A number of genetic studies have recently investigated Armenian DNA from different perspectives revealing some fascinating and consistent results. For example in 2014 Hellenthal et. al. in a paper published in Science have investigated worldwide human admixture history over the past 4000 years and created a Genetic Atlas of human admixture. Oddly enough they could not identify the Armenian admixture for the past 4000 years and placed Armenians into the “no admixture, uncertain” category (read more about it HERE).
Another recent study by Haber et. al. (2015) has shed more light in this regard by specifically focusing on Armenian genetics. They found that Armenians show a signatures of an origin from mixture of diverse populations occurring 3,000 to 2,000 BCE which incidentally coincides with the legendary founding of Armenia by the patriarch Hayk in 2492 BCE. This revelation was even picked up by the New York Times. Haber et. al. also found that Armenian admixture after the late bronze age seized, showing no significant traces of further admixture for some three and a half thousand years. It appears that Armenians have stopped mixing from that time on showing genetic isolation to a great extent. The authors describe:
“Our tests suggest that Armenians had no significant mixture with other populations in their recent history and have thus been genetically isolated since the end of the Bronze Age.”
This makes Armenian genetics very unique in the region marked by great diversity and admixture. As such Armenians above all seem to better represent the ancient populations of the Near East. Haber et. al. have shown that the genetic landscape in most of the Middle East appears to have been continuously changing and that:
“the position of the Armenians within the global genetic diversity is unique and appears to mirror the geographical location of Anatolia… Armeniansβ adoption of a distinctive culture early in their history resulted in their genetic isolation from their surroundings. Their genetic resemblance today to other genetic isolates in the Near East, but not to most other Near Easterners, suggests that recent admixture has changed the genetic landscape in most populations in the region.”
Moreover they found that modern Armenians show a great genetic affinity to ancient Europeans, meaning that Armenians of today because of their isolation have retained the genetic makeup of the ancient people of the Near East who have spread into Europe during various migration waves (read more about it HERE).
5000 Year Old Armenian Ancestry
As the genetic studies progress so does our understanding of Armenian ancestry increases.

One might wonder, wouldn’t it be interesting if we dug out ancient bones from the Armenian Highlands and compared it to see how and if they are related to modern Armenians? Well, that is exactly what a team of archaeologists and geneticists set out to investigate along with a bunch of other questions related to ancient DNA.

DNA samples from ancient burial site found all over the Republic of Armenia have been collected and send off to be tested by the University of Copenhagen. The data has now been collected and the results are soon to be published in the prestigious Nature journal, authored by 44 people from 13 different countries. The authors of the study however have already lifted the veil on some of the findings affirming that the DNA from these ancient bones indeed matches with those of the modern Armenians. Referring to the international genetic study, the Head of the Laboratory of the Institute of Molecular Biodiversity of the National Academy of Sciences Levon Yepiskoposyan has recently stated in an interview to the press that: “Modern Armenians are direct descendants of the people who lived in the territory of Armenia 5000 years ago.” Eight samples from ancient burial site across Armenia, dated to the middle and the late Bronze Age as well as the Iron Age, have been collected and tested.
“The results of genetic studies have shown that the DNA samples of the Bronze Age individuals that have been found on the territory of Armenia have a genetic portrait that is almost indistinguishable from the genetic portrait of people living today in Armenia”
– said Yepiskoposyan.

He added that from these results we can safely conclude that modern Armenians indeed have very old roots in the Armenian Highlands.
In this study, we were able to solve not only some of the the genetic, historical and archaeological questions, but also to some extent disprove the allegations that the Armenians are only living 200 years in the territory of Eastern Armenia.
