[kragen]

No, I was talking about https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43005206, the ancestral comment containing the phrases I quoted from it, between quote marks.

The Rig Veda does provide important evidence of a migration, but not by narrating it. Rather, the vocabulary, grammar, and mythological content are so similar to the Avestan texts that a common linguistic origin seems inescapable. That of course doesn't demonstrate population replacement on its own, but lacking Starlink or even homing pigeons, some kind of migration was clearly involved.

[FlyingSnake]

Ah ok. I agree with you.

The prevalence of Steppe Ancestry in all modern day Indians should be enough to conclude that some form of migration happened.

All this politically tinged talk about supposed purity of DNA is utter nonsense.

[kragen]

Do we know it's steppe ancestry because of DNA comparisons with Kurgan grave DNA, or from some other evidence? To me it seems a priori difficult to know where a gene hails from originally.

[FlyingSnake]

That’s a great question but I don’t know how this gene flow worked. I’m not an expert in genetics but genetic research shows that one component of Indian DNA matches with Steppe Pastorals.

Here’s an article that goes deeper into this:

https://eruditus.substack.com/p/sons-of-the-indus-the-indian...

[kragen]

Thank you, this is fantastic!

[wqaatwt]

If in earlier periods a specific haplogroup is concentrated in specific relatively small area but after a couple of centuries it can be found across the entire continent that seems like a good indicator.

[kragen]

That's why I was asking if this conclusion is based on grave DNA data. How else do you know where haplogroups were in earlier periods, other than by already knowing the information about historical migrations and population replacements that we're trying to derive in the first place?