Estonian study from 2020 deepens the Estonian genetic geography

 The Estonian study Vasili Pankratov et al.  (link) shows the genetic structure of Estonians and the relationship of each province to the geographical environment. The research does not really bring anything new, but it does confirm a lot of what is already known with the help of extensive genetic material. In sum, the population of the northern parts of Estonia is more mixed than the south and wider in diversity (shares smaller IBD episodes) and has a wider population base (Ne reading). All of a sudden, this destroys the notion of Estonians' heterogeneous Balticness and leaves the Finnish and Russian demographic influence in Estonia still open.  

Comments

- figure 1 (b) describes the relationship of other populations with Estonians more than the relationship of Estonians with other populations, especially for the reason that no reference groups have been presented for Northern Russians.

- finestructure is not capable of historical context and easily gives misleading results about the origin of populations. Waiting for an analysis capable of historical context...

New study drills down to the Scandinavian prehistory

 A new study sheds light on the development of Scandinavian settlement from the late Neolithic period to modern times. The research aims to evaluate the genomic results partly also from the perspectives of linguistics and archaeology. The research is so extensive that getting familiar with it takes a lot of time, so I won't even try to draw conclusions here. A few points already at this point. The term East Scandinavian created in the study mainly means the area of Sweden. Its counterweight is southern Scandinavia, mainly meaning the Danish region. The mixing of these areas into modern Scandinavians took place 3000-4000 years ago in southern Scandinavia. On the basis of this, it must be assumed that the migration took place from north to south, which was also brought up in the previous study dealing with the issue. From the point of view of linguistics, the interesting question of where the Scandinavian and Germanic language group was born still remains open, even though the issue is sidestepped cross-disciplinaryly by means of genetics. No more than Eastern Sweden and the Western Baltic can be reached here, and no evidence is presented. From the point of view of Finland, two samples from Ostrobothnia are interestingly found in the new material, which at a quick look look more like Finns, in contrast to previous Sami and Scandinavian type samples from the same area. In itself, the fact that all these genotypes can be found in the same area in Ostrobothnia is not surprising, because the area was the starting point of the eastern trade route of the Scandinavians before it moved to the Gulf of Finland and the Daugava river.

Razib Khan's special interest in Finnish culture/ancestry

 Razib Khan is a Pakistani-American genetist being active in population genetics and has a long work history in creating tools for consumer business in that area.  I have followed his online writings and impact in creating software tools for companies selling genetic ancestry analyses.  All the time he has had a special interest in Finnish culture and  genetic history.  It has been pleasure to read his wonderful visions about us and see the progress in his comprehension.  Read and enjoy  about his latest writings.

https://www.razibkhan.com/p/finnish-brains-baiting-and-bottlenecks

https://www.razibkhan.com/p/weirdness-as-a-national-pastime

https://www.razibkhan.com/p/go-west-young-siberian

https://www.razibkhan.com/p/from-deepest-siberia-to-europes-edge

https://www.razibkhan.com/p/frontier-finns-cabins-rakes-and-indians

Razib Khans blog:  https://www.gnxp.com/

Nothing new in Sweden since the Bronze Age?

 Thanks to Danish researchers for releasing Scandinavian Bronze Age samples, available at ENA. I downloaded bam files of those Scandinavian Bronze Age I1 men mentioned in my previous post, processed them and ran a PCA plot, including present-day Europeans.  Here is a screenshot of the study preprint picture of corresponding samples:

The plot (below) shows evidently that all those I1 samples locate in the same position with present-day Swedes, excluding Swedish individuals showing Finnish influence. The similarity with Swedes after 3000-4000 years actually a bit surprises me.  Deeper eigenvectors show a bit more western tendency, though. Pity I have no modern Danish samples to compare with them.  Finnish I1 samples don't differ in any aspect from the modern Finnish population, which is an expected result and shows identical impact of long-term local influence as it has been the case also in Sweden, see the preprint picture where the BA I1 sample group diverges from the ancient Central European sample group.