Antiquity and Peopling of the Deccan – an Ancient DNA approach – from Archaeology to Technology, but reaching race and eugenics (6)

Antiquity and Peopling of the Deccan – an Ancient DNA approach – from Archaeology to Technology, but reaching race and eugenics (6)

Cephalometry, the measurement of skulls – upper part: The people of different countries appeared with the heads i.e., the size, shape etc., so that they could be identified. Thus, the visual studies turned to measurement methodology, thus, collecting the skulls.

Cephalometry is the study and measurement of the head, usually the human head, especially by medical imaging such as radiography.

Craniometry, the measurement of the cranium (skull), is a large subset of cephalometry. Cephalometry also has a history in phrenology, which is the study of personality and character as well as physiognomy, which is the study of facial features.

Cephalometry as applied in a comparative anatomy context informs biological anthropology. In clinical contexts such as dentistry and oral and maxillofacial surgery, cephalometric analysis helps in treatment and research; cephalometric landmarks guide surgeons in planning and operating.

Craniology, the study of skulls: During the 18th and 19th centuries, the European theologians, philosophers, scientists and a host of experts started researching into the human past, the origin of the human race and their progress, development and other achievements. At that time, they started digging out graves and studying the skulls. Thus, they divided the skulls into –

• Dolichocephalic = lengthy, elongated,  parabolic type skulls
• Mesocephalic = medium type of skulls, neither elongated nor circular shaped skulls.
• Brachycephalic = circular type, round formed skulls.

Cephalic indexes of skull shapes

The above picture is taken from Wikisource[1].

Cephalic indices are grouped as in the following table:

Females	Males	Scientific term	Meaning	Alternative term
< 75	< 75.9	dolichocephalic	‘long-headed’	dolicocranial, elogated
75 to 83	76 to 81	mesaticephalic	‘medium-headed’	mesocephalic; mesocranial
> 83	> 81.1	brachycephalic	‘short-headed’	brachycranial

Craniometery made the osteologists more enthusiastic to create more indexes – nasal index, lip, jaw, teeth and so on[2]. The cephalic index was also linked with the teeth and that was also included in the race science[3].

How the skulls were measured and classified..

Hair colour and racial interpretation: The form, type and colour of the hair are also related to the three major races.

Asian	round to slightly oval-shaped follicles	Straight to wavy hair
Caucasiun	Oval-shaped curly hair	Straight to curly hair
Afro	Oval to Elliptical follicles	Curly to coiled hair

The RHS type- hard, rough, straight

Middle – in between

The LHS – curled, wavy, slight wavy and soft

The Nasal Index: Many skulls were measured by taking samples from throughout the world and such data was used for many interpretations, even related to the nose.

The physiological features and measurements are also used and the experts grouped them as follows:

Eye colour for race: Eye colour is determined by the amount of melanin (mostly eumelanin) in the stroma of the iris, plus the density of the stroma cells.  The stroma is those fine bundles of fibres that make the interesting little lines in your Iris.

chromosome 15 – a gene labelled by 1 and by 2 (Brown)	Melanin content	Eye color seems to be mostly a matter of three genes
brown or black	More eumelanin in the stroma	chromosome 15 – a gene labelled bey 1 and by 2 (Brown)
Green	High pheomelanin	chromosome 19 having a dominant allele
Blue	little melanin	chromosome 19 called gey.
light purplish colour	melanin is extremely low

Blood and race: Till the 20^th century, the race scientists classified blood into – Royal, blue, full, pure, impure, brown, mixed and so on. Now, they classify as – A+, A-, B+,  B-, O+, O-, AB+, AB-. Associating with race as follows:

• African American: 47% O-positive, 24% A-positive, and 18% B-positive
• Latin American: 53% O-positive, 29% A-positive, and 9% B-positive
• Asian: 39% O-positive, 27% A-positive, and 25% B-positive
• Caucasian: 37% O-positive, 33% A-positive, and 9% B-positive

Blood stain, remnants collected from bone and skeletal remains: Blood stains and remnants could be collected from the bone and skeletal remains also. The bone and skeletal remains are also exported for many reasons, particularly for laboratory usage. It has also to be noted that the genetic method of testing samples are destructive in nature and the sent samples cannot be received back in the same form or otherwise. Generally, they are not returned.