These findings again affirm that modern Armenians represent an ancient Near Eastern population, due to their genetic isolation in Armenian Highlands. As such Armenians can be regarded as a “living fossil”. To better understand the implications of these studies, I’ve been following several discussions on the internet about these recent findings. One expert, who was also involved with the above mentioned project, explains as follows:
06-07-2015
Armenians became genetically isolated during the Late Bronze Age (about 3500 years before the present) and have not intermixed with populations from distant regions since then. Because Armenians are Late Bronze Age (LBA) genetic isolates, we, as a population are like a living fossil. When comparing the ancient DNA of individuals dug up in modern Armenia with those of Armenians, there isn’t much of a difference in the DNA. It essentially means that we represent a genetic continuum of at least 3500 years. What this means beyond just Armenians, as the article that will be out in the prestigious journal of Nature soon, is that we can compare modern European populations with modern Armenians, knowing that it’s the same as comparing the modern European population with ancient Near Easterners (as Armenians represent an essentially pure sample of the Late Bronze Age). We are closer to the basal populations that existed in the Near East, subsequently migrated toward Europe during the Bronze Age-Iron Age, than any other population in present Europe.

So if you compare ancient DNA found in Europe between the Neolithic to the Iron Age, you see huge shifts in populations as Near Easterners and others from the East settled and influenced the substructure of the European genome. These groups were present as populations in the Near East, having contributed to the early Highland group that then became genetically isolated and became the Armenians as we know it today. Think of us as frozen in time for at least 3500 years. Comparing us to modern European groups is like comparing the modern groups to 3500 year old Highland tribes.
So imagine that you have various tribes in the Near East that coalesced to form Armenians. Let’s designate them with alphabetical letters. So assume that people from tribes A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H, and J became genetically isolated during the Bronze Age and coalesced to form Armenians. A few groups of people from some of these tribes, say A-D, migrated to Tuscany and mixed with indigenous tribes M,N,O,P,Q forming modern Tuscans. We can now compare modern Tuscans with modern Armenians as though we were comparing modern Tuscans with ancient Armenians (the Near Eastern tribes from over 3500 years ago) and uncover the links between the two. By doing so, we can recover the fact that Armenians and Tuscans share A-D in their genome. We can then recover ancient DNA from Tuscany and determine when the A-D tribal migration took place. As we do this all over Europe, we find certain patterns. These patterns show that there were substantial population shifts in the genome of Europeans, particularly after the Neolithic, based on Near Eastern waves of migration. The groups that migrated from the Near East during the Mesolithic/Chalcolithic, were later replaced by Early Bronze Age groups, then Mid-Late Bronze Age, then Iron Age, etc. By looking at ancient DNA, and also comparing the admixture of modern populations with each other, we can make sense of how Europe was populated.
Great findings !!! At last !!! One might be interested in knowing that the world’s largest Museum which exclusively represents Armenians , The Armenian Library and Museum of America, in Watertown , Massachusetts , erroneously misrepresents Armenian history to the world by claiming that are Armenians are a random hybrid mongrel race which migrated late into the region during the fall of the Urartian Empire. This supports the false claim that the new comers that arrived in Western Armenia , Ghengis Khan and his hordes ( later known as the Ottoman Empire ( modern day Turkey ) ,now claim. It… Read more »
Contact Aram Hamparian at the ANCA in the US and alert him of this mistake.
Armenians are NOT newcomers to the Armenian Highlands.
That’s a historic fact. And whoever disclaims or has
different beliefs, they must have an agenda.
I might take this article a little more seriously if you had bothered to proofread it before publishing it. What’s your point, anyway? That Armenians are genetically purer than others? Last time I checked, it was 2015, not 1937. Are we really that insecure about ourselves and our history that we need constantly to differentiate ourselves from those cultures that developed around us? Genetic purity? Really?
I did proofread it, but I welcome you to point out the inaccuracies you believe you have discovered. I believe I haven’t mentioned the word “pure” once, nor is it the subject of the article in any way shape or form. Yes Armenians are a “living fossil” when it comes to genealogy, because our genetic makeup mirrors that of ancient inhabitants of Asia Minor and Middle East. And these are not my words, but the words of geneticists like Haber et. al. Armenians are not the only genetic isolates in the region, however we are the oldest studied so far.… Read more »
John Simonian With so much hostility towards Armenian people and their history in your comment you most likely are not an Armenian yourself. And if you are an Armenian, then you bring shame to your people. Armenians are proud of their ethnic roots, their rich ancient history, and thatβs not at all what Iβm getting from you. If you are an Armenian, then you are probably brainwashed by the modern day neo liberal propaganda that teaches everybody to hate their own ethnicity, and pushes for globalization. What is your problem why in the world would you be so angry about… Read more »
John,
Lighten up.
