Genetic Insights into the Origins of Armenians

This review summarizes approximately twenty-five years of research into Armenians’ genetic history based on modern and ancient DNA samples. Studies of uniparentally inherited traits and whole-genome data indicate a rather homogeneous genetic structure among various geographical groups of historical Armenia. A significant level of genetic continuity, more than six thousand years, is observed in the eastern areas of the Armenian highlands. The genetic findings strongly dismiss the Balkan theory regarding the origins of Armenians and indicate a genetic influx from Levantine sources into the region during/after the second millennium B.C. Another significant finding is that there are almost no traces of Mongol, Turkic, or Arab conquerors in Armenians’ paternal and maternal gene pools, despite these groups having invaded the Armenian highlands multiple times after the region’s ethnogenetic processes were completed

Armenian · Central asia · Gene pool · Genetic data · Genetic relationship · Genetic structure · Homogeneous · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Forensic and Genetic Research · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies