Preface. Note to Maps. Maps. Introduction. 1. Are Nations Modern?. a Modernistsa and a Primordialistsa . Ethnie, Myths and Symbols. The Durability of Ethnic Communities. Part I: Ethnic Communities in Pre--Modern Eras:. 2. Foundations of Ethnic Community. The Dimensions of Ethnie. Some Bases of Ethnic Formation. Structure and persistence of Ethnie. 3. Ethnie and Ethnicism in History. Uniqueness and Exclusion. Ethnic Resistance and Renewal. External Threat and Ethnic Response. Two Types of Ethnic Mythomoteur. 4. Class and Ethnie in Agrarian Societies. Military Mobilization and Ethnic Consciousness. Two Types of Ethnie. Ethnic Polities. 5. Ethnic Survival and Dissolution. Location and Sovereignty. Demographic and Cultural Continuity. Dissolution of Ethnie. Ethnic Survival. Ethnic Socialization and Religious Renewal. Part II: Ethnie and Nations in the Modern Era. 6. The Formation of Nations. Western Revolutions. Territorial and Ethnic Nations. Nation--Formation. The Ethnic Model. Ethnic Solidarity or Political Citizenship?. 7. From Ethnie to Nation. Politicization of Ethnie. The New Priesthood. Autarchy and Territorialization. Mobilization and Inclusion. The New Imagination. 8. Legends and Landscapes. Nostalgia and Posterity. The Sense of a The Pasta . Romantic Nationalism as an a Historical Dramaa . Poetic Spaces: The Uses of Landscape. Golden Ages: The Uses of History. Myths and Nation--Building. 9. The Genealogy of Nations. Parmenideans and Heraclitans. The a Antiquitya of Nations. Transcending Ethnicity?. A World of Small Nations. Ethnic Mobilization and Global Security. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

The Ethnic Origins of Nations

Human gut microbiome composition is shaped by multiple factors but the relative contribution of host genetics remains elusive. Here we examine genotype and microbiome data from 1,046 healthy individuals with several distinct ancestral origins who share a relatively common environment, and demonstrate that the gut microbiome is not significantly associated with genetic ancestry, and that host genetics have a minor role in determining microbiome composition. We show that, by contrast, there are significant similarities in the compositions of the microbiomes of genetically unrelated individuals who share a household, and that over 20% of the inter-person microbiome variability is associated with factors related to diet, drugs and anthropometric measurements. We further demonstrate that microbiome data significantly improve the prediction accuracy for many human traits, such as glucose and obesity measures, compared to models that use only host genetic and environmental data. These results suggest that microbiome alterations aimed at improving clinical outcomes may be carried out across diverse genetic backgrounds.

Environment dominates over host genetics in shaping human gut microbiota

Modern genetic data combined with appropriate statistical methods have the potential to contribute substantially to our understanding of human history. We have developed an approach that exploits the genomic structure of admixed populations to date and characterize historical mixture events at fine scales. We used this to produce an atlas of worldwide human admixture history, constructed by using genetic data alone and encompassing over 100 events occurring over the past 4000 years. We identified events whose dates and participants suggest they describe genetic impacts of the Mongol empire, Arab slave trade, Bantu expansion, first millennium CE migrations in Eastern Europe, and European colonialism, as well as unrecorded events, revealing admixture to be an almost universal force shaping human populations.

/pdf/a-genetic-atlas-of-human-admixture-history-1cg4eqwl68.pdf

A genetic atlas of human admixture history.

nouns (## 1–2), parts of body (## 3–4), agricultural terms (## 5–6), words connected with clothing (## 7–8); and pairs of words with initial ma-/mi(## 9– 12; see 5.6), seven of which are from medial-waw roots (## 11–12). He finds no positive difference in meaning between the pairs, apart from the few cases of collectives/nomina unitatis (# 6 and perhaps # 3). 1. המשא / םשא guilt 2. המקנ / םקנ dominion, vengeance 3. הרבא / א רב pinion 4. הרג / רג back 5. הקלח / ח קל territory 6. הציצ / ץיצ blossom 7. הדפא / דופא ephod 8. הרוגח / רוגח loin-covering 9. הנתמ / ןתמ gift 10. תרכממ / מ רכמ ware 11. הרוגמ / רוגמ terror 12. הלוחמ / לוחמ dance In five cases he found that one of the forms occurs in a poetic or elevated style, and the other mainly in an ordinary prosaic style (## 13–17).

/pdf/an-introduction-to-biblical-hebrew-syntax-ttoys9buv8.pdf

An introduction to biblical Hebrew syntax

The Great Hungarian Plain was a crossroads of cultural transformations that have shaped European prehistory. Here we analyse a 5,000-year transect of human genomes, sampled from petrous bones giving consistently excellent endogenous DNA yields, from 13 Hungarian Neolithic, Copper, Bronze and Iron Age burials including two to high (~22 × ) and seven to ~1 × coverage, to investigate the impact of these on Europe’s genetic landscape. These data suggest genomic shifts with the advent of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, with interleaved periods of genome stability. The earliest Neolithic context genome shows a European hunter-gatherer genetic signature and a restricted ancestral population size, suggesting direct contact between cultures after the arrival of the first farmers into Europe. The latest, Iron Age, sample reveals an eastern genomic influence concordant with introduced Steppe burial rites. We observe transition towards lighter pigmentation and surprisingly, no Neolithic presence of lactase persistence.

