Unveiling the Population Dynamics of the Urartian Kingdom: Integrating Genetic and Archaeological Evidence
Urartu and Beyond Improvement and Interaction in the Iron Age Highlands, Mehmet Işıklı,Rafet Çavuşoğlu,Hazal Ocak,Dilara Demirtaş,Alper Aslan,Jan Bailey, Editör, Brepols Publishers , Antwerp, ss.277-290, 2026
- Yayın Türü: Kitapta Bölüm / Araştırma Kitabı
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1484/m.araxes-eb.5.151056
- Yayınevi: Brepols Publishers
- Basıldığı Şehir: Antwerp
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.277-290
- Editörler: Mehmet Işıklı,Rafet Çavuşoğlu,Hazal Ocak,Dilara Demirtaş,Alper Aslan,Jan Bailey, Editör
- Hacettepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
The Urartian kingdom (ninth–seventh centuries BC), a major political power in the ancient Near East, emerged in the challenging highland environment of eastern Anatolia. Despite its cultural and political significance, the biological origins and demographic structure of the Urartian population have remained poorly understood due to the scarcity of direct evidence from human remains. This study integrates ancient genomic data with archaeological evidence to explore the population history, genetic diversity, and mobility patterns within the Urartian realm. By co-analysing published genome-wide data from Urartian and pre-Urartian individuals in eastern Anatolia, the South Caucasus, and north-western Iran, we trace genetic continuities and interactions across the region. Principal Component Analysis and formal f-statistics reveal strong regional genetic continuity between pre-Urartian and Urartian populations, indicating that the rise of the Urartian kingdom did not result from a major demographic replacement. Nonetheless, isolated outlier individuals suggest limited mobility between Urartian centres, possibly associated with political or economic integration. The genetic affinity between eastern Anatolian Urartians and southern populations aligns with archaeological evidence of Neo-Assyrian interaction. Analyses of runs of homozygosity (ROH) further indicate a genetically diverse founding population, with no evidence for recent inbreeding. Together, these findings demonstrate that the Urartian kingdom arose from largely local populations that maintained regional continuity while integrating influences from neighbouring societies. Our results highlight the value of combining genetic and archaeological data in reconstructing the demographic and sociopolitical dynamics of ancient highland polities.