In other words, the preprint observes that the migration from the steppes to South Asia was the source of the Indo-European languages in the subcontinent. Commenting on this, Rai said, “any model of migration of Indo-Europeans from South Asia simply cannot fit the data that is now available.”
Some more comments at my other weblog.
At this point, we need to move to other things. I think the broad genetic framework is pretty clear.
1) The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) people were a mix of eastern West Asian (from modern Iran) people and native South Asian peoples (~80% of South Asian mtDNA are haplogroup M).
2) ~1500 BC a major incursion from the steppe occurred and overlaid upon #1 to various extents as a function of region, language, and caste.
3) ~0 to 500 AD the strong endogamy that characterizes modern South Asians seems to have established itself.
I am unable to understand your argument of possibility of caste like structure in IVC or it pre originating vedic groups. What is the evidence and what confidence do you have that the evidence will continue to hold up in future as well. A separate article on this speculation if you please. It just seems unnecessary speculation to me. speculation that might drive another wild goose chase. Thank you.
“~1500 BC a major incursion from the steppe occurred and overlaid upon #1 to various extents as a function of region, language, and caste.”
I would say ~2000 – 1400 BC, particularly if you are looking at the whole of South Asia which took time and probably involved at least two successive waves in Northern South Asia, but would otherwise agree.
the steppe ancestry does not show up in BMAC before 1750. so i lean toward a later date….
Sir, how many samples are typically needed to comprise evidence of absence with high probability?
My estimate is based mostly on the earliest plausible estimates from Cemetery H. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cemetery_H_culture
A date like 1700 BCE would be possible, but then there’s some uncertainty in both directions from there.
Razib did you look into this reddit thread about caste discussion i shared before –
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8ck050/is_the_usage_of_term_caste_a_result_of/
Would love to read your perspective about it.