So, this paper, together with two other papers on Roma, and the one on Maronites, is added to my recent enumeration of cases where the pedigree (or germline, or genealogical) mutation rate gives better results than the "evolutionary" rate. Since both analysis of the Y-STR mutation model and empirical data suggests the superiority of the pedigree rate, it is perplexing why the evolutionary rate continues to persist in the literature.
Age calculations based on evolutionary and pedigreemutation rates gave significantly different date estimates,5.5–8.0 and 2.3–3.4 ky, respectively. In our opinion,the age calculations of the subcluster R1a1-WSLbased on the pedigree mutation rate appear to be moreconsistent with the archeological record, as well as withthe limited distribution of this Y-STR subcluster inEurope.
Getting back to the paper:
Southern parts of present Poland were under Celtic influence. In the second century B.C., the Celts arrived in southern Poland via the Moravia and Bohemia regions, where they prevailed with their La Te`ne culture from the fifth century B.C. Therefore, it is probable that the R1a/R1b proportion varied in those regions according to the degree of influence of one population or another (i.e., Slavic orCeltic).
I recently suggested a possible Celtic or Germanic link with some R1b subclades, and the presence of both R-U106 and R-U152 clades in Western Slavs (from the Myres et al.) paper suggests that both processes may have been important. It will be interesting to see ancient DNA studies confirm/disprove these hypotheses about an ethnic affiliation of particular Y-chromosome lineages.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21253
Similarities and Distinctions in Y Chromosome Gene Pool of Western Slavs
Marcin Wozniak et al.
Analysis of Y chromosome Y-STRs has proven to be a useful tool in the field of population genetics, especially in the case of closely related populations. We collected DNA samples from 169 males of Czech origin, 80 males of Slovakian origin, and 142 males dwelling Northern Poland. We performed Y-STR analysis of 12 loci in the samples collected (PowerPlex Y system from Promega) and compared the Y chromosome haplotype frequencies between the populations investigated. Also, we used Y-STR data available from the literature for comparison purposes. We observed significant differences between Y chromosome pools of Czechs and Slovaks compared to other Slavic and European populations. At the same time we were able to point to a specific group of Y-STR haplotypes belonging to an R1a haplogroup that seems to be shared by Slavic populations dwelling in Central Europe. The observed Y chromosome diversity may be explained by taking into consideration archeological and historical data regarding early Slav migrations.