or sent into exile.
Genetic analysis showed that the Hazaras are related to the Turkic-Mongols. This confirms the theory that they are descendants of Genghis Khan.
However, they also possess the genes of the indigenous people of the region, Tajiks and travelers along the Great Silk Road. Hazaras now make up half of the population of Kabul.
9. Toda
The mysterious Toda people live in the Nilgiri mountains in southern India. Many believe that its representatives with fair skin and eyes are very similar to the ancient Greeks. They wrap themselves in cloth like the Highlanders of Scotland and speak Dravidian. Their prayers remain undeciphered. They also traditionally practice polyandry.
The British were fascinated by the mysterious Toda. Some scholars regard them as the lost tribe of Israel or the descendants of the Greek Cypriots.
10. Unknown ancestor
Non-Africans owe two percent of their genome to Neanderthals. Populations in Oceania such as Australian Aborigines and Papua New Guineans received 4 percent of their genetic information from the enigmatic Denisovans. These hominids have mingled with the ancestors of East Asians in the past. A careful analysis of the Denisovian genome showed that this ancient species of people succumbed to the genetic influence of unknown ancestors.
The results of the study were presented at a meeting of the Royal Society of London and immediately sparked a wave of speculation. Some anthropologists believe that these "unknown ancestors" are the Heidelberg people. They appeared in Africa about 500 thousand years ago.