Blood samples collected, disposal etc and reaching genetic laboratories:  Daily blood is collected from the crores of patients for testing purposes. Generally, it is claimed that the blood after testing is disposed off by incineration, bleaching, autoclaving, microwaving, etc. Samples are also going to “bio-banks,” for carrying out further research such as cancer research or medication testing with the information – person’s age, gender, diagnosis, and so on.. Thus, many times, the owner of the blood may not be knowing what is happening with his blood sample. As the genetic studies claim that they get blood from known and unknown sources, but with the required information, it is evident under the guise of “pathological research,” they get these samples also. While the samples taken for genetic research are claimed that they are extracted with individual consent, whereas, from other sources, it is not known how they decide all the factors that are drawn for their conclusion.  Generally, the persons involved in the genetic studies assert they “get the consent of the sample donor”.

Genetic studies implications: The genetic studies have been again revived under the guise of DNA research all over the world. Millions or perhaps billions of $, £, €, ₹ etc. are spent all over the world. Perhaps, the foreign companies produce and manufacture laboratory equipments, instruments and provide services that may get benefited, as they continuously get the business. After the World Wars and the race superiority that led to the genocide of millions of people directly and indirectly, such race related genetic studies were banned. Even in the 21^st century with all the advanced science and technology, laboratories with computerized equipments and instruments, such genetics are one way or the other again oriented towards the same issues of race, stock, casta, caste, blood and other related problems. Even the disease related research studies also moving towards eugenics and thus race promotion[4]. The Corona has not perhaps taught a lesson to the scientists or the rulers or the laboratories, how such studies could lead to catastrophe resulting in the death of millions and millions of people.

The public / taxpayers should get benefit: When crores of rupees, taxpayers’ money is used for the studies, the public might ask the question, “What is the use of these tests and results”? After all the studies with scientific qualifications, technical knowledge, sophisticated equipments and instruments, finally, if they say that Indians are Aryans, Dravidians, or mixed race, both came from outside, from Africa and so on, what is the use? Already, the politicians fight elections based on caste and the votes vote with such candidates. In fact, where a particular caste of people are dominant or more, only candidates of that caste is made to contest. Now, there has been a demand for a caste-based census to be conducted.

Peace-breaking research is not required: If the genetic studies are oriented towards confirming the same old and discarded hypotheses and theories, then, the people would be again pitted against each other. So why then, such divisive, disruptive peace-breaking research is required? Therefore, much care and responsibility have to be taken in monitoring and controlling such lab-oriented micro-biological research with human samples. With their results, reportedly obtained out of 100, 1000, 10,000 or 1,00,000, they might come out with attractive hypotheses and theories. Their research papers would be continuously published in the global research journals and books with the certificates like “peer reviewed” and also with “conflict of interest” and of course with “caution,” just like the pharmaceutical manufacturers warn or advise with “side effects” printed in very-very small fonts on a paper that has to be unfolded 8 0r 16 times to read and understand. 

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

22-06-2024

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[1]  Popular Science, Monthly volum.59, p.394; https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Popular_Science_Monthly_Volume_59.djvu/404

[2] Blumenfeld, Jodi. “Racial identification in the skull and teeth.” The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology 8.1 (2000).

[3] Ahmed, H. M., N. F. Al-Khawaja, and Mohammed Nahidh. “Assessment of palatal dimensions in a sample of Iraqi adults with different facial forms.” Iraqi Orthod J 10.1 (2014): 8-11.

[4] Phelan, Jo C., Bruce G. Link, and Naumi M. Feldman. “The genomic revolution and beliefs about essential racial differences: a backdoor to eugenics?.” American sociological review 78.2 (2013): 167-191.

