Angela
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See:
Bioarchaeological evidence of one of the earliest Islamic burials in the Levant | Communications Biology (nature.com)
I would change interestingly, to as expected.
"The Middle East plays a central role in human history harbouring a vast diversity of ethnic, cultural and religious groups. However, much remains to be understood about past and present genomic diversity in this region. Here we present a multidisciplinary bioarchaeological analysis of two individuals dated to the late 7th and early 8th centuries, the Umayyad Era, from Tell Qarassa, an open-air site in modern-day Syria. Radiocarbon dates and burial type are consistent with one of the earliest Islamic Arab burials in the Levant. Interestingly, we found genomic similarity to a genotyped group of modern-day Bedouins and Saudi rather than to most neighbouring Levantine groups. This study represents the genomic analysis of a secondary use site with characteristics consistent with an early Islamic burial in the Levant. We discuss our findings and possible historic scenarios in the light of forces such as genetic drift and their possible interaction with religious and cultural processes (including diet and subsistence practices)."
"Together with the radiocarbon dates, the wrapping, the position and orientation of the bodies facing Mecca are concordant with Muslim funerary rituals following Early Islamic burials24. However, these individuals were not buried in a traditional Muslim cemetery. This may be explained due to special circumstances of death or cultural identity: nomadic populations, pilgrims, deviant burials or plague victims. The requirement of a Muslim burial to take place within 24 h after death might have made some compromises necessary. It is known that one of the defining features of Muslim burials is that of only one person per grave, which implies that husbands and wives are not buried together, and collective family tombs are forbidden. Nonetheless, occasionally and in extreme circumstances this can be relaxed for victims of plague or warfare (Supplementary Note S1 – Muslim Burials). Also, the close proximity of radiocarbon dates for syr005 (1294 ± 18 Cal BP) and syr013 (1302 ± 15 Cal BP) suggest that both individuals died at a similar time."
The bodies could be checked for yestina pestis. My literary and romantic brain immediately thought: Romeo and Juliet?
Couldn't they refine the y more than this?
" Individuals syr005 and syr013 were determined to carry mitochondrial haplogroups J2a2a1a1 and R0a2, respectively. Both haplogroups are common in the Arabian Peninsula, Near East and parts of Africa31,32 in concordance with the broad geographical location of the samples. In addition, the Y chromosome of syr005 was determined as haplogroup J, which is the most common haplogroup across the Middle East33 (Table S3)."
The admixture runs are quite interesting too. Easy to see that Bedouin A is admixed and Bedouin B is not. You can clearly see the SSA intrusion into North Africa, and the large amount of Levant Neo in Anatolia Neo is quite clear.
"We used Beagle 4.137 to analyze sharing of tracts of identity by descent (IBD) between syr013 and present-day populations. Consistent with other results, the highest number and total length of IBD tracts was shared with multiple Bedouin B individuals and a single Saudi individual in the Human Origins 2.0 dataset (Fig. 5a). This confirms the connection between the UEB individuals and nomadic Levantines as well as to the Arabian peninsula."
Bioarchaeological evidence of one of the earliest Islamic burials in the Levant | Communications Biology (nature.com)
I would change interestingly, to as expected.
"The Middle East plays a central role in human history harbouring a vast diversity of ethnic, cultural and religious groups. However, much remains to be understood about past and present genomic diversity in this region. Here we present a multidisciplinary bioarchaeological analysis of two individuals dated to the late 7th and early 8th centuries, the Umayyad Era, from Tell Qarassa, an open-air site in modern-day Syria. Radiocarbon dates and burial type are consistent with one of the earliest Islamic Arab burials in the Levant. Interestingly, we found genomic similarity to a genotyped group of modern-day Bedouins and Saudi rather than to most neighbouring Levantine groups. This study represents the genomic analysis of a secondary use site with characteristics consistent with an early Islamic burial in the Levant. We discuss our findings and possible historic scenarios in the light of forces such as genetic drift and their possible interaction with religious and cultural processes (including diet and subsistence practices)."
"Together with the radiocarbon dates, the wrapping, the position and orientation of the bodies facing Mecca are concordant with Muslim funerary rituals following Early Islamic burials24. However, these individuals were not buried in a traditional Muslim cemetery. This may be explained due to special circumstances of death or cultural identity: nomadic populations, pilgrims, deviant burials or plague victims. The requirement of a Muslim burial to take place within 24 h after death might have made some compromises necessary. It is known that one of the defining features of Muslim burials is that of only one person per grave, which implies that husbands and wives are not buried together, and collective family tombs are forbidden. Nonetheless, occasionally and in extreme circumstances this can be relaxed for victims of plague or warfare (Supplementary Note S1 – Muslim Burials). Also, the close proximity of radiocarbon dates for syr005 (1294 ± 18 Cal BP) and syr013 (1302 ± 15 Cal BP) suggest that both individuals died at a similar time."
The bodies could be checked for yestina pestis. My literary and romantic brain immediately thought: Romeo and Juliet?
Couldn't they refine the y more than this?
" Individuals syr005 and syr013 were determined to carry mitochondrial haplogroups J2a2a1a1 and R0a2, respectively. Both haplogroups are common in the Arabian Peninsula, Near East and parts of Africa31,32 in concordance with the broad geographical location of the samples. In addition, the Y chromosome of syr005 was determined as haplogroup J, which is the most common haplogroup across the Middle East33 (Table S3)."
The admixture runs are quite interesting too. Easy to see that Bedouin A is admixed and Bedouin B is not. You can clearly see the SSA intrusion into North Africa, and the large amount of Levant Neo in Anatolia Neo is quite clear.
"We used Beagle 4.137 to analyze sharing of tracts of identity by descent (IBD) between syr013 and present-day populations. Consistent with other results, the highest number and total length of IBD tracts was shared with multiple Bedouin B individuals and a single Saudi individual in the Human Origins 2.0 dataset (Fig. 5a). This confirms the connection between the UEB individuals and nomadic Levantines as well as to the Arabian peninsula."
