0
Here you can read this study:
http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v...hg201718a.html
Abstract
IntroductionHere we use 2.5 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms to investigate the genetic structure of Peloponnesean populations in a sample of 241 individuals originating from all districts of the peninsula and to examine predictions of the theory of replacement of the medieval Peloponneseans by Slavs.
Here is the theory to be debunked, because this is the intention of the authors of this study.
And here is the conclusion of the study.In 1830 CE, the German historian Jacob Philipp Fallmerayer presented his theory of disappearance of the Greek nation and its substitution by Slavs.9 Fallmerayer proposed that during the 6th century CE, large armies of Avars and Slavs overran the Balkans and eliminated the populations of the Hellas, who up to that period had successfully survived the attacks of barbarians and the religious suppression by the Byzantines. The Peloponnesean Greeks, except for few remnants enclosed in coastal castles, were slaughtered or forced to leave and Peloponnese was inhabited by Slavic tribes. The Slavs kept their identity for few centuries but eventually they were Hellenized under the influence of the Orthodox Church and interactions with Hellenized Asia Minor populations who were settled in Peloponnese by the Byzantines.
To prove that the theory of extinction of medieval Peloponnesean Greeks and their replacement by Slavic and Asia Minor settlers, the authors of the study tested 241 individuals originating from all districts of the peninsula.Our results reject the theory of extinction of medieval Peloponnesean Greeks and their replacement by Slavic and Asia Minor settlers.
The conclusion of the study reject this theory.
The first question is: Who are the individuals tested by the authors?
Subjects and methods
Here we have the first contradiction. The task of the authors is to prove the veracity or not of events happened in the first millenia AD, not in the second millenia AD.Design of the study and populations studied
We focused on the rural population. We analyzed a total of 241 samples genotyped with the Illumina Infinium Omni 2.5–8 arrays. This is a novel data set collected under the auspices of our study. Subjects were included in the study if all four grandparents originated from the same village or from villages that were <10 kilometers apart. The ages of most participants ranged between 70 and 90 years (the oldest subject was 107 years old); hence their grandparents were born between 1860 and 1880. In the 1861 census the population of Peloponnese was 578 598 individuals.
Are these 241 individuals tested by the authors, descendants of the people who lived in the Peninsula during the events described by medieval chronicles, Fallmerayer and other authors?
I think no.
From the 6 century AD until at least in the XVII century, the Peninsula of Peloponnese has been emptied and repopulated different times. The last time, in my knowledge was during the Morean War in 1684–99, between Ottoman Empire ans Venetians.
Here we have an interesting page from Wikipedia:
Kingdom of the Morea
In this page we read:
So basically, 60% of the population of this Peninsula left this region. And this is one of many times that the population of this region has been wiped out. I want to bring at your attention the migration of the Albanians during the XIV century and latter. The region during the migration of the Albanians is described as an empty land. But in this last migration, we have precise data from Venetians.Administration
Already in 1688, with their control of the country practically complete, the Venetians appointed Giacomo Corner as the governor-general (provveditore generale) of the Morea to administer their new territory. The task he faced was daunting, as the population had fled from the coming of war: 656 out of 2,115 villages were deserted, almost all the Muslim population had abandoned the peninsula for lands still in Ottoman hands, while even towns like Patras, which numbered 25,000 inhabitants before the war, now had 1,615 left. Apart from the region of Corinthia and the autonomous Mani Peninsula, the Venetians counted only 86,468 inhabitants in 1688, out of an estimated pre-war population of 200,000.[6][7]
Who settled later in the region:
As a conclusion, these 241 individuals tested by the authors of the study, are not the descendants of the people who lived in the region during the slavic migration. The today population of the Peninsula of Peloponnese has nothing to do with the people who lived in this region roughly 1400 years ago and for this reason can not be tested in order to prove the veracity or not of the events happened 1.400 years ago.Economic and social development
To restore the province, settlers were encouraged to immigrate from the other Greek lands with the lure of considerable land grants, chiefly from Attica but also from other parts of Central Greece, especially the areas that suffered during the war. 2,000 Cretans, and also Catholic Chians, Venetian citizens from the Ionian Islands and even some Bulgarians answered this call. In addition, mention is made of 1,317 Muslim families that remained behind, converted to Christianity and were given lands or enterprises as concessions. As a result of these policies, the population recovered rapidly: apart from Mani, the Venetian registers record 97,118 inhabitants in 1691, 116,000 a year later and 176,844 by 1700. Due to the relative privileges granted the urban population, the period was also marked by an influx of the agrarian population to the cities.[9][12][13]
So this study is a pseudo-scientific paper.
Bookmarks