Antiquity and Peopling of the Deccan – an Ancient DNA approach – from Archaeology to Technology, but reaching race and eugenics (5)

Antiquity and Peopling of the Deccan – an Ancient DNA approach – from Archaeology to Technology, but reaching race and eugenics (5)

The European and American struggle against race: The myth of race originated among the whites of the European countries and with them, it spread to the USA also, with “Pilgrim Progress”. Under the guise of scientific studies, such race researches were encouraged and then debunked [1] them as “Man’s most dangerous myth.” It is now generally acknowledged that the term ‘race’ entered English early in the 16^th century. This was also the time when the term was acquiring currency in other European languages, for example ‘rassa’ and ‘race’ in French, ‘razza’ in Italian, ‘raca’ in Portuguese, and ‘raza’ in Spanish. By the middle of the 16^th century, one common meaning was beginning to gain ground. The Europeans were dividing themselves based on common ancestry, common language, common faith, etc.. Race began to refer to family, lineage, and breed. In modern times also, they pursued such unscientific hypotheses and theories to prove the “white man’s burden.” Even after debunking the race, it has been resurrected through genetics in the sophisticated laboratories. The race hypotheses and theories with related factors of skin colour, skull shape-size, morphology and others are briefly reviewed in the context.

The Caucasian, Europid or Europoid race: The Caucasian race (also Caucasoid, Europid, or Europoid) is a racial classification of humans based on a now-disproven theory of biological race. The Caucasian race was historically regarded as a biological taxon which, depending on which of the historical race classifications was being used, usually included ancient and modern populations from all or parts of Europe, Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa. Introduced in the 1780s by members of the Göttingen school of history, the term denoted one of three purported major races of humankind (those three being Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid). In the United States, the root term Caucasian is still in use as a synonym for white or of European, Middle Eastern, or North African ancestry and now it is used by the Indian researchers also.

Nordic race, Nordicism etc: The Europeans also started to find out which nationality was more pure than others with identifiable morphological features. Thus, the concept of Nordic race originated in 19^th-century anthropology. It was once considered a race or one of the putative sub-races into which some late-19^th to mid-20^th century anthropologists divided the Caucasian race, claiming that its ancestral homelands were Northwestern and Northern Europe, particularly to populations such as Anglo-Saxons, Germanic peoples, Balts, Baltic Finns, Northern French, and certain Celts, Slavs and Ghegs. The supposed physical traits of the Nordics included light eyes, light skin, tall stature, and dolichocephalic skull; their psychological traits were deemed to be truthfulness, equitability, a competitive spirit, naivete, reservedness, and individualism. In the early 20th century, the belief that the Nordic race constituted the superior branch of the Caucasian race gave rise to the ideology of Nordicism.

The Nazis claimed that the Nordic race was the most superior branch of the “Aryan race” constituting a master race (Herrenvolk): The belief that the Nordic phenotype is superior to all others was originally embraced as “Anglo-Saxonism” in England and the United States, “Teutonicism” in Germany, and “Frankisism” in Northern France. The notion of the superiority of the “Nordic race” and the superiority of the Northwestern European nations that were associated with this supposed race influenced the United States’ Immigration Act of 1924 (which effectively banned or severely limited the immigration of Italians, Jews, and other Southern and Eastern Europeans) and the later Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, and it was also present in other countries outside Northwestern Europe and the United States, such as Australia, Canada, and South Africa. By the 1930s, the Nazis claimed that the Nordic race was the most superior branch of the “Aryan race” and constituted a master race (Herrenvolk). The full application of this belief system—the invasion of Poland and further conquest in the pursuit of Lebensraum, ‘living space’—was the immediate catalyst for World War II and led directly to the industrial mass murder of six million Jews and eleven million other victims in what is now known as the Holocaust. Thus, it is amply evident that the Europeans were responsible for the creation of such racial myths leading to the World Wars. Now, again the Europeans and Americans have been trying to match such ideology ith their genetic studies. How the race factors were developed are studied briefly.

The four categorizations of race continue: Natural taxonomic categories of the human species were considered by Linnaeus in 1758 for the classification of race. He differentiated Homo sapiens afar and Homo sapiens Europeans and added four geographical subdivisions of humans:

1. White Europeans,
2. red Americans,
3. yellow Asians, and
4. black Africans.

Although Linnaeus intended an objective classification, he used both biological and cultural data in his subdivision descriptions.

