The role of Hazarewal populations in the peopling of South Asia: A dental morphology investigation

Objectives: This study seeks to accomplish three objectives: assess the biological impact of historically documented Pathan-speaking populations on present-day Hazarewal ethnic groups, determine consilience in patterns of relationships identified by molecular genetics and dental morphology analyses, and determine which of the current models for the peopling of the Indian subcontinent is best supported by dental morphology analysis.Materials and Methods: Dental morphology traits were scored with the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System among living members of 18 ethnic group samples from South Asia in northern Pakistan and 13 prehistoric samples from south-central Asia and South Asia. Affinities were summarized with raw percentages and Smith's MMD. Affinities based on the former were accomplished with correspondence analysis and principal components analysis. Affinities based on the latter were undertaken with neighbor-joining cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling.Results: Biodistances based on 17 tooth-trait combinations suggest the human biological history in South Asia is dominated by long-standing continuity, but this continuity is not absolute. There is no evidence for influx of Central Asians or Pathan influences on Hazarewal ethnic groups. Instead, gene flow likely occurred, albeit from other sources, near the beginning of the Holocene and at the beginning of the Iron Age.Discussion: Consilience in results obtained with molecular genetics and dental morphology analyses is good. Both indicate long-standing population continuity over time and clinal variation emanating from Hazarewal to the south and east. However, dental morphology suggests an early Holocene influx of exogenous genes, perhaps from southern Iran, while ruling out a steppe-based influx during the mid-2nd millennium BC.