Editing Fertile Crescent (section)

==Cosmopolitan diffusion==
{{see also|Genetic history of the Middle East|Levantine corridor}}
[[File:Maunsell&#039;s map, Pre-World War I British Ethnographical Map of eastern Turkey in Asia, Syria and western Persia 01.jpg|thumb|Maunsell's map, a Pre-World War I British Ethnographical Map of the Fertile Crescent area]][[File:Diffusion of agriculture from the Fertile Crescent after 9000 BC.jpg|thumb|Diffusion of agriculture from the Fertile Crescent after 9000 BCE]]
{{Ancient Near East topics}}
Modern analyses<ref name="PNAS">{{cite journal |last1= Brace |first1= C. Loring |last2= Seguchi |first2= Noriko |last3= Quintyn |first3= Conrad B. |last4= Fox |first4= Sherry C. |last5= Nelson |first5= A. Russell |last6= Manolis |first6= Sotiris K. |last7= Qifeng |first7= Pan |year= 2006 |title= The questionable contribution of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age to European craniofacial form |journal= [[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA]] |volume= 103 |issue=1 |pages= 242–247 |doi= 10.1073/pnas.0509801102 |pmid= 16371462 |pmc= 1325007|bibcode= 2006PNAS..103..242B |doi-access= free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Ricaut |first1= F. X. |last2= Waelkens |first2= M. |date= Aug 2008 |title= Cranial Discrete Traits in a Byzantine Population and Eastern Mediterranean Population Movements |journal= [[Human Biology (journal)|Human Biology]] |volume= 80 |issue= 5|pages= 535–564 |doi= 10.3378/1534-6617-80.5.535 |pmid= 19341322|s2cid= 25142338 }}</ref> comparing 24 craniofacial measurements reveal a relatively diverse population within the pre-[[Neolithic]], [[Neolithic]] and [[Bronze Age]] Fertile Crescent,<ref name="PNAS"/> supporting the view that several populations occupied this region during these time periods.<ref name="PNAS"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lazaridis |first1=Iosif |last2=Nadel |first2=Dani |last3=Rollefson |first3=Gary |last4=Merrett |first4=Deborah C. |last5=Rohland |first5=Nadin |last6=Mallick |first6=Swapan |last7=Fernandes |first7=Daniel |last8=Novak |first8=Mario |last9=Gamarra |first9=Beatriz |last10=Sirak |first10=Kendra |last11=Connell |first11=Sarah |last12=Stewardson |first12=Kristin |last13=Harney |first13=Eadaoin |last14=Fu |first14=Qiaomei |last15=Gonzalez-Fortes |first15=Gloria |date=2016-08-25 |title=Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East |journal=Nature |volume=536 |issue=7617 |pages=419–424 |doi=10.1038/nature19310 |pmc=5003663 |pmid=27459054|bibcode=2016Natur.536..419L }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Barker |first=G. |title=Transitions to farming and pastoralism in North Africa |year=2002 |editor-last1=Bellwood |editor-first1=P. |pages=151–161 |editor-last2=Renfrew |editor-first2=C.}}</ref><ref>Bar-Yosef O (1987), "Pleistocene connections between Africa and SouthWest Asia: an archaeological perspective", ''The African Archaeological Review''; Chapter 5, pp 29–38</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Kislev |first1= ME |last2= Hartmann |first2= A |last3= Bar-Yosef |first3= O |year= 2006 |title= Early domesticated fig in the Jordan Valley |journal= Science |volume= 312 |issue= 5778|pages= 1372–1374 |doi= 10.1126/science.1125910 |pmid= 16741119|bibcode= 2006Sci...312.1372K |s2cid= 42150441 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last= Lancaster |first= Andrew |year= 2009 |url= http://www.jogg.info/51/files/Lancaster.pdf |journal= Journal of Genetic Genealogy |volume= 5 |issue= 1 |title= Y Haplogroups, Archaeological Cultures and Language Families: a Review of the Multidisciplinary Comparisons using the case of E-M35 |access-date= 2010-02-23 |archive-date= 2016-05-06 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160506150956/http://www.jogg.info/51/files/Lancaster.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref>Findings include remains of food items carried to the [[Levant]] from [[North Africa]] —— [[Parthenocarpic]] [[ficus|fig]]s and [[Nile]] [[shellfish]] (please refer to [[Natufian culture#Long-distance exchange]]).</ref> Similar arguments do not hold true for the [[Basque people|Basques]] and [[Canary Island]]ers of the same time period, as the studies demonstrate those ancient peoples to be "clearly associated with modern Europeans". Additionally, no evidence from the studies demonstrates [[Cro-Magnon]] influence, contrary to former suggestions.<ref name="PNAS"/>