When you feel yourself an armenian, when you feel how your culture and your history are rich and when you see what many armenians became today.. so obviously you want to turn back to old armenia, at least to enjoy what old armenians were and not what they are today, it is not a question of saying that armenian blood is better or whatever you’re trying to say, if you are a real armenian, so you won’t be proud of the colors of your flag, you’ll be proud of the culture and the heritage of armenia. Btw, know that it… Read more »
Can u elaborate on how you came to the conclusion that modern Armenians are worse than older Armenians??
At least this is how you post reads.
I had to double check the last name. Such nay saying from a fellow Armenian John. Very interesting article. Thank you
John – I read it to say that the findings disprove any claims the Azerbaijanis and the Turks make regarding how long the Armenians have lived in the region. They are proving that the land is and has always belonged to the Armenians. From there when they do DNA testing in other parts of Europe they can tell if any Armenians migrated to other countries and when. I believe everything about history is important and finding “living fossils” will help the study of our past and our present more accurate.
Where did you get the racial purity idea? Clearly, we are a mongrol race, an ancient race. Ancient mongrols. Nothing special in that. But, apparently there is something special about the Armenian Bone Marrow Registry.
John this is not about one upping our neighbors in purity. This is about science. This is what scientists do. Studies like this help historians understand history better. They help doctors understand genetic disorders better. A lot of historic sources, falsely, claimed that Armenians are relative new comers to the region. Studies like these prove the opposite and help us understand our own history better. Also, studies like these are helpful in shutting up our two “fantastic” neighbors, Turkey and Azerbaijan, who blatantly lie and try to rewrite history by claiming that Armenians showed up in the region around late… Read more »
The article on the Armenian DNA is most interesting. The next step is to explore its relation to Armenian health issues, such as the district Armenian digestive issue.
[…] and Armenia display less of such Asiatic features. Of course it’s also known by nowΒ from recent genetic studiesΒ that Armenians have remained genetic isolates on the Armenian Highlands for the past 4000 or 5000 […]
[…] ancient Urartian burials that matches the genetic makeup of modern Armenians.Β Read more about it HERE, and […]
This is absolutely amazing ! i am totally obssesed with everything linked to happlogroups and genetic in general and i always try to find out why armenians have such special physical appeareance, i read a lot about our history and one question is always killing me, Why an armenian can recognize another armenian in the street ? Obviously it is because we have something similar but what is it ? or what are they ? so that’s what i’m trying to find and this article was really interesting, Thank you for having created such blog ! and i’m happy for… Read more »
Stela,
I can think of one Physical trait which is described in old Encyclopedias and dictionaries: “the Armenoid Depression.: Yes, a flat cranial plate at the back of the skull. As a child, I was fascinated by that flat spot on balding Armenian men in church. Not all have it. And I’m not sure that the women have it or not.
Can you tell us …which part you mean …you can draw it ..not difficult … because I am more interested in the facial features… Like the eyes, the nose, lips and the dimple on the chin…
Most Caucasian skulls are round in the back. The Armenoid depression is the flat area of the skull. Upper part.
I am not bald but my head is not round for I have a flat portion on the back or my head which I hide by my hairdos
Usually I am avert of expressing myself publicly, but reading this article made my blood boil. Have we got historians or all our prof. and doctors are political writers? I feel embarrassed when I read inventions and lies accompanied with national eulogy – what would a foreign historian think about Armenians? Hayk is of 2492 BC – really?; has anyone thought that 4500 years ago there could not be a Hayk name? (it is created by Mar Apas’ editor). What about all the other names Khorenatsi gives us? Where and when were they kings and what are the meanings of… Read more »
I know that Korduk is Gordion. Heard of the Gordian knot? He that could unravel it would conquer the world. Alexander the Great just took the sword to it and cut it in two. He then wont on and conquered the known world.
