8:04 - The Origins of Haplogroup DE
19:31 - Basal Eurasians The Ancestors of Proto-Semites
40:36 - The Proto-Semitic Genome (OEC)
1:11:07 - Proto-Semites & Haplogroup E
1:46:56 - What did Proto-Semites look like?

This video is about the Origins of Proto-Semites.

Haplogroup E and DE have an Middle Eastern origin (per Cabrera et al. 2018). Haplogroup E migrated into Africa as part of a massive migration of "Basal-Eurasians" (Ancestral West-Eurasians) and than diffused and diversified within Africa, specifically the Horn of Africa (Northeast Africa). Haplogroup DE, next to CF, were the Basal-Eurasian lineages which expanded from the Middle East.

Y haplogroup E is dominant among non-hunter-gatherers in Africa, and it is within the “Eurasian-clade” DE, while indigenous African hunter gatherers belong to haplogroups A, A00 and B (per Cole et al. 2021 (2020) "Ancient Admixture into Africa from the ancestors of non-Africans", and see also "Massive “Basal Eurasian” Back-Migration").

According to Christy G. Turner II, there is an archaeological and physical anthropological reason for a relation between the modern Semitic-speaking populations of the Levant and the Natufian culture. According to ancient DNA analyses conducted by Lazaridis et al. (2016) on Natufian skeletal remains from present-day northern Israel, the Natufians carried the Y-DNA (paternal) haplogroups E. Haplogroup E1b1 is found primarily among North Africans, Sub-Saharan Africans, and among non-Arab Levantines such as Samaritans. The E1b1b branch in particular is mainly found in North Africans, Northeast Africans and Middle Easterners, and was found in Egypt (40%), Jordan (25%), Palestine (20%), and Lebanon (17.5%). In terms of autosomal DNA, these Natufians carried around 50% of the Basal Eurasian (BE). A 2018 analysis of autosomal DNA using modern populations as a reference, found The Natufian sample consisted of 61.2% Arabian, 21.2% Northern African, 10.9% Western Asian, and 6.8% Omotic-related ancestry.

The Semitic family is a member of the larger Afroasiatic family, all of whose other five or more branches have their origin in North Africa or the Maghreb. Largely for this reason, the ancestors of Proto-Semitic speakers were originally believed by some to have first arrived in the Middle East from North Africa, possibly as part of the operation of the Saharan pump, around the late Neolithic. Loosdrecht et al. (2018) analysed genome-wide data from seven ancient individuals from the Iberomaurusian Grotte des Pigeons site near Taforalt in north-eastern Morocco. The fossils were directly dated to between 15,100 and 13,900 calibrated years before present. The scientists found that all males belonged to haplogroup E1b1b, common among Afroasiatic males. The male specimens with sufficient nuclear DNA preservation belonged to the paternal haplogroup E1b1b1a1 (M78), with one skeleton bearing the E1b1b1a1b1 parent lineage to E-V13, one male specimen belonged to E1b1b (M215*). These Y-DNA clades 24,000 years BP had a common ancestor with the Berbers and the E1b1b1b (M123) subhaplogroup that has been observed in skeletal remains belonging to the Epipaleolithic Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic cultures of the Levant. Y-DNA analysis shows that the Taforalt males all belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup E1b1b1a1 (M78), which is closely related to the E1b1b1b (M123) subhaplogroup that has been observed in skeletal remains belonging to the Epipaleolithic Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic cultures of the Levant.

In particular, North Africa is a strong candidate as a location for the emergence of Basal Eurasians as it shares notable connection with Eurasia. Natufians, who share craniometric affinity with North Africans and were of the Y-chromosomal haplogroup E, are of Basal Eurasian ancestry. Basal Eurasians had little to possibly no Neanderthal admixture.

High levels of Basal Eurasian ancestry were found in ancient Middle Eastern genomes, which negatively correlated with Neanderthal ancestry. Basal Eurasians may have less Neanderthal ancestry than other ancestral Eurasian lineages, and the extent to which Basal Eurasian ancestry is present may explain the extent to which Neanderthal ancestry is present in Middle Eastern genomes. For example, a high level of Basal Eurasian or Sub-Saharan African ancestry could be the underlying reason for the low level of Neanderthal ancestry in Qatari Bedouin in comparison to Europeans or other Middle Eastern populations. The most parsimonious explanations for similar or less Neanderthal introgression in Middle Eastern populations, compared to other Eurasian populations, are the presence of Sub-Saharan African ancestry as well as the presence of Basal Eurasian ancestry, which has little to no signatures of Neanderthal introgression. Bedouin, who have the greatest amount of autochthonous Arab genetic ancestry, may be the direct descendants of Basal Eurasians.

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