Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past

by David Reich

The genetic data also hinted at the social status of the ancient ANI (higher social status on average) and ASI (lower social status on average). Groups of traditionally higher social status in the Indian caste system typically have a higher proportion of ANI ancestry than those of traditionally lower social status, even within the same state of India where everyone speaks the same language.23 For example, Brahmins, the priestly caste, tend to have more ANI ancestry than the groups they live among, even those speaking the same language. Although there are groups in India that are exceptions to these patterns, including well-documented cases where whole groups have shifted social status,24 the findings are statistically clear, and suggest that the ANI-ASI mixture in ancient India occurred in the context of social stratification.