Blumenbach. in 1775, categorized humans into five “races,” which is similar to Linnaeus’s classifications. Coon in 1962, on the basis of phenotypic physical features, further refined classification into five races; he called the races as –

1. Caucasoid,
2. Mongoloid,
3. Australoid,
4. Negroid, and
5. Capoid.

Despite disagreement among anthropologists, this classification remains in use by many researchers, as well as lay persons.

1. Caucasoids,
2. Mongoloids,
3. Negroids, and
4. Australoids (Australian aborigines) are four major groups considered in the world.

Even today, these four categories are faithfully and strictly followed by the genetic engineers, hereditary experts and inherent scientists.

Genetic interpretation of race: The conception of “race” here proposed is based upon the following fundamental postulates:

• that the original ancestral species population was genetically relatively heterogeneous;

• that by migration away from this original ancestral group, individual families became dispersed over the earth;

• that some of the groups thus dispersed became geographically isolated from one another and remained so isolated for more or less considerable periods of time;

(4) that upon all these isolated groups several of the following factors came into play as conditions leading to evolutionary change:

(a) the genetic drift or inherent variability of the genotypic, materials composing each individual member of the group;

(b) physical change in the action of a gene associated, in a partial manner, with a particular character, that is, gene mutation.

Skin Color: Actually, it is because of colour that the Europeans started postulating the race hypothesis slowly developing into a theory. When the European explorers started visiting other countries or the people of other countries visiting their countries, they could notice the change in the skin colours of the Africans and the Asians. Later they could note the colour difference of the Chinese and Americans. While the North Americans appeared reddish, the South American were brownish. Thus, the five colours also formulated to match. Human populations obviously differ in average skin colour. Many people consider skin colour the most important indicator of “race,” and they sometimes treat others differently solely on this basis. But anthropologists, in addition to being critical of prejudice, also note that skin colour is not a good indicator of ancestry. For example, dark skin is commonly found in sub-Saharan Africa. However, natives of southern India have skin as dark or darker than that of many Africans. Yet these people are not closely related to Africans, either genetically or historically. The amount of melanin in the skin seems to be related to the climate in which a person lives. Next to the skin colour, the head played a crucial role in identifying a race.

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

21-06-2024

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[1] Montagu, MF Ashley. Man’s most dangerous myth: The fallacy of race. Columbia University Press, 1945.

Antiquity and Peopling of the Deccan – an Ancient DNA approach – RUSA project – from Archaeology to Technology, but moving to race (4)

Antiquity and Peopling of the Deccan – an Ancient DNA approach – RUSA project – from Archaeology to Technology, but moving to race (4)

The claim of Industrialized Urban civilization: The Keeladi related news, reports and related papers published papers mentioned about “Industrialized Urban civilization.” It is evident that to compare and equate with the IVC, this type of overstated claims are made. In fact, when they claim what the civilization was about “Industrialized,” what types of industries were there, tools and machinery used, goods manufactured, workers and experts engaged etc., the related details have to be explicitly provided. Similarly, for the status of about “Urban,” also just like IVC, they have to produce evidence of town planning, plumbing, drainage system etc,. With a few examples, they cannot jump to a conclusion and finalize that the Porunai River civilization[1] was as much or more civilized than that of IVC[2].  One has to prove how most of the civilized processes of the people were industrialized i.e, mechanized using specific apparatus, instruments, gadgets, appliances, tools, machines, machinery etc., just verbose would not help to prove such status during 1000 BCE or 2000 BCE.

How to read IVC signs with Tamizhi?: Sangam, Sangam literature, Sangam era, Sangam civilization and such other terms and expressions are repeatedly and interchangeably used in the news, reporting and other narratives. But, they forget the implications of script, language and literature.

1. All the IVC signs, symbols, pictograms etc., should be equated with Tamizhi and read accordingly.
2. When they believe or accept the “Out of Africa” theory, then, all the migration including from the Central Asia have to be correlated with the Sangam period.
3. As pointed out Pichappan pointed out three migrations of “Dravidians” into India.
4. When the internal evidences of the literature point to certain dates and chronology, based on these datings, they cannot be pushed back to such dates, as literary factors do not co-operate.

