Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From

by Tony Joseph

The remains of the three individuals from Gonur and Shahr-i-Sokhta were dated to between 3100 BCE and 2200 BCE. These individuals, in contrast to the rest, had between 14 and 42 per cent of their ancestry related to the First Indians and 58 to 86 per cent of their ancestry related to Iranian agriculturists. Since they had no Anatolian ancestry, it was clear to the researchers that they came from farther east since Anatolian ancestry keeps declining towards the east. That they had significant First Indian ancestry also suggested the same – that they came from the east, from the Harappan Civilization, and were migrants to Gonur and Shahr-i-Sokhta. In other words, the study showed that the Harappan population from around 3100–2200 BCE had part ancestry from the Zagros agriculturists, while there was no indication of a First Indian ancestry in the Zagros agriculturist ancient DNA dating to 7000–8000 BCE. The direction of migration, therefore, was clear. People had migrated from the Zagros region of Iran towards India.