During the last 8,000 years, the Armenian highlands have survived many historical eras. Cultures and civilizations have followed one another here, kingdoms and empires have arisen and disappeared, borders, languages ​​and political orders have changed. But genetic research shows a surprising picture. despite all the historical upheavals, the genetic profile of the local population has remained largely stable over the millennia. How was this possible? What processes allowed to preserve the genetic continuity of the population of the Armenian Highlands, and what can this feature tell about its history? Levon Episkoposyan, the head of the Evolutionary Genomics Laboratory of the Institute of Molecular Biology, told about these and many other questions on the air of the "Did you know?" program. The partner of the series of interviews about science and technology is Team Telecom Armenia. The Armenian gene pool has been formed for at least 6-8 thousand years Speaking about the genetic continuity of the population of the Armenian Highlands, Levon Episkoposyan emphasizes: it is not about whether modern Armenians are all direct and unchanging descendants the people who lived here 8 thousand years ago. At the same time, research allows us to talk about significant genetic continuity. According to him, about 6-8 thousand years ago, people lived in the territory of the region, whose genetic portrait is in many ways close to the genetic portrait of modern Armenians. At the same time, the scientist clarifies an important detail: the 8,000-year indicator refers primarily to the female line, mitochondrial DNA. "8,000 years of continuity means that the women who lived in this region during the last 8,000 years are our genetic and biological ancestors," says Episkoposyan. At the same time, the data of a more extensive research carried out last year allow us to talk about the formation of the Armenian gene pool of at least 6 thousand years already in the full sense of this concept. The analysis took into account mitochondrial DNA, the Y-chromosome and autosomal DNA, that is, a person's complete genetic material, which includes both the female and male lines. "We can talk about at least 6,000 years when it comes to the formation of the Armenian gene pool both in the female and male lines," says the scientist. At the same time, Episkoposyan assumes that the female genetic roots of the region's population can go even deeper into the past. According to him, the researchers already have data that exceeds the 8-thousand-year threshold, but it is too early to disclose the results of these studies. 6 thousand years of genetic continuity and formation of Armenian identity According to Episkoposyan, the fact that the estimate of 6 thousand years has a certain parallel with the history of the Armenian language is particularly important. He notes that, according to the chronology he observes, the Armenian language separated from the Indo-European language family about 5 thousand years ago. The scientist connects these two processes, genetic and linguistic separation, with the gradual formation of a separate population. "The nation begins to form and develop from the moment when it begins to stand out," Episkoposyan explains. According to him, genetic isolation means that marriage bonds are mainly formed within a certain area. A similar process occurs with language. in the conditions of relative isolation, a language system of its own is gradually formed, which over time becomes a national language. At the same time, it is not about the emergence of any "Armenian genes", the scientist emphasizes. We are talking about mutations that occur in the population and accumulate over time. If a population is relatively isolated from others for a long time, then the characteristic combination of such genetic changes becomes more and more unique to it. Episkoposyan compares this process to the formation of a dialect. changes that occur in one place and do not spread to other areas gradually create differences in the language. Something similar happens in genetics, but combinations of genetic variants have a much lower probability of repeating themselves by chance in another population. It is the accumulation of many such features, according to the scientist, that ultimately forms the typical genetic portrait of the population and makes it possible to distinguish it from the portraits of other peoples. What was happening with the Armenian gene pool 6 thousand years ago? Why was the genetic continuity so stable in the conditions of such a long history of the Armenian population? Episkoposyan admits that there is no definitive answer to this question yet, but ancient DNA allows us to gradually restore the image. According to him, samples obtained from burials of the Bronze Age are especially valuable. From around this period, archaeologists have significantly more material, which makes it possible to follow the changes in the genetic composition of the population over the millennia. Research shows that there was some external genetic influence. According to the scientist, a noticeable change was recorded approximately 6 to 4 thousand years ago, during the Late Bronze Age. The analysis shows that the group that came to the region was of Middle Eastern origin. Episkoposyan connects this with possible large-scale natural disasters that occurred in the Middle East at that time. At the suggestion of geologists, he considers the hypothesis of a powerful earthquake, which could be accompanied by a tsunami and cause the displacement of significant masses of the population. At the same time, the scientist emphasizes that this hypothesis still needs to be confirmed more convincingly. For final proof, additional samples of ancient DNA are needed to directly trace the origins of this group. Why did subsequent conquests hardly change the gene pool? According to Episkoposyan, it is much more difficult to explain another fact. why after that, during approximately four thousand years, there were almost no large-scale changes in the Armenian gene pool, due to many migrations and conquests. We are talking about the Iron Age and the Antiquity period, and also later invasions and the presence of different peoples and states in the region. There were Arabs in the territory of Armenia, the Persian influence continued, and about a thousand years ago Turkic-speaking tribes began to penetrate here. However, as the scientist notes, these processes did not leave a corresponding large-scale trace in the modern Armenian gene pool. Episkoposyan explains it primarily on the scale of genetic exchange. According to him, a noticeable trace appears in the gene pool when contacts between populations become massive. Individual events, be they intermarriage, violence, or other forms of contact between populations, cannot by themselves significantly change the genetic profile of a large population group. He also gives a historical example. After the conquests, marriages between representatives of different elites were often used as a means of easing political confrontation. Such a practice existed in various states and societies, including the relations between representatives of the Russian nobility and the Tatar-Mongolian elite. However, such marriages concerned primarily a narrow segment of society and did not mean a mass mixture of the population.