HISTORY LESSON

There wasn’t a Caucasian in sight when Egypt was founded in the 4th millennium BCE. Not even a significant presence in the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Southeastern Turkey). 

The chart is from the paper “Iosif Lazaridis et al. , Ancient DNA from Mesopotamia suggests distinct Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic migrations into Anatolia. Science377,982-987(2022).”

It provides evidence that Caucasus hunter-gatherer (CHG) ancestry was not dominant in the Levant or Egypt around the time Egypt was established during the 4th millennium BCE. The chart illustrates changes in CHG-related ancestry in the Levant over time, with distinct periods marked by different archaeological phases, from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to the Medieval period.

From the data, we see that CHG ancestry remains relatively low during the Pre-Pottery and early Neolithic periods (circa 9000-6000 years BP), showing that there wasn’t a significant CHG presence in the Levant during this time. The proportion of CHG ancestry increases notably in the Bronze Age (circa 3000-4000 years BP), but this is already after the establishment of ancient Egypt, which began its unified state formation around 3100 BCE.

Thus, this chart confirms that during the formation of early Egyptian civilization, Caucasus-related ancestry was minimal in the Levant. It only became more prominent in later millennia, well after Egypt’s foundation, supporting the argument that Caucasians were not a dominant genetic influence during Egypt’s emergence. This aligns with the broader consensus that early Egypt was more closely related to the populations of North Africa and the Nile Valley, rather than the Caucasus region.

What about Caucasian Neolithic populations you ask? Well, Near Eastern and Levantine farmers disseminated farming to Europe, not the other way around. This is one of the key insights from genetic and archaeological research on the Neolithic Revolution, which saw the development and spread of agriculture around 10,000 years ago.

During the Neolithic period, farming practices first emerged in the Fertile Crescent, a region that includes parts of modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and southeastern Turkey. The early agricultural societies in the Near East and Levant developed crop cultivation, animal domestication, and settled village life. This agricultural knowledge, along with populations of early farmers, gradually spread into Europe.

Genetic studies show that farming spread through two main mechanisms: population movement and cultural diffusion. Farmers from the Near East migrated westward into Europe, carrying their farming techniques with them. This migration is reflected in the genetic continuity between early European farmers and Near Eastern populations, indicating that these farmers moved into Europe rather than Europeans moving eastward to learn agriculture. The introduction of farming into Europe significantly altered the genetic makeup of the continent’s populations as these farmers mixed with local hunter-gatherers.

One well-supported genetic model demonstrates that early European Neolithic farmers are closely related to the agriculturalists from the Near East, particularly from Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) and the Levant, as shown by ancient DNA studies. This population replacement or mixing is a major reason for the genetic shift in Europe during the early Neolithic.

In contrast, there is no evidence to suggest that Europe was a center of agricultural innovation or that European hunter-gatherers introduced farming to the Near East. Instead, Europe adopted farming from the east as part of a broader migration of populations from the Near East, marking the spread of one of the most transformative developments in human history.