The studies further suggest a [[Demic diffusion|diffusion]] of this diverse population away from the Fertile Crescent, with the early migrants moving away from the [[Near East]]—westward into [[Europe]] and [[North Africa]], northward to [[Crimea]], and northeastward to [[Mongolia]].<ref name="PNAS"/> They took their agricultural practices with them and interbred with the [[hunter-gatherer]]s whom they subsequently came in contact with while perpetuating their farming practices. This supports prior [[Genetics|genetic]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Chicki |first1= L |last2= Nichols |first2= RA |last3= Barbujani |first3= G |last4= Beaumont |first4= MA |year= 2002 |title= Y genetic data support the Neolithic demic diffusion model |journal= Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA |volume= 99 |issue= 17 |pages= 11008–11013 |doi= 10.1073/pnas.162158799 |pmid= 12167671 |pmc= 123201|bibcode= 2002PNAS...9911008C |doi-access= free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 2004 |title=Estimating the Impact of Prehistoric Admixture on the Genome of Europeans |url=https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/21/7/1361/1080442 |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=21 |issue=7 |pages=1361–1372 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msh135 |last1=Dupanloup |first1=I. |pmid=15044595 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |pmc= 1181965 |title= Origin, Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E and J: Inferences on the Neolithization of Europe and Later Migratory Events in the Mediterranean Area |pmid= 15069642 |doi= 10.1086/386295 |volume= 74 |issue= 5 |date=May 2004 |journal= Am. J. Hum. Genet. |pages= 1023–34 |last1= Semino |first1= O. |last2= Magri |first2= C. |last3= Benuzzi |first3= G. |display-authors=etal }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cavalli-Sforza |first1=L. L. |last2=Minch |first2=E. |date=July 1997 |title=Paleolithic and Neolithic lineages in the European mitochondrial gene pool |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=247–254 |doi=10.1016/S0002-9297(07)64303-1 |pmc=1715849 |pmid=9246011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chikhi |first1=Lounès |last2=Destro-Bisol |first2=Giovanni |last3=Bertorelle |first3=Giorgio |last4=Pascali |first4=Vincenzo |last5=Barbujani |first5=Guido |date=1998-07-21 |title=Clines of nuclear DNA markers suggest a largely Neolithic ancestry of the European gene pool |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=95 |issue=15 |pages=9053–9058 |doi=10.1073/pnas.95.15.9053|doi-access=free |pmid=9671803 |pmc=21201 |bibcode=1998PNAS...95.9053C }}</ref> and [[Archaeology|archaeological]]<ref name="PNAS"/><ref>M. Zvelebil, in ''Hunters in Transition: Mesolithic Societies and the Transition to Farming'', M. Zvelebil (editor), Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (1986) pp. 5–15, 167–188.</ref><ref>P. Bellwood, ''First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies,'' Blackwell: Malden, MA (2005).</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Dokládal |first1= M. |last2= Brožek |first2= J. |year= 1961 |title= Physical Anthropology in Czechoslovakia: Recent Developments|journal= Curr. Anthropol. |volume= 2 |issue= 5|pages= 455–477 |doi= 10.1086/200228|s2cid= 161324951 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Bar-Yosef |first1= O. |year= 1998 |title= The Natufian culture in the Levant, threshold to the origins of agriculture|journal= Evol. Anthropol. |volume= 6 |issue= 5|pages= 159–177 |doi= 10.1002/(sici)1520-6505(1998)6:5<159::aid-evan4>3.0.co;2-7|s2cid= 35814375 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Zvelebil |first1= M. |year= 1989 |title= On the transition to farming in Europe, or what was spreading with the Neolithic: a reply to Ammerman (1989)|journal= Antiquity |volume= 63 |issue= 239|pages= 379–383 |doi= 10.1017/s0003598x00076110 |s2cid= 162882505 }}</ref> studies which have all arrived at the same conclusion.

