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The Swatis of Northern Pakistan-emigrants from Central Asia or colonists from peninsular India? A dental morphometric investigation

Poster in American Journal of Physical Anthropology · January 2009

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 The Swatis of Northern Pakistan—Emigrants from Central Asia or Colonists from Peninsular India?:
A Dental Morphometric Approach
Brian E. Hemphill
Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology, California State University Bakersfield
Introduction
Swati Origins
The Swati represent one of the largest land owning ethnic groups in the hill country of the
Hazara (Districts Abbottabad, Battagram, Mansehra) region, a transitional zone between the
northernmost margin of the Indus Valley to the south and the Karakoram and Hindu Kush
highlands to the north and northwest. Considerable controversy surrounds Swati origins.
The Swati self-identify as “Swati Pathans”, though this is hotly contested by the Pathans
themselves. A common origin account holds that the Swati originally derive from Pashtun-
speaking groups of northern Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush highlands, and were driven
out of the Swat Valley and into the Hazara region in the 15th and 16th centuries by the
Yousafzai, another Pastun-speaking group (Schofield 2003:127-9).
Alternatively, Ibbetson (1916:95-6) asserts the Swati are “a race of Hindu origin” from
peninsular India who “once ruled the whole country from the Jahlam to Jalalabad.”
This research seeks to address these alternative explanations for Swati origins by testing
whether the Swatis of Mansehra District share closer phenetic affinities to living and
prehistoric groups to the northwest (south Central Asia, Hindu Kush highlands) or to the
southeast (peninsular India). To place the patterning of Swati phenetic affinities into a larger
context, results of odontometric and dental morphology analyses are examined against four
current theoretical models for the peopling of the Indian subcontinent.
Models for the Peopling of the Indian Subcontinent
Long-Standing Continuity Model (LSCM): Proponents
of the LSCM assert the population of the Indian subcontinent
was established by early dispersal of modern humans out of
Africa through Asia via a southern route (Field et al., 2007), and
that no subsequent introduction of new genes or major migratory
events within the subcontinent have occurred (Kennedy et al.,
1984). Consequently, phenetic affinities should reflect a simple Dravidia
pattern of isolation-by-distance (Sokal & Wartenburg, 1983). That n
is, marital partners should be preferentially recruited nearby so
Speaker
s
that with the passage of time, populations closest temporally and
geographically should be most similar biologically.
Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT): Historically the most
influential model, proponents of the AIT (Erdosy, 1998; Parpola,
1995) assert that Indo-Aryan languages were brought to the
Indian subcontinent during the 2nd millennium B.C. by horse-
mounted Aryan invaders from the steppes of Central Asia, whose
descendants subsequently spread Vedic culture, first to the
upper Doab region of north India, then throughout the rest of the
Indian peninsula. Erdosy and Parpola claim the urban
populations of Bactrian and Margiana—under the direction of
Andronovo associated overlords—as the source population.
Early Intrusion Model (EIM): Proponents of the EIM Model
suggest populations of the Indian subcontinent have been
affected by at least two significant population incursions from the
west (Lukacs & Hemphill, 1991; Hemphill et al., 1992). The first,
which may be associated with the introduction of Dravidian
languages, likely occurred between 6000 and 4500 B.C. The
second, perhaps associated with the introduction of Indo-
European languages, likely occurred no earlier than the latter
half of the 1st millennium B.C.
Historic Era Impacts Model (HEIM): Proponents of the
HEIM assert that archaeologists have ignored historically
documented population movements in their attempts to
reconstruct the population history of the Indian subcontinent
(Blaylock & Hemphill 2007; Hemphill et al. in press; Willits &
Hemphill 2007). Proponent of the HEIM assert such movements
have had significant impacts on the local group level, especially
among those occupying the borderlands along the northwestern
margin of the Indian subcontinent.
Materials and Methods
Odontometrics
Measurements of maximum mesiodistal (MD) length and buccolingual (BL) breadths for all
permanent teeth, except third molars, among 190 student volunteers from Mansehra District,
NWFP, were recorded in accordance with the standards of Moorrees (1957).
Results were compared to 21 samples of prehistoric and living Central and South Asians,
the latter of which includes both Indo-Aryan and Dravidian-speakers. The comparative
sample includes 1,976 individuals, the majority of which are living individuals of known sex
and linguistic affinity. Together, these samples encompass individuals from the Hindu Kush
highlands, Central Asia, the Indus Valley, western India and southeast India. Measurements
were size corrected by standardizing measurements against geometric means by sex and
by sample of living populations and against sample means in prehistoric samples (Jungers
et al., 1995). Differences in tooth size allocation between samples were quantified with
generalized Euclidean distances and patterns of inter-sample differences were simplified
with cluster analysis (CA) using Ward’s minimum variance technique (Ward, 1963),
neighbor-joining (NJ) cluster analysis (Saitou & Nei, 1987), multidimensional scaling (MDS)
with Guttman’s (1968) coefficient of alienation, and with principal co-ordinates analysis
(PCO) (Gower, 1966). In the latter two analyses, a minimum spanning tree (Hartigen, 1975)
was imposed on the array of points in three-dimensional space to ease interpretation of
results.