Position about the race of the people as on April 2023: It may be noted that the forensic bio-archaeological investigations conducted by experts G Pathmanathan, Raghavan Pathmanathan, and T Satyamurthy, on the 169 skeletons collected from Adichanallur, have implied that three major racial groups –

1. Caucasoid,
2. Mongolriver 3,200 years ago. The Chief Minister said that it was confirmed by AMS carbon dating which was done abroad, and
3. Negroid (Australoid) — may have existed in Adichanallur[3].

As per FORDISC analysis[4], some skeletons reflect mixed racial traits and very few of them display similarities with the contemporary Tamil ethnic group, they said.

The racial affinities of skeletal remains recovered from Adichanallur have been further classified into –

• 30% Mongoloids,
• 35% Caucasoids,
• 16% Negroids,
• 6% Australoids,
• 8% ethnic Dravidian, and
• 5% mixed trait populations[5].

They published a paper in 2010, in which they briefed[6], “Adichanallur, a remote village situated near Thirunelvelli city in Tamil Nadu (South India), lies near Tutucorin harbor. It has a long and continuous history of human occupation, including a three-tier prehistoric cemetery covering an area of slightly more than 200 acres. It is one of the largest and the oldest early Iron Age cemeteries of South Asia. The recent excavation (2004-06) of this site by the Archaeological Survey of India has yielded primary burials of 85 human skeletons placed in a squatting position in giant, monochrome or dual-coloured clay urns. This paper discusses the geology of the site and the cranial morphology, with a focus on the racial affinities, of the recovered skeletons.” Meanwhile, a reply from the Department of Archaeology said genomic studies are underway at the Ancient DNA Laboratory in Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) in association with Harvard University’s David Reich Lab. Thus, the experts under the guise of genetics or DNA, again going back to old race and racial classification.

Why more emphasis is given to race?: Thus, it is evident that the experts involved appeared to have more bothered or worried about the race question of the people rather than other factors.

• FORDISC is a software program created by Stephen Ousley and Richard Jantz. It is designed to help forensic anthropologists investigate the identity of a deceased person by providing estimates of the person’s size, ethnicity, and biological sex based on the osteological material recovered.
• In 2012 research was presented at the 81^st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, which concluded FORDISC ancestry determination was not always consistent, and the programs’ recommended acceptance criteria did not separate correct and incorrect determinations.
• The authors concluded that the program does not perform to expectations and should be used with caution.

So naturally, the question arises – why the whole research is directed towards race, when the historians categorically deny that there is no race. Of course, as pointed out elsewhere, the UN also passed a resolution condemning race throes that were pseudoscientific. Now also using scientific methods, laboratory and other technologies, the research is directed to determine the race of the people. So again, the blood, oesteology, craniometry, morphology etc., are measured only with different or modern terminology, but the same old concepts. 

National seminar on Reflections on Cultural Development – An Archaeological Perspective November 2023: The Department of Archaeology conducted a national seminar on Reflections on Cultural Development – An Archaeological Perspective on November 23 and 24, 2023 on the occasion of Muthamizh Arignar Kalaignar Centenary celebrations at Madurai. The proceedings were also published in which the paper, “Ancient Genomic Investigation of the Archaeological Human, Animal, Plant and Microbial Remains from Tamil Nadu, India” authored by some 23 experts[7] including Kumaresan Ganesan, Sivanantham Ramalingam, and Rajan K. However, about the dating of the biological samples, they have not committed anything categorically. The rough or relative dates already given are repeated with the tag, “Of these, about 35 samples predominantly from Kondagai, and Adichanallur were identified to have potential skeletal remains to proceed further for extracting ancient DNA and being investigated at the dedicated ancient clean lab facility established at Madurai Kamaraj University.” The proceedings of the seminar can be viewed and listened to from this video[8]. R. N. Pichappan stuck to his topic on 23-11-2023, “Birth place of Dravidians Linguistic and NRY[9] study.” Though, he started with the assertion that “Dravidian” is a linguistic, cultural transformation and subdivided gene group, he proceeded to racial connotation.

“Dravidians” came from Africa and some settled down in western ghats.