/pdf/genome-flux-and-stasis-in-a-five-millennium-transect-of-5628lmd1wn.pdf

Genome flux and stasis in a five millennium transect of European prehistory

Contemporary Jews comprise an aggregate of ethno-religious communities whose worldwide members identify with each other through various shared religious, historical and cultural traditions. Historical evidence suggests common origins in the Middle East, followed by migrations leading to the establishment of communities of Jews in Europe, Africa and Asia, in what is termed the Jewish Diaspora. This complex demographic history imposes special challenges in attempting to address the genetic structure of the Jewish people. Although many genetic studies have shed light on Jewish origins and on diseases prevalent among Jewish communities, including studies focusing on uniparentally and biparentally inherited markers, genome-wide patterns of variation across the vast geographic span of Jewish Diaspora communities and their respective neighbours have yet to be addressed. Here we use high-density bead arrays to genotype individuals from 14 Jewish Diaspora communities and compare these patterns of genome-wide diversity with those from 69 Old World non-Jewish populations, of which 25 have not previously been reported. These samples were carefully chosen to provide comprehensive comparisons between Jewish and non-Jewish populations in the Diaspora, as well as with non-Jewish populations from the Middle East and north Africa. Principal component and structure-like analyses identify previously unrecognized genetic substructure within the Middle East. Most Jewish samples form a remarkably tight subcluster that overlies Druze and Cypriot samples but not samples from other Levantine populations or paired Diaspora host populations. In contrast, Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) and Indian Jews (Bene Israel and Cochini) cluster with neighbouring autochthonous populations in Ethiopia and western India, respectively, despite a clear paternal link between the Bene Israel and the Levant. These results cast light on the variegated genetic architecture of the Middle East, and trace the origins of most Jewish Diaspora communities to the Levant.

/pdf/the-genome-wide-structure-of-the-jewish-people-59wy2k0dvk.pdf

The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people

Summary The Lemba are a traditionally endogamous group speaking a variety of Bantu languages who live in a number of locations in southern Africa. They claim descent from Jews who came to Africa from “Sena.” “Sena” is variously identified by them as Sanaa in Yemen, Judea, Egypt, or Ethiopia. A previous study using Y-chromosome markers suggested both a Bantu and a Semitic contribution to the Lemba gene pool, a suggestion that is not inconsistent with Lemba oral tradition. To provide a more detailed picture of the Lemba paternal genetic heritage, we analyzed 399 Y chromosomes for six microsatellites and six biallelic markers in six populations (Lemba, Bantu, Yemeni-Hadramaut, Yemeni-Sena, Sephardic Jews, and Ashkenazic Jews). The high resolution afforded by the markers shows that Lemba Y chromosomes are clearly divided into Semitic and Bantu clades. Interestingly, one of the Lemba clans carries, at a very high frequency, a particular Y-chromosome type termed the “Cohen modal haplotype,” which is known to be characteristic of the paternally inherited Jewish priesthood and is thought, more generally, to be a potential signature haplotype of Judaic origin. The Bantu Y-chromosome samples are predominantly (180%) YAP + and include a modal haplotype at high frequency. Assuming a rapid expansion of the eastern Bantu, we used variation in microsatellite alleles in YAP + sY81-G Bantu Y chromosomes to calculate a rough date, 3,000‐5,000 years before the present, for the start of their expansion.

/pdf/y-chromosomes-traveling-south-the-cohen-modal-haplotype-and-46rnzeq6ia.pdf

Y Chromosomes Traveling South: The Cohen Modal Haplotype and the Origins of the Lemba—the “Black Jews of Southern Africa”

According to Jewish tradition, following the Exodus from Egypt, males of the tribe of Levi, of which Moses was a member, were assigned special religious responsibilities, and male descendants of Aaron, his brother, were selected to serve as Priests (Cohanim). To the extent that patrilineal inheritance has been followed since sometime around the Temple period (roughly 3,000-2,000 years before present), Y chromosomes of present-day Cohanim and Levites should not only be distinguishable from those of other Jews1, but — given the dispersion of the priesthood following the Temple's destruction — they should derive from a common ancestral type no more recently than the Temple period. Here we show that although Levite Y chromosomes are diverse, Cohen chromosomes are homogeneous. We trace the origin of Cohen chromosomes to about 3,000 years before present, early during the Temple period.

Origins of Old Testament priests.

Italian translation (Newton Compton) Le Tribu Perdute di Israele (2004). Paperback edition Phoenix 2003

Tudor Parfitt

Papers

The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people

Y Chromosomes Traveling South: The Cohen Modal Haplotype and the Origins of the Lemba—the “Black Jews of Southern Africa”

Origins of Old Testament priests.

The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth

Genetics, Mass Media and Identity: A Case Study of the Genetic Research on the Lemba