Why do Egyptians have much less Steppe and Anatolian than most of their neighbors?

[Zanzibar]

Compare

Target: Egyptian
Distance: 2.3492% / 0.02349236
62.8 Levant_Neolithic_Farmer_Levant_PPNB
13.2 Iran_Neolithic_Farmer_IRN_Ganj_Dareh_N
8.8 Nilotic_Pastoralist_KEN_Kakapel_900BP
4.0 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra
3.8 Caucasus_Hunter-Gatherer_GEO_CHG
3.8 West_Africa-Bantu_Farmer_COG_Kindoki_230BP
3.6 Morocco_Early_Neolithic_Farmer_MAR_EN

Target: Libyan
Distance: 2.0727% / 0.02072724
57.2 Levant_Neolithic_Farmer_Levant_PPNB
13.4 Morocco_Early_Neolithic_Farmer_MAR_EN
9.8 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra
9.4 West_Africa-Bantu_Farmer_COG_Kindoki_230BP
5.2 Iran_Neolithic_Farmer_IRN_Ganj_Dareh_N
4.4 Nilotic_Pastoralist_KEN_Kakapel_900BP
0.4 Caucasus_Hunter-Gatherer_GEO_CHG
0.2 Anatolia_Neolithic_Farmer_TUR_Barcin_N

Target: Tunisian
Distance: 2.3090% / 0.02309019
33.6 Levant_Neolithic_Farmer_Levant_PPNB
21.8 Morocco_Early_Neolithic_Farmer_MAR_EN
18.8 Anatolia_Neolithic_Farmer_TUR_Barcin_N
9.6 West_Africa-Bantu_Farmer_COG_Kindoki_230BP
9.4 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra
4.2 Iran_Neolithic_Farmer_IRN_Ganj_Dareh_N
2.2 Nilotic_Pastoralist_KEN_Kakapel_900BP
0.4 Levant_Natufian_Hunter-Gatherer_Levant_Natufian

Target: Algerian
Distance: 2.3217% / 0.02321734
27.2 Anatolia_Neolithic_Farmer_TUR_Barcin_N
24.4 Morocco_Early_Neolithic_Farmer_MAR_EN
21.6 Levant_Neolithic_Farmer_Levant_PPNB
12.8 West_Africa-Bantu_Farmer_COG_Kindoki_230BP
10.2 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra
1.8 Iran_Neolithic_Farmer_IRN_Ganj_Dareh_N
1.4 Nilotic_Pastoralist_KEN_Kakapel_900BP
0.6 Levant_Natufian_Hunter-Gatherer_Levant_Natufian

Target: Moroccan_North
Distance: 1.9915% / 0.01991538
38.6 Anatolia_Neolithic_Farmer_TUR_Barcin_N
29.8 Morocco_Early_Neolithic_Farmer_MAR_EN
9.0 Levant_Neolithic_Farmer_Levant_PPNB
8.4 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra
7.2 West_Africa-Bantu_Farmer_COG_Kindoki_230BP
2.6 Levant_Natufian_Hunter-Gatherer_Levant_Natufian
2.2 Iran_Neolithic_Farmer_IRN_Ganj_Dareh_N
2.2 West_Europe_Hunter-Gatherer_WHG

Target: Canary_Islands_Guanche
Distance: 2.0318% / 0.02031781
40.6 Anatolia_Neolithic_Farmer_TUR_Barcin_N
33.8 Morocco_Early_Neolithic_Farmer_MAR_EN
8.6 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra
8.0 Levant_Natufian_Hunter-Gatherer_Levant_Natufian
5.6 West_Africa-Bantu_Farmer_COG_Kindoki_230BP
1.8 West_Europe_Hunter-Gatherer_WHG
1.6 Nilotic_Pastoralist_KEN_Kakapel_900BP

Target: Mozabite
Distance: 2.5102% / 0.02510237
34.6 Anatolia_Neolithic_Farmer_TUR_Barcin_N
32.4 Morocco_Early_Neolithic_Farmer_MAR_EN
11.8 Levant_Neolithic_Farmer_Levant_PPNB
11.0 West_Africa-Bantu_Farmer_COG_Kindoki_230BP
7.4 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra
0.8 Caucasus_Hunter-Gatherer_GEO_CHG
0.8 Levant_Natufian_Hunter-Gatherer_Levant_Natufian
0.6 Iran_Neolithic_Farmer_IRN_Ganj_Dareh_N
0.6 West_Europe_Hunter-Gatherer_WHG

Target: Saharawi
Distance: 2.6067% / 0.02606705
36.2 Morocco_Early_Neolithic_Farmer_MAR_EN
26.8 Anatolia_Neolithic_Farmer_TUR_Barcin_N
12.4 Levant_Neolithic_Farmer_Levant_PPNB
12.4 West_Africa-Bantu_Farmer_COG_Kindoki_230BP
7.4 Levant_Natufian_Hunter-Gatherer_Levant_Natufian
4.0 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra
0.4 Iran_Neolithic_Farmer_IRN_Ganj_Dareh_N
0.4 Nilotic_Pastoralist_KEN_Kakapel_900BP

Compare to Levantines:

Target: Lebanese_Christian
Distance: 2.4376% / 0.02437589
43.8 Levant_Neolithic_Farmer_Levant_PPNB
22.0 Anatolia_Neolithic_Farmer_TUR_Barcin_N
19.2 Iran_Neolithic_Farmer_IRN_Ganj_Dareh_N
9.0 Caucasus_Hunter-Gatherer_GEO_CHG
6.0 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra

