Taranis
Elite member
The Nuristani people are an obscure ethnic group in northeastern Afghanistan which is, as I will explain, however very interesting from the bigger perspective:
Up until the late 19th century, the region of Nuristan was refered to as 'Kafiristan' (from the Arabic word for 'heathen' or 'infidel'), due to the fact that the population of this area were not Muslims, but practiced a polytheistic religion. In the late 19th century, they were forcibly converted to Islam by the Emir of Afghanistan and the region was renamed.
The really interesting part is the linguistic perspective: the Nuristani languages essentially represent their own separate third branch of the Indo-Iranic languages, along with the Iranic and the Indic (or Indo-Aryan) languages.
One interesting aspect is that amongst the Nuristanis, features like light hair and blue eyes are apparently more common:
So, I was going to ask if there is anybody who knows if there has been any studies on Nuristani DNA, because this might be very interesting to take a look at, especially also in regard for trace the origin of the Indo-European languages.
Up until the late 19th century, the region of Nuristan was refered to as 'Kafiristan' (from the Arabic word for 'heathen' or 'infidel'), due to the fact that the population of this area were not Muslims, but practiced a polytheistic religion. In the late 19th century, they were forcibly converted to Islam by the Emir of Afghanistan and the region was renamed.
The really interesting part is the linguistic perspective: the Nuristani languages essentially represent their own separate third branch of the Indo-Iranic languages, along with the Iranic and the Indic (or Indo-Aryan) languages.
One interesting aspect is that amongst the Nuristanis, features like light hair and blue eyes are apparently more common:
So, I was going to ask if there is anybody who knows if there has been any studies on Nuristani DNA, because this might be very interesting to take a look at, especially also in regard for trace the origin of the Indo-European languages.