@Gabriel Soultanian Do you even understand what you are saying/asking yourself? Are you contending proper scientific undeniable work on Armenian genetics (from western scholars) who have compared Armenian DNA to ancient bones they dig up on Armenian Highlands and conclude that Armenians are indeed direct descendants of these ancient people and have remained isolated for at least 4000 years? Haber is not the only research who came to this very conclusion, read the article properly and you’ll see that study after study, in fact ALL studies concerning ancient DNA and Armenian genetics have come to the very same conclusion. How… Read more »
I have read what ADMIN writes about my comments. I am sorry my remarks have made you angry, but please do not loose your scholarly dignity and do not personalize your comments. We are not enemies, but persons involved in the examination of certain historical cases. For you I have two questions to start with. After you answer these questions and provided you are inclined to continue the discussion, we can discuss the matter of the Armenian DNK, and later still “why Alexander did not conquere Armenia” etc. My first question concerns Hayk. You say he belongs to 2492 BC.… Read more »
I have read what ADMIN writes about my comments. I am sorry my remarks have made you angry, but please do not loose your scholarly dignity and do not personalize your comments. We are not enemies, but persons involved in the examination of certain historical cases. For you I have two questions to start with. After you answer these questions and provided you are inclined to continue the discussion, we can discuss the matter of the Armenian DNK, and later still βwhy Alexander did not conquere Armeniaβ etc. My first question concerns Hayk. You say he belongs to 2492 BC.… Read more »
BELL (sometimes pronounced PELL)is known in the West as BELLUS the Tyrant.
If you don’t want the comments to be personalized you shouldn’t have written such nonsense as “Have we got historians or all our prof. and doctors are political writers? I feel embarrassed when I read inventions and lies accompanied with national eulogy β what would a foreign historian think about Armenians?” Especially when the research actually comes from foreign scholars in the first place. You are accusing us of disingenuousness and chauvinism without even understanding what you’re talking about. The entire article is perfectly referenced to foreign sources. The conclusions discussed here don’t even come from Armenian scholars. No proper… Read more »
I hope what you write make sense to you, Mr. Sultan
How about God …??? is another Myth… People pray for something never exists…You can never change them …for that reason I wrote my poetry book “Your Brain ‘Is Not’ a Box (2018)
Today Even science points to a creator
I have failed to find any study, a proper, scientific work, that confirms even remotely the above article. I was able to find a number of unscientific, racial, supremacist and other similar vernaculars about a number of “living fossils”, each and every one not at all that important nor that old as the proponents want the readers to believe. The only scientific truth about the DNA of Armenian people is that they are genetically identical to Turks. The only difference is, as always and therein lies the answer to these immortal “unique people” delusions, religion. If anyone has a scientific… Read more »
Dear, Dr. Prof. Lord. King. Emperor. Damir Matulovic, Your failure of finding “any study, a proper, scientific work, that confirms even remotely the above article” says more about you and your ability to research facts than the article itself. The article is perfectly referenced to the appropriate sources and linked to them within the text (just click the green text and it will take you there. I know it’s almost like magic). If you took the time to actually read the text you’d probably find out. The sources are perfectly academic some of which are published in the prestigious academic… Read more »
Dr. blah blah blah this study is included in the official Wikipedia source
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_Armenians Read under genetic origins.
Iβm sure if these were some unreliable, suspicious studies the Wikipedia source would not be including them
Dear admin (Lord? King? Emperor?), If you want to apologise, try first apologising for your arrogance and ignorance. One single study, which is incomplete and inconclusive in evidence, and it relies on author’s personal opinion is all you have. The rest of your “links” to the blogs are just a confirmation of your argument being pure wishful thinking. Modern Armenians ARE of turco-mongolian origins. That has been established through genetics. I suggest you, since you are good with blog links, try and search for scientific genetic studies beyond that one single study you managed to find in support of your… Read more »
Dear Dr. (who are you kidding you’re not a doctor, you wouldn’t recognize scientific literature if your life depended on it) Damir Matulovic, The apology for the arrogance and slander spewed in this comment section should come from you. But I cannot expect an apology from someone so ignorant and filled with hatred and envy towards Armenians such as yourself. I have supplied multiple papers, some of which are published in Nature and Science… Others come from the most elaborate Armenian DNA project results of which have recently been revealed at the Library Of Congress in USA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etBNo0638Pw Another study… Read more »
Dear Dr. …
I kept reading & rereading..
