Genetics and the spread of agriculture

Genetic studies show that Neolithic farming defused from Armenian population into Europe. Haplogroup G for example has it’s highest diversity within Armenians, which indicates that it originated with Armenians and spread to Caucasus and Europe.

“Haplogroup G, together with J2 clades, has been associated with the spread of agriculture, especially in the European context. The homeland of this haplogroup has been estimated to be somewhere nearby eastern Anatolia, Armenia or western Iran, the only areas characterized by the co-presence of deep basal branches as well as the occurrence of high sub-haplogroup diversity.

Haplogroup diversity spanned from a low of 0.21 in Adyghes, to highs of 0.88 in Azeris (Iran) and 0.89 in eastern Anatolia and 0.90 in Armenia. We estimate that the geographic origin of hg G plausibly locates somewhere nearby eastern Anatolia, Armenia or western Iran.

Concerning the presence of hg G in the Caucasus, one of its distinguishing features is lower haplogroup diversity in numerous populations (Supplementary Table S1) compared with Anatolia and Armenia, implying that hg G is intrusive in the Caucasus rather than autochthonous.”

S. Rootsi et al. (2012)