Minoans and Japanese (DNA Analysis)

　I. Overview

　 Anthropology based on DNA to find ancient ancestry is a new area that took off in tandem with the Human Genome Project (1990-2003). It focuses particularly on mitochondrial DNA that shows ancestry along the maternal line and Y chromosome DNA, handed down along the paternal line.

　1. Had there been a large- scale migration from bronze age Crete to Japan (over 300 years?), the traces, if any, should be left in Y chromosome DNA more than mitochondrial DNA.

　This is because such a group would have been led by males, due to the physical demands, perils and stress associated with a long journey out of the ordinary. The less hardy, including women and children, would have preferred to drop off and settle down somewhere closer to the point of departure, rather than to continue until they had reached Japan.

　2. In Japan, mitochondrial DNA is comparable to inhabitants in northeastern China and the Korean Peninsula, but Y chromosome DNA shows an irregularity that does not conform to the patterns in this region.

　This is the Y haplogroup D found in high frequencies among Japanese males, probably a branch and extension of the DE type with roots in Africa and that later split into D and E.

　Some consider this as evidence of Middle Eastern roots for the Japanese people down the paternal line, but D type is normally attributed to the Neolithic Jo-mon people.

　II. Y Haplogroups in Perspective

　1.Japan

(1) According to online Anthropological Science, Japanese Y haplogroups in order of high frequencies are, O2b1 (22.0%), D2a1 (17.4%), D2* (14.7%), O2b* (9.9%), C3 (6.1%), C1 (4.7%), not to mention others of less than 2% each.

(2) Japanese people are believed to be descendants of the Jo-mon and Yayoi people. The D haplogroup is rare in Northeast Asia and considered to be derived from the Jo-mon people, notably because it is observed among the indigenous Ainu people, who are thought to predate the Yayoi people from the Asian continent, arriving later than 1000 BCE.

(3) Haplogroups D, E and their ancestor DE, are all characterized by the Y chromosome Alu Polymorphism (YAP) and are termed YAP-positive. D2 has been found from modern humans from Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

　2.Greece

　According to information from the research Firasat 2007 on the internet, Greek haplogroups, in order of frequency, consist of E1b1b (20.8%), J (16.9%), R1a (15.6%), R1b (11.7%), G (9.1%) and others, but there is no mention of D.

　3.Minoans

(1) According to joint research into the DNA of 19 ancient individuals (3 Minoans, 4 Mycenaeans, etc.) by Iosif Lazaridis et al. published in the journal Nature (Aug 2017) as Genetic Origins of the Minoans and the Mycenaeans, Minoans and Mycenaeans are closely related genetically, and the DNA of modern Greeks contain many traces of the Mycenaeans.

(2) For Y haplogroups, among the 3 Minoans, 2 were of haplogroup J, the other being G; among the Mycenaeans, only 1 was mentioned and he was J. Both J and G haplogroups are found frequently among modern Greeks but not among Japanese males.

(3) However, one must add that the 3 “Minoan” samples may have been Mycenaeans residing on Crete, because the only basis for Minoan classification seems to be excavation on Crete, and this calls for further investigation. After all, Mycenaeans are supposed to have become the new rulers on Crete over the Minoans, circa 1450 BCE.

　III.International Language

　If, during the Bronze Age, an ancient form of Japanese enjoyed currency as an international language, such as English at present, then it would have been spoken by people of different nationalities and served as the lingua franca. In that case, DNA makeup would be meaningless in determining whether a certain group of people had used proto-Japanese for communication.

　Now that both Minoan script and Indus script have been deciphered as proto-Japanese, this may have to be considered as a real possibility.

　IV. Y Haplogroup Replacement

　Among the Japanese, Y haplogroups J and G seem to be missing, but the Minoan male population could have been replaced by males of other haplogroups, especially D, O or C, from the Near East circa 1200 BCE or later, to eventually reach Japan with their language.

　1.Leadership Change

　According to the Hebrew Bible and other sources, the Philistines, whom the Israelites had to contend with, came from Caphtor (Crete). They formed one group among the Sea Peoples that swept the Eastern Mediterranean to become a main cause of the Bronze Age collapse. An ancient Egyptian relief of the Battle of Kadesh (1177 BCE) against the Sea Peoples mentions them as the Peleset whom Ramses III fought, overcame, and resettled in the Canaan.

　The Philistines apparently stayed in Canaan from the 12th century BCE to 604 BCE, when their state was destroyed by Babylon. They remained within the Persian Empire but disappeared from records by the late 5th century BCE.

(1) Pragmatic Sanction

　Even if the ruler or chieftain of the Minoans consisted of males from a male line of succession, there may be cases where the heir to the throne must temporarily be a princess instead of a prince, simply because there were no sons of the last ruler alive and capable of taking up the throne, as in the case of Empress Maria Theresa of the Hapsburgs.

　The Minoans may have lost all male heirs to the throne during the years of war and conflict against other nations and ethnic groups, notably in the Levant and Canaan. Consequently, they may have had to choose a princess to wed a male from another tribe or ethnic group and to continue with the line of succession. The bridegroom may have been of Y haplogroup D.

(2) War and Subjugation

　If the Minoans had indeed been resettled in the Canaan to be renamed the Philistines, their genetic makeup may have been transformed by subjugation. After losing much of the male population to war, strife and slavery, Minoan women and children may have fallen into the custody of Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians, whose males were of Y haplogroup D, O or C.

　Even if a large part of the Minoan males had managed to survive, replacement of their king or leader by a male of another haplogroup should have been enough to replace the dominant Y haplogroup over generations, so as to be reflected in the dominant haplogroups in present day Japan.

　2.Famine

　Famine could have been another cause for huge losses among Minoan males during the long journey of migration from Crete. During famine, males who were members and relatives of the leadership or royal family, albeit of another haplogroup, had much better chances of surviving than males of other haplogroups.

　Another factor of survival at times of famine in a foreign land would have been the presence of wives from the local community, in which case the locals would be much more generous in providing food to the native females and their offspring, compared to ethnic Minoans, unless they belonged to the leadership or royal family.

　3.Epidemic

　 Migratory Minoans may have been caught in a wave of epidemic while passing through a strange land. Without any immunity in contrast to the locals, they may have suffered heavy losses, especially among the genetically more vulnerable males, unless they were close to the leadership or royal family, who were always well taken care of.

V. Dominance of the Elite Language

　1. A minority group of settlers may have an over-reaching influence on the indigenous language, way beyond their influence on DNA makeup, if they happen to come to power.

　The Norman conquest instilled the English language with a heavy dose of French. The colonial powers of Spain and Portugal brought their languages into the New World, where they are still spoken as the dominant tongue, not to mention the British colonial empire and its linguistic legacy.

　2. Had refugees from Minoan Crete reached Japan to settle down, they may have transformed the Japanese language without a traceable change in DNA composition. This could happen if they were to end up in the upper echelons of ancient Japanese society, being revered as demi-gods for their role in introducing bronze age technology, paddy rice farming and kanji.