(2017) The Y10705 Körös Sample

By Hans De Beule

The Lipson 2017 paper mentions a Hungarian sample from the Körös culture that cfr. fresh analysis of Atanas Kumbarov turns out to belong to I-Y10705, the precursor of I-L38.

It concerns sample I4971/TIDO2a found in Tiszaszőlős-Domaháza, Hungary (see: https://www.fieldmuseum.org/science/projects/koros-regional-archaeological-project/szeghalom-kovacshalom-virtual-tour-neolithic )

The Supplementary Information appendix of the Lipson 2017 paper (doi:10.1038/nature24476) says the following about this sample:

Grave 2-3 (TIDO2a)

Skeletal remains of a 31–37 years old male. The body, separated into two or three parts probably by later disturbance, was found in the lower (10–13th) layers of Pit 6.

Originally it was registered as remains of two graves, but now assigned as Grave 2. The skeleton was radiocarbon dated to the Körös culture: 5736-5547 cal BCE (6740±60 BP, deb-11804).

Tiszaszőlős-Domaháza

In 2003 a small Körös culture settlement, extending no wider than 40 by 20 m, was found at Tiszaszőlős-Domaháza on the southbank section of an old oxbow of the Tisza river [54]. This site was found as a result of a deliberate search aiming to find new Körös sites north of their previously hypothesized northern border (along the line of Kunhegyes and Berettyóújfalu), which was believed to have separated the hunter-gatherers from the early farmers in the Early Neolithic. The research at the site was led by L. Domboróczki from the István Dobó Castle Museum, Eger. Ultimately two pits, a house plan and several graves were unearthed here from the time of the Körös culture.

The largest feature containing Körös finds was Pit 6. It measured 9 x 7.5 m and similarly to the site of the house, was directed NW–SE along its longer axis. It yielded large amount of ceramic sherds and, similarly to the site of the house, also contained large quantities of mussel shell, which here, however, constituted continuous layers within the fill. Pit 6 was almost 2 m deep and was uncovered in 15 artificial layers, each 10–20 cm in depth. Find material from the Körös culture was present in all layers. While in the lower layers it was exclusively the Körös finds that dominated, in the upper layers Middle Neolithic Szatmár Group finds also appeared, marking the beginning of the Alföld Linear Pottery Culture (ALPc).

Remains of at least seven human individuals were found at the site: two of them were found as complete skeletons laid in crouched position, two others occurred as more-or-less complete skeletons identifiable by their dispersed body parts, and three other human bodies were represented only by single bones. Out of these six individuals four belonged to graves.

"Genetiker"(https://genetiker.wordpress.com/ ) adds the following:

The sample I4971 from the Early Neolithic Körös culture in Hungary is, like the previously published Körös sample KO1, atypical in that it’s made up entirely of the dark blue Western European hunter-gatherer component.

Concerning "I4971" Genetiker's webpage displays the following derived allele counts versus the total numbers of reads for specific SNPs:

  • 0/2: not derived for the mutation that defines red hair

  • 0/1: not derived for the mutation that define blond hair

    • => so I4971's hair must have been dark brown or black (just as KO1, another Körös sample with a Hunter-Gatherer background - and a predictedd blue eye colour )

  • 0/1: not derived for the mutation that defines fair skin,

  • 1/1: derived for the mutation that defines "veddoid dark skin"

  • 0/2: not derived for the mutation that enables adults to digest milk (this is coherent with the 100% Hunter-Gatherer ancestry)

So our I-Y10705 sample must have looked like the "La Braña" sample: http://ourworldsmysteries.com/ancient-europeans-dark-skinned-blue-eyed/

Last update: january 2018