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Dental Morphology
Morphology was scored as 17 tooth-trait combinations in accordance with the Arizona State
University system (Scott & Turner, 1997). Trait frequencies among Swatis were compared
to 20 samples of prehistoric and living South Asians, which includes 1,923 individuals, the
majority of which is composed of living individuals of known sex and linguistic affinity. Like
the comparative odontometric sample, this sample includes prehistoric individuals from
Central Asia (except ALT and GKS) and the Indus Valley, as well as living individuals from
southeast India; but, this sample also encompasses living west-central Indians and
Bengalis, while lacking Gujaratis.
Trait frequencies were compared with Smith’s mean measure of divergence statistic with
Freeman and Tukey’s angular adjustment (Green & Suchey, 1976). Patterns of inter-sample
differences were simplified with the same four methods described for the odontometric
analysis.
Results
Odontometrics
All four data reduction techniques indicate a clear division between prehistoric Central
Asians and all inhabitants of South Asia, both prehistoric and living, with one exception—
the living Kho of the Hindu Kush highlands. Remaining samples are divided into prehistoric
inhabitants of the Indus Valley plus the prehistoric sample from INM, and living inhabitants
of peninsular India. Again, this occurs with one exception, the tribal Chenchu sample from
Andhra Pradesh. This sample, along with the Madaklasht and Swatis of the Hindu Kush
highlands and the prehistoric sample from Altyn depe, appear to show few affinities to the
other samples included in this analysis or to one another.
Dental Morphology
Results from dental morphology analysis are a bit more complex than those obtained from
odontometrics. All data reduction techniques indicate the four prehistoric Central Asian
samples exhibit closest affinities to one another, but differ in expressing how they relate to
the rest of the samples. CA and PCO indicate that inhabitants of the Hindu Kush highlands,
including Swatis, share closest affinities to these prehistoric Central Asians. By contrast, NJ
and MDS suggest these inhabitants of the Hindu Kush highlands share closer affinities to
inhabitants of the Indus Valley. Intriguingly, in all but PCO, the Swatis, Kho and Madaklasht
are depicted as having especially close affinities to the chalcolithic sample from Mehrgarh.
Further, without inclusion of the prehistoric sample from Altyn depe (Turkmenistan, Central
Asia), tribal Chenchus no longer stand apart as unique, clustering with their Dravidian-
speaking counterparts (PNT, GPD), along with Indo-Aryan-speaking mixed caste urban
samples from west-central (RAS) and northeast (BNG) India.
Discussion
Swati Origins
Odontometric and dental morphology analyses yield consistent results, for all analyses
identify prehistoric Central Asians as distinct from prehistoric and living inhabitants of South
Asia. Odontometrics identify the living Kho as an exception to this pattern, but this is not
confirmed by dental morphology. Odontometrics also identify considerable regional
continuity, both prehistorically and among living inhabitants of South Asia, with four glaring
exceptions; tribal Chenchus, prehistoric Altyn depe, the Madaklasht, and Swatis, who
appear strongly separated from other groups and from one another. This pattern does not
emerge from dental morphology; for Hindu Kush samples, including Swatis, are no more
divergent than other regional samples, yet it remains unresolved whether these samples
share closest affinities to prehistoric Central Asians or to prehistoric inhabitants of the Indus
Valley. Nevertheless, Swatis share far closer affinities to living samples to the northwest
(KHO, MDK) and to the immediate south (Indus Valley) than to peninsular Indians of either
west-central or southeast India. Hence, there appears little evidence to support Ibbetson’s
(1916:95-6) assertion of Swati origins as a “race of Hindu origin” from peninsular India.
Peopling of the Indian Subcontinent
When results are considered against the four models for the population history of the Indian
subcontinent there is no support for the AIT. If there was an invasion of horse-mounted
Aryan-speaking invaders from Central Asia during the mid-2nd millennium B.C., there
appears to have been little genetic impact on South Asian populations.
There is somewhat better support for the LSCM. As expected, phenetic affinities appear to
be largely a function of propinquity in both time and in space. Yet, closer inspection reveals
several anomalies against this model: the marked divergence of tribal Chenchus from their
Dravidian-speaking counterparts (PNT, GPD) and the Kho from their Pastun-speaking
neighbors (MDK, SWT) in the odontometric analysis as well as the strong separation
between the two temporally distinct occupations at the site of Mehrgarh (NeoMRG,
ChlMRG) in the morphological analysis.
Support is even better for the EIM. As expected, both odontometrics and dental morphology
identify prehistoric Central Asians as having closest affinities to the latest prehistoric
samples from the Indus Valley (SKH, TMG). Also, dental morphology indicates that the
earliest of the Indus Valley samples (NeoMRG) shares closest affinities to living and
prehistoric inhabitants of west-central India. Yet, contrary to expectations, there appears to
be no mid-antiquity connection between “post-Dravidian invasion” samples of the Indus
Valley (i.e., ChalMRG, HAR) and living Dravidian speakers (CHU, GPD, PNT).
Both odontometric and dental morphology analyses provide strong support for the HEIM. As
expected, all three living ethnic groups of the Hindu Kush highlands appear either highly
(except Kho, odontometrics) or moderately (dental morphology) divergent from all other
South Asians. Such results are suggestive of relatively recent immigration into South Asia.
Their phenetic separation from the prehistoric Central Asian samples suggests their likely
origin does not lie in southern Central Asia. Identification of a particularly close affinity
between all three Hindu Kush samples with the chalcolithic occupants of Mehrgarh may hint
at a possible origin in southern Afghanistan, a connection indicated both archaeologically
(Jarrige, 1985) and historically (Schofield, 2003).
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