You’re just arguing with no reason, with no factual studies not even blogs or links. Instead of asking the admin to search, why don’t you find even a single one yourself??!!!!!! Or maube because yoy didn’t find anything to suppirt your claims??
Bye bye dear Dr. Whatever your name or origin.
Armenian are not Turko-Mongolian they don’t have their eyes …which is very dominant genes can never disappear … like the black skin genes, which is dominant … Armenian have a special nose … which never exist among Mongolian genes… Mongolians have small, flat noses… Even Turks are changed… because they arrived and raped .. Armenian, Greek, Kurdish girls …and created new facial features, new shape… and new genes…
I have read what Dr. Damir Matulovic has written. I wonder what subject he is a doctor of, since his arguments are those of a dimwit. Does he not know that the Turkish people first appeared in the Middle East as the mercenaries of the Persians? As for Armenians, in the present Indo-European conglomerate we are the first people who had a writing system and proper literature, at least 250 years before the Greeks, we had minstrels far earlier than Homer – these are confimed by the inscriptions I have translated into English – read my articles at “Academia.edu” or… Read more »
Political sciences. It goes to show how primitive you are, from “lord of the rings” admin to the other genius, and everyone else who is contemplating joining in personal attacks on someone who is telling you the reality. Recurring to personal attacks show the lack of actual argument in favour of your delusional idea. I can see that you cannot even read those two papers, which are – only apparently – supporting your fantasy. if you could, you would have noticed that neither of the two papers actually identifies that “European” gene of yours. It only insinuates it. Later research… Read more »
No that’s not correct, I have cited plenty of evidence and perfectly valid arguments that you are unable to challenge it seems. The personal “attacks” as you claim are a way of calling you out on your bullshit! Your first comment was disrespectful to begin with, your title Dr. is obviously fabricated to appear as some false authority and your claim that you failed to find any study even though I have provided all the links in the article is nothing but a joke! But it is clear that you have no idea what you’re talking about and only dismiss… Read more »
Admin. I sometimes wish there was a toggle that just eliminated the Muslims from our discussions. It seems to me a huge waste of time and effort to argue for your right to exist with a person full of hatred for everything Armenian. DNA results show Turks to be “acculturated Armenians”. But that does not make them Armenians. Because Muslims love Mohammad, they emulate him whenever possible. So, they marry their first cousins. For a thousand years, the acculturated Muslim Armenians have been inbreeding. Have you noticed even one Nobel prize winner among them? We contributed so much genetic material… Read more »
Fantastic work. Can not thank you enough! I also enjoy your replies to idiotic comments π
[…] Highlands has already been established by countless previous genetic studies (read for example HERE, HERE, HEREΒ or […]
HELLO MY FATHER IS ARMENIAN AS FAR AS I KNOW.MY DNA SHOWED THAT I HAVE INHERITED ABOUT 40 PERCENT ASIA MINOR ONLY ASIA MINOR DOES THAT MEAN THAT HE IS ONLY ARMENIAN OR IS HE MIXED WITH OTHER ETHNICITIES LIKE TYRKISH OR MONGOLIAN.
If your father is Armenian, than he is 100% Armenian. There are no Turkish or Mongolian genes in Armenian DNA.
[…] The same conclusion was reached byΒ Hellenthal et. al. (2014) in theirΒ Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History, published in Science magazine. Because of such findings some scholars have referred to modern ArmeniansΒ as a βLiving Fossilβ. […]
[…] recent genetic studies have revealed Armenian continuity for over 4000 years. Another new study researching ancient maternal DNA from skeletal remains […]
DNA studies are very important and unreplaceable …But the facial features can tell a lot as well …
The forehead, the eyes, the nose, the lips…and the cleft chin (dimple on the chin) which I have observed on the most Armenians even my family …
Whats the Haplogroup? That’s all that matter-ibn Ara Mt. Aratta
Thank you for this article very interesting and I appreciated your point at the end of the Armenian presence on the land for thousands of years. Claiming our distinct cultural connection to the land. I did get a little niggling feeling that the article made Arnenians sound like a culture of inbreds. Anyone feel that? Especially since the Armenian conviction of Odar is so strong in our communities. In any case thank you for sharing this valuable research