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An archaeological culture of the Early Mesolithic. It is believed to have originated in the Nile Valley, after which it migrated to the territory of the ancient Levant, as evidenced by similar stone industries in both regions, with the Nile finds being older than those from the Sinai region of the Levant. As Ofer Bar-Yosef asserts, "The influx of population from North Africa played a decisive role in the formation of the Natufian culture, which in turn led to the emergence of agriculture as a new form of subsistence economy."

The migration of farmers from the Middle East to Europe is believed to have significantly influenced the genetic profile of modern Europeans. The Natufian culture, which existed about 12,000 years ago in the Levant, was of particular interest to archaeologists because it is the descendants of this culture, according to modern archaeologists, who were the source of the European and North African Neolithic. The Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara represented significant barriers to genetic exchange between Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. Despite this, Europe periodically opened up to African populations due to fluctuations in the size and climate of the Sahara. In the Gibraltar Strait area, the distance between Africa and Europe at that time was only 15 km. In the Suez area, Eurasia is connected to Africa by a large isthmus. The Nile Valley, running along Northeast Africa to the Mediterranean Sea, served as a bidirectional corridor through the Sahara Desert that often connected people from Sub-Saharan Africa with Eurasian populations.

According to Bar-Yosef, the Natufian culture emerged as a result of the mixing of the indigenous Levantine Kebaran culture with the Mushabian (migrants to the Levant from North Africa). Emmanuel Anati holds a similar view. A modern comparative analysis of 24 craniofacial measurements shows that the population of the Fertile Crescent in the pre-Neolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age periods was quite cosmopolitan, supporting the hypothesis of a heterogeneous population in this territory during these periods. In particular, there are indications of a strong sub-Saharan component in the region, especially within the Natufian culture. Among the finds are remains of food products brought to the Levant from Africa — parthenocarpic figs and Nile mollusks.

Ricaut et al. (2008) link the sub-Saharan influence found in Natufian samples to the migration of carriers of Y-haplogroup E1b1b from East Africa to the Levant, and from there to Europe. Having entered the Late Mesolithic Natufian culture, the subclade of this haplogroup E-V13 is associated with the spread of agriculture from the Middle East to Europe during or immediately before the Neolithic Revolution. Descendants of E1b1b1 are found throughout Europe, but are concentrated mainly along a south-north line, with a peak in the Balkans.

Materials:

Sources in the "Library" section
FTDNA Caucasian Project
FTDNA Adygian Project
FTDNA Georgian Project
FTDNA Ossetian Project
Gene pools of Abkhaz-Adyghe peoples, Georgians and Armenians. Teuchezh 2013
What DNA genealogy says about Caucasians. Klyosov 2013
Genetic diversity of the Caucasus population. Dibirova 2007
Origin of haplogroup G2a1a among Ossetians. Sabitov 2011
Litvinov 2010. Study of the genetic structure of the Western Caucasus
Balanovsky 2012. Variability of the gene pool in space and time
Balanovsky 2011. Evolution of Genes and Languages in the Caucasus
Data on Y-DNA haplogroups of the Western Caucasus. Litvinov 2007
Data on Y-DNA haplogroups of the Western Caucasus. Balanovsky 2012
Balanovsky 2011. Evolution of North Caucasus Languages
Balanovsky 2011. Genetic reconstruction of the evolution of North Caucasus
Balanovsky 2011. Supplementary Data
Balanovsky 2011. Supplementary Table
Genetics of Abkhazians and the Western Caucasus

G (M201) emerges in the Middle East, possibly in Şanlıurfa, Turkey. This group then moves to Sicily (Haplogroup Diversity 0.96 ^[2]). Three other groups with a value of 0.90 each, found today in northern Russia (especially among Tatars), central Spain and Armenia, separated from the ancestral population slightly later than the Sicilian one. We will consider these as the three main vectors of G (M201) movement: 1) Sicily and then Europe; 2) Eurasia; 3) Armenia and adjacent regions of Turkey ^[3].

Among Abkhazians, it constitutes 57%.

Materials:

^[2] Rootsi 2012
^[3] Semino et al. 2000

More about haplogroup G-M201

Presumed place of origin: Zagros Mountains, Iran

Among Abkhazians, it constitutes 27.7%.

More about haplogroup J-M304

Presumed place of origin: Siberia or the Urals

Among Abkhazians, it constitutes 0.6%.

More about haplogroup Q-M242

Presumed place of origin: Zagros Mountains, Iran

Among Abkhazians, it constitutes 14.8%.

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