Editing Vedda (section)

=== Genetics ===
Groups ancestral to the modern [[Vedda people|Veddas]] were probably the earliest inhabitants of Sri Lanka. Their arrival is dated tentatively to about 40,000–35,000 years ago. They show a relationship with other South Asian and Sri Lankan populations, but are genetically distinguishable from the other peoples of Sri Lanka, and show a high degree of intra-group diversity. This is consistent with a long history of existing as small subgroups undergoing significant [[genetic drift]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Deraniyagala SU | title = Pre-and protohistoric settlement in Sri Lanka. | journal = XIII UISPP Congress Proceedings | date = September 1996 | volume = 5 | pages = 277–285 | url = http://www.lankalibrary.com/geo/dera1.html }}</ref><ref name="Ranaweera_2014">{{cite journal | vauthors = Ranaweera L, Kaewsutthi S, Win Tun A, Boonyarit H, Poolsuwan S, Lertrit P | title = Mitochondrial DNA history of Sri Lankan ethnic people: their relations within the island and with the Indian subcontinental populations | journal = Journal of Human Genetics | volume = 59 | issue = 1 | pages = 28–36 | date = January 2014 | pmid = 24196378 | doi = 10.1038/jhg.2013.112 | s2cid = 41185629 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

In one study on maternal (mitochondrial DNA) haplogroups in Sri Lankan populations (the Vedda, [[Sri Lankan Tamils]], [[Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka]], and [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]]), the Vedda were found to carry predominantly haplogroups [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)|U]] and [[Haplogroup R (mtDNA)|R]] and to carry [[maternal haplogroup]] M at about 17%, unlike the [[Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka]] and many mainland Indian tribal groups, among which [[Haplogroup M (mtDNA)|haplogroup M]] is predominant. The Vedda people and Low-country Sinhalese showed frequencies of haplogroup R at 45.33 and 25%, respectively. The Vedda were found to be distinct but closer to Sinhalese than to other South Asian groups. It was determined in the study to be likely that the branches of haplogroups R and U "found to be particularly prevalent in the Vedda, were derived from ancestors on the Indian subcontinent."<ref name="Ranaweera_2014"/>

Another study on maternal haplogroups in Sri Lankan groups (also the Vedda, Sri Lankan Tamil, and Sinhalese) found similar results, with the Vedda belonging predominantly to the mitochondrial [[Haplogroup N (mtDNA)|haplogroup N]] (which "exists in almost all European, [[Oceania]]n, and many Asian and Amerindian populations.") and its subgroups U and R (with those comprising about two thirds of their maternal lineages), differing from other South Asian groups (such as the Sri Lankan Tamil, Sinhalese, and several Indian Tribal groups) among whom haplogroup M is predominant. The study also found that "South Asian (Indian) haplogroups were predominant" in the three Sri Lankan groups (including the Vedda) but that the Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamil, and Vedda populations also "had a considerable presence of West Eurasian haplogroups." One phylogenetic study on mitochondrial DNA hypervariable segments HVI and part of HVII showed the Vedda to be "genetically distinct from other major ethnic groups (Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian Tamils) in Sri Lanka." Another study on alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein allele frequency showed the Veddas and Sinhalese to be more biologically related to each other than to most other ethnic groups in Asia.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=A study of genetic polymorphisms in mitochondrial DNA hypervariable regions I and II of the five major ethnic groups and Vedda population in Sri Lanka|last=Ranasinghe|first=Ruwandi|journal=Legal Medicine |date=2015|volume=17|issue=6|pages=539–46|doi=10.1016/j.legalmed.2015.05.007|pmid=26065620}}</ref>