Target: Palestinian_Beit_Sahour
Distance: 2.8920% / 0.02892015
47.0 Levant_Neolithic_Farmer_Levant_PPNB
21.4 Iran_Neolithic_Farmer_IRN_Ganj_Dareh_N
19.4 Anatolia_Neolithic_Farmer_TUR_Barcin_N
7.0 Caucasus_Hunter-Gatherer_GEO_CHG
5.2 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra


Target: Jordanian
Distance: 1.8468% / 0.01846832
58.0 Levant_Neolithic_Farmer_Levant_PPNB
17.4 Iran_Neolithic_Farmer_IRN_Ganj_Dareh_N
9.8 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra
6.8 Caucasus_Hunter-Gatherer_GEO_CHG
3.4 Anatolia_Neolithic_Farmer_TUR_Barcin_N
2.4 Nilotic_Pastoralist_KEN_Kakapel_900BP
1.8 West_Africa-Bantu_Farmer_COG_Kindoki_230BP
0.4 Japan_Jomon_Hunter-Gatherer_JPN_Jomon

Target: Samaritan
Distance: 3.4986% / 0.03498610
57.8 Levant_Neolithic_Farmer_Levant_PPNB
19.8 Iran_Neolithic_Farmer_IRN_Ganj_Dareh_N
12.2 Anatolia_Neolithic_Farmer_TUR_Barcin_N
8.2 Caucasus_Hunter-Gatherer_GEO_CHG
2.0 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra

Target: Palestinian
Distance: 2.1071% / 0.02107079
61.8 Levant_Neolithic_Farmer_Levant_PPNB
18.2 Iran_Neolithic_Farmer_IRN_Ganj_Dareh_N
9.6 Pontic_Steppe_Yamnaya_Pastoralist_Yamnaya_RUS_Sama ra
5.2 Caucasus_Hunter-Gatherer_GEO_CHG
2.4 Nilotic_Pastoralist_KEN_Kakapel_900BP
2.0 West_Africa-Bantu_Farmer_COG_Kindoki_230BP
0.8 Anatolia_Neolithic_Farmer_TUR_Barcin_N


Egyptians also have lower Steppe input on average than Levantines with the exception of Samaritans who seem to have even lower at very negligible almost noise levels.

So why do they have much less IE/Steppe and Anatolian than most of their neighbors? Does the desert geography of Egypt prevent more Steppe and Anatolian gene flow?

[Leto]

Much of the Maghreb may have post-Reconquista European admixture which Egypt obviously doesn't.

[Zanzibar]

Much of the Maghreb may have post-Reconquista European admixture which Egypt obviously doesn't.

That could be the case. Or it could be that they receive ancient European admixture from Neolithic Iberians and Bell Beaker Iberia due to close proximity to Southern Europe as well from what I read on Anthrogenica.

[Leto]

That could be the case. Or it could be that they receive ancient European admixture from Neolithic Iberians and Bell Beaker Iberia due to close proximity to Southern Europe as well from what I read on Anthrogenica.

Yes, that too. Egypt must have more Arabian ancestry and it's (Arabia) obviously pretty much zero European. Libya should be somewhere halfway between Egypt and the Maghreb.

[Zanzibar]

Yes, that too. Egypt must have more Arabian ancestry and it's (Arabia) obviously pretty much zero European. Libya should be somewhere halfway between Egypt and the Maghreb.

True. By European, do you mean Steppe? If so you might be surprised as I was shocked myself, but I did some runs on Peninsular Arabs like Saudis and Yemeni samples on G25, and crazily a lot of them score very minor amounts of Steppe admixture. The only group who seem to mostly lack any Steppe was Mahra of Southern Yemen/Oman who seem even more isolated than other Arabian populations.

I can post those models if you want.

[Hektor12]

Maybe this is the answer?

Spoiler!

https://twitter.com/cirublessed/stat...19464765218821

[XenophobicPrussian]

because it's further away from Steppe and Anatolian areas? Weird question. Also far more densely populated with an easily defendable small Isthmus of Suez to the east, only a small strip of habitable coast with Libya in the west.

Also, higher Anatolian in North Africans is due to Iberian neolithic migrations, nothing to do with the Reconquista. Iberian neolithics made it all the way down to the Sahel and northern Nigeria.

[Leto]

True. By European, do you mean Steppe? If so you might be surprised as I was shocked myself, but I did some runs on Peninsular Arabs like Saudis and Yemeni samples on G25, and crazily a lot of them score very minor amounts of Steppe admixture. The only group who seem to mostly lack any Steppe was Mahra of Southern Yemen/Oman who seem even more isolated than other Arabian populations.

I can post those models if you want.

Not necessarily Steppe. Western Med type of stuff too. But you're right, noise levels of European can be found there.

[Zanzibar]

because it's further away from Steppe and Anatolian areas? Weird question. Also far more densely populated with an easily defendable small Isthmus of Suez to the east, only a small strip of habitable coast with Libya in the west.

Also, higher Anatolian in North Africans is due to Iberian neolithic migrations, nothing to do with the Reconquista. Iberian neolithics made it all the way down to the Sahel and northern Nigeria.

It's not weird to me. As I'm genuinely baffled why they have less than their neighbors. I will admit I'm pretty much a layman about MENA genetics and history hence the question.

Egypt is much more densely populated than Maghreb and Levant?

Well where do the Steppe in Maghrebis come from and why do they have it in higher amounts than Egyptians?

[Zanzibar]

Not necessarily Steppe. Western Med type of stuff too. But you're right, noise levels of European can be found there.

You mean something like EEF? But isn't EEF-like ancestry also indigenous to the MENA area? I mean how would you distinguish European EEF from the MENA one?

Well here's the thread I made about this Steppe signal in Arabia: https://www.theapricity.com/forum/sh...teppe-ancestry