• Dravidian originated in Tamil Nadu / Western Ghats
• By demic expansion, dispersed to Northern India
• Central Asia arrival restricted the Dravidian to pockets in North India – language replacements.

This is how he concluded. So “Dravidians” came from Africa, and settled down at the western ghats. By demic expansion (demic = characteristic of or pertaining to a people or population), the expanded to Northern India i.e., went out of India. Then, again they entered from Central Asia, thus found at some pockets in North India and then, finally settling down in Tamilnadu.

Genetic studies and dating: As the genetic experts directly or indirectly follow the same old method and principles of race etc, they also faithfully take the C-14, TL and other dating of the objects associated with the organic remains and construct a table as follows:

Dating method	Material dated	Age range dated
Carbon-14 to nitrogen-14 (radiocarbon)	Organic remains, archaeological artefacts	Up to 60,000 years ago
Luminescence	Tephra, loess, lake sediments	Up to 100,000 years ago
Fission track	Tephra	10,000 to 400 million years ago
Potassium-40 to argon-40	Volcanic rocks	20,000 to 4.5 billion years ago
Uranium-238 to lead-206	Volcanic rocks	1 million to 4.5 billion years ago

With this, the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Megalithic and related metallic cultures are also studied. Without any definiteness about the “monogenetic” or “heterogenetic” origin of the human race, the genetic experts debate about “Out of Africa” or European Neanderthal. Even the disease-related studies boil down to eugenics and race leading to an old problem.

• Men cannot be made as mere samples or subjects for their vested and interested studies and research.
• The pharmaceutical laboratories have been using African and Asian people for their drugs and formulations.
• The Corona period also revealed how the loopholes in the research laboratories could play havoc. Now, the side effects of vaccine are discussed.
• Therefore, connected experts should have patience and not to interpret the data and information to divide people.
• Science and technological men and machines should be useful to humanity and world peace.

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

20-06-2024

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[1] Director, Porunai River Civilization (in Tamil), Tamilnadu State Archaeology Department Chennai, 2021.

Click to access porunai_text.pdf

[2] The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin told the state assembly on September 9, 2021, that the paddy and soil that came out of an urn unearthed during an excavation in Sivakalai in the Tuticorin district in the state has confirmed that civilization had flourished on the banks of Porunai or Thamirabarani y US lab Beta Analytic. As per the historians, the graffiti found in the Indus Valley Civilization and the one encountered in South India is about 80% identical. It suggests that there may be some form of linguistic connection between the Indus Valley Civilization, South India, and Sri Lanka.

[3] Indian Express, Archaeologists compare DNA samples to affirm Adichanallur early inhabitants were ancestors of present populace, S Godson Wisely Dass, Updated on: 30 Apr 2023, 6:49 am.

[4] FORDISC is a software program created by Stephen Ousley and Richard Jantz. It is designed to help forensic anthropologists investigate the identity of a deceased person by providing estimates of the person’s size, ethnicity, and biological sex based on the osteological material recovered.

[5] https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2023/Apr/30/archaeologists-compare-dna-samples-to-affirmadichanallur-early-inhabitants-were-ancestors-of-present-populace-2570626.html

[6] Pathmanathan, R., Pathmanathan, G., Satyamurthy, T., & Talwar, I. (2010). Secrets of a Cemetery: The Geology and Forensic Skeletal Biology of the Ancient Maritime People of Adichanallur, Tamil Nadu. Quaternary Australasia, 27(1), 2-7.

[7]  G. Kumaresan et al, Ancient Genomic Investigation of the Archaeological Human, Animal, Plant and Microbial Remains from Tamil Nadu, India, in  Reflections on Cultural Development – An Archaeological Perspective , Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology, 2023, pp.177-206.

[8] IN COMMEMORATION OF THE CENTENARY CELEBRATION OF MUTHAMIZH ARIGNAR KALAIGNAR NATIONAL SEMINAR .4, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiMTfAjUR94

[9] Along ∼95% of its length the Y chromosome is male-specific and effectively haploid, since it is exempt from meiotic recombination. Therefore, this Y-chromosome segment where X-Y crossing over is absent has been designated as the non-recombining region of the Y chromosome or NRY.