Consequently, contemporary ''[[in situ]]'' peoples absorbed the agricultural way of life of those early migrants who ventured out of the Fertile Crescent. This is contrary to the suggestion that the spread of agriculture disseminated out of the Fertile Crescent by way of sharing of knowledge. Instead, the view now supported by a preponderance of evidence is that it occurred by actual migration out of the region, coupled with subsequent interbreeding with indigenous local populations whom the migrants came in contact with.<ref name="PNAS"/>

A 2005 craniometric study found that not all present-day [[Europe]]ans share strong affinities to the [[Neolithic]] and [[Bronze Age]] inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent; the closest ties to the Fertile Crescent rest with Southern Europeans. The same study further demonstrates all present-day [[Europe]]ans to be closely related.<ref name="PNAS"/> Genetics research finds that most present-day Europeans, across Europe, derive from at least three ancient populations, including the [[Early European Farmers]], who descended from the Near Eastern migrants that brought agriculture to Europe. This ancient farmer population was genetically distinct from European hunter-gatherers and close to present-day Near Easterners.<ref name="Lazaridis2014">{{cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Lazaridis I, Patterson N, Mittnik A, Renaud G, Mallick S, Kirsanow K, Sudmant PH, Schraiber JG, Castellano S, Lipson M, Berger B, Economou C, Bollongino R, Fu Q, Bos KI, Nordenfelt S, Li H, de Filippo C, Prüfer K, Sawyer S, Posth C, Haak W, Hallgren F, Fornander E, Rohland N, Delsate D, Francken M, Guinet JM, Wahl J, Ayodo G, Babiker HA, Bailliet G, Balanovska E, Balanovsky O, Barrantes R, Bedoya G, Ben-Ami H, Bene J, Berrada F, Bravi CM, Brisighelli F, Busby GB, Cali F, Churnosov M, Cole DE, Corach D, Damba L, van Driem G, Dryomov S, Dugoujon JM, Fedorova SA, Gallego Romero I, Gubina M, Hammer M, Henn BM, Hervig T, Hodoglugil U, Jha AR, Karachanak-Yankova S, Khusainova R, Khusnutdinova E, Kittles R, Kivisild T, Klitz W, Kučinskas V, Kushniarevich A, Laredj L, Litvinov S, Loukidis T, Mahley RW, Melegh B, Metspalu E, Molina J, Mountain J, Näkkäläjärvi K, Nesheva D, Nyambo T, Osipova L, Parik J, Platonov F, Posukh O, Romano V, Rothhammer F, Rudan I, Ruizbakiev R, Sahakyan H, Sajantila A, Salas A, Starikovskaya EB, Tarekegn A, Toncheva D, Turdikulova S, Uktveryte I, Utevska O, Vasquez R, Villena M, Voevoda M, Winkler CA, Yepiskoposyan L, Zalloua P, Zemunik T, Cooper A, Capelli C, Thomas MG, Ruiz-Linares A, Tishkoff SA, Singh L, Thangaraj K, Villems R, Comas D, Sukernik R, Metspalu M, Meyer M, Eichler EE, Burger J, Slatkin M, Pääbo S, Kelso J, Reich D, Krause J |date=September 2014 |title=Ancient human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for present-day Europeans |journal=Nature |volume=513 |issue=7518 |pages=409–413 |arxiv=1312.6639 |bibcode=2014Natur.513..409L |doi=10.1038/nature13673 |pmc=4170574 |pmid=25230663}}</ref>