New Finnish samples from the late Iron Age and Finnish historic times

I found 49 ancient Finnish samples in ENA (European Nucleotide Archive) and downloaded them to my computer. The samples are from Häme, Pirkanmaa, and are almost 1000 years old or younger. My intention is not to analyze them because, with the exception of a couple, they look like modern Finns and based on this I would only conclude that they are Finns and that Finns lived in Finland already 1000 years ago.  It is known history.   Too much work compared to benefits. 

New study: Mothers on the move – thousands of complete mitochondrial sequences reveal the layered formation of the common maternal genepool of Finland and Estonia.

Here my summary of the study (-> link ).

Shared mtDna:

• The study found that a substantial portion of mtDNA sequences (around 40% in Finland and 15% in Estonia) belong to monophyletic clusters shared between the two countries, indicating a long-standing genetic connection.
•  Temporal and Concurrent Structure:

  These shared lineages are not randomly distributed but show a temporal structure, with different layers corresponding to different periods, from the Late Neolithic to the Middle Ages.
• Migration Patterns:

  The research associates some of these mtDNA lineages with the movement of people, as evidenced by archaeological findings and studies on Y-chromosome and ancient DNA.
• Languages:

  The study also notes an increase in the maternal effective population size during the Iron Age, coinciding with the diversification time of Finnic languages, suggesting a link between language and genetic history.
• Homogeneity Notion:

  Unlike the general perception of a relatively homogenous European mitochondrial genepool, this study reveals a geographic pattern in mtDNA distribution, particularly when considering related populations like Finland and Estonia.
• Limited Shared Lineages with Sweden:

  Despite geographic proximity and historical Swedish settlements, only a small percentage of mtDNA sequences in both Finland and Estonia form common clusters with Sweden (8% in Finland and only 2% in Estonia), indicating a more significant genetic contribution from other sources.

Old Novgorod

 According to Russian historical books, Novgorod was a multinational trading place, whose administration represented an early form of democracy. The city's nationalities also include Finns and Karelians, who are originally from Finnish tribes.

The graphic I have made now indeed shows that Finnish roots can still be found 554 years after the city lost its independence. Moscow conquered the city in 1471. Finnish heritage today is of course not even close to what it was at the time of Novgorod's greatness.

It must be considered that the current PCA only covers the relationships between the peoples represented in it. For example, Siberian heritage is therefore ignored, as are Caucasian and southern influences. Scandinavia and the Baltic have been taken into account. Of course, a two-dimensional presentation with the two most significant PCA dimensions does not cover all similarities, but based on the image it is clear that in Novgorod, Finnishness is clearly stronger than Scandinavianness.

This result raises questions among both Finns and Russians. Politics aside, I fully understand the problems with genetics-based demography because of its possible new interpretations. However, we must ask what is a new interpretation of things and whether a new interpretation of history is always progressive. These things need to be examined openly, both in terms of the data and the results obtained.

Mordovians lean towards eastern Finno-Ugric people, which are not included in this picture.

The Kursk sample is an outlier, drifting another one a bit to the same direction.

New article sheds light on the Scandinavian Iron Age

 Here is an interesting article (-> link )  that definitely requires more in-depth study. The migration history of the Scandinavian Iron Age has been divided into three phases using a new (?) arithmetic. In the first phase, in the Middle Roman Iron Age, we see migrations from northern Germany and Scandinavia to Central Europe. In the second phase, covering the later Roman Iron Age, the Migration Period and the Merovingian period, we see migrations from the south (it will say from Central Europe) into Scandinavia. This migration would explain two key observations: 1) Anglo-Saxon finds deep in the Swedish Great Lakes region, suggesting even more southern cultural influences, and 2) the shift of the genetic makeup of modern Scandinavians to a more southern location compared to earlier Scandinavian genome samples. In the third phase, during the Viking Age, the expansion of Scandinavian trade and military expeditions to all directions.

My task is to search the Middle Roman Age samples used in the study and place them in a Fennoscandinavian context. 

Viking Age samples among Scandinavians without Scandinavian similarity

Due to the acidic soil of Finland, which I already referred to earlier, organic matter can be preserved in it for a maximum of 1000 years, in special cases 1500 years. Mostly in the rest of the world, and also in the area surrounding Finland, organic matter can be preserved for thousands, even tens of thousands of years. The reason for the acidity of the soil is the lack of limestone. Finland is one of the oldest soils on Earth and is made up of granite and gneiss. A uniform soil of a similar age can only be found in Canada. For example, in Estonia, south of the Gulf of Finland, the main soil material is limestone, sandstone and clay, in which organic matter is preserved well. The bedrock is hundreds of meters deep in Estonia, while in Finland it is almost at the surface. 

Due to this preservation problem, the prehistory of the Finns is largely shrouded in mystery. Generally speaking, it is difficult to reliably conclude about the course of prehistory from the current population, because peoples mix over thousands of years. If you mix 50 grams of salt with one liter of water, you get 4.76% salt water, even though the mixture still contains 1 liter of original fresh water. For this reason, the evidence that 5% Siberian proves that Finns came from Siberia is weak. 

Siberian ancestry is found throughout northeastern Europe, because the region borders the settlement area of ​​​​Siberian tribes. The same applies to northern Russians, to a greater extent, after the Slavs moved closer to the Siberian-based settlement. Of course, the Uralic language came from the east. 

Over the course of thousands of years, peoples have mixed, languages ​​​​and genes have also diverged everywhere. The final disposal place of overzealous interdisciplinary theories, often racist, has always been subsequently in the dustbin of historical research. The ambitions of today's researcher do not differ substantially from the ambitions of a researcher in the 19th century. There is no reason to be complacent. Knowledge increases, becomes often more comlicated and it opens up new possibilities for making correct, but also incorrect, conclusions. Sometimes new knowledge can be based on old, sometimes not. History has been a continuous mixing of ideas and object cultures.

The dstat test I have now performed describes the relationship of Finns, Estonians, Poles and Swedes to the Viking Age samples I used in the previous test. The reliability of the small number of SNPs in the samples is not top-notch, but a clear consistency is visible. Yellow cells mean more similarity with the ancient sample in the first column.

These samples represent only a fraction of Scandinavian samples representing Baltic Finnic or merely Finnish likelihood or mixtures of typical Viking Age Scandinavians and Baltic Finnic people.

Käännöstulokset

Käänn

Läh

Käännöstulokset

KäännöstulDue to the acidic soil of Finland, which I already referred to earlier, organic matter can be preserved in it for a maximum of 1000 years, in special cases 1500 years. Mostly in the rest of the world, and also in the area surrounding Finland, organic matter can be preserved for thousands, even tens of thousands of years. The reason for the acidity of the soil is the lack of limestone. Finland is one of the oldest soils on Earth and is made up of granite and gneiss. A uniform soil of a similar age can only be found in Canada. For example, in Estonia, south of the Gulf of Finland, the main soil material is limestone, sandstone and clay, in which organic matter is preserved well. The bedrock is hundreds of meters deep in Estonia, while in Finland it is almost at the surface.

Where have all ancient Finns gone?

Do we need ancient Finnic samples from Eura? Maybe not, because Finns escaped the curse of the acidic soil elsewhere. Some went to Aldeigjuborg, some to Ojumaa. A Finnish Eura woman traveled to Aldeigjuborg (the ancient name of Staraja Ladoga) , N1a traders went to Ojumaa (the ancient name of Gotland). The woman was also identified as ancient Eura citizen based on the carbon isotopes of the food she ate, explained here.  All of these cases are identified as ancient Finns based on Dstat and Eurogenes-G25 analysis. In addition to these three, I found several potential Finnish samples.

Eurogenes distances:

Sample data from the study https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2688-8 can be found here.  

Edit 19.4.24 16.30

The test with the Eurogenes K13 admixture test shows that several people I have assessed as Finns meet the criteria for Baltic and North Atlantic shares. Estonians typically have a smaller North Atlantic share than Finns (about 30% for Estonians, even less for Balts), while Swedes have a North Atlantic share closer to 50%. Finns fall in between. The Baltic share is the inverse of the North Atlantic share. A high Siberian share is typical for Finns, but its amount depends on the amount of Sámi admixture. The Siberian share of modern Sámi Finns varies between 3-12%. VK21 falls in the middle of this area. Staraja Ladogan lady VK21 is most definitely Finnish by modern standards. The other VK samples are in the border area between Estonia and Finland, with exception of VK160, which falls into a Baltic category (maybe VK457 too). West Asia and West-Med were the Achilles heels of this test (West-Med was randomly drawn out from the North Atlantic)

G25 coordinate exercize

 It's time to come up with something to fill the blog with again, so I thought I'd take a look at what Iron Age Northern Europe looks like in the light of the G25 coordinates. The first picture shows the result after removing the Iron Age samples from the region of the modern Russia and the second one shows the results of all samples.

A few observations:

- Iron Age samples found in Sweden spread genetically eastward over a wide area. The influence of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea can be seen on the Swedish side and many samples look like Balts, but only one shows Asian (Saami) affinity, four in lesser amount.

- the deceased in the Viking graves found in Poland are related to some influence from the eastern side of Sweden.  However, the deceased from the Polish Wielbark culture are quite Central European.

- there are still no samples of the ancient Finnish population from the Finnish region, so no one can say anything for sure about their genetic profile. All speculations about the relative influences of the Finno-Ugric, Germanic and Arctic populations are pointless until we have the ancient Finnish samples available.

- an ethnic profile is the sum of many factors. It involves heredity, language and culture. This test does not aim to present an ethnic profile, but only genetic differentiation by region. It is completely pointless to claim that a Swede is this way, a Finn is that and an Estonian is that. However, by choosing historical samples from the Iron Age and younger, the test provides a good continuity with the present day compared to using older antique samples.

- there is a lot of Asian heritage in the Russian Iron Age sample set, which should be visible in coordinates of the Finns 

- Eurogenes G25 data is based on global PCA coordinates and the result does not correspond to the result based on regional differences. Thus, the result does not correspond to the result obtained based on regional-specific genome data. Regional-specific genome data does not take into account the effect of population connections outside the region, G25 data does. This is a secondary PCA based on G25-coordinates.  

Colors:

Blue Estonia_IA

Blue Estonia_Med

Yellow Sweden_IA

Green Norway_IA

Brown Russia_IA

Brown Ingria:IA

Black Germany_IA

Green Norway_Med

Brown Russia_Med

Black Saxon_Med

Black Germany_Med

Red Poland_Vik

Red Poland_Wielbark

Darkblue Finland_IA

Black/Star mauri, Estonian avg Finnish avg, Swedish avg

Readers, if you want to see your location on the map, plese send your scaled G25 coordinates to the gmail address kassu220977<at> and you will receive a picture in the return mail. I will keep the address active until the end of April and send the results at the beginning of May. I do not need your personal information, only email for the reply.