The Origin and Genetic Background of the Sámi By Iiddá (Melissa Stroud) The genetic origin of the Sámi people is complex and difficult to trace. Their beginnings are closely linked with the origin of the Finns. Both groups speak a Finno-Ugric language that causes them to be singled out among their Indo-European neighbors and associated historically with each other. There is a common consensus that the Sámi inhabited the region first; however, the genetic origin of the groups, their natural history and the diversion of the language are issues that are heavily debated. Recent genetic and linguistic research in the area has created new theories and has also put to death many old and biased theories of the past. As recently as 1999, the Sámi had not yet been placed on the language and gene map of Europe. Though they speak a Finno-Ugric language, they are genetically distinct from other Finno-Ugric and Indo-European people. A genetic distinctness even exists within the heterogeneous Sámi, which leads some to believe that perhaps being classified as a Sámi should be a grouping based on living a certain way of life rather than having a certain genetic component. However, more recent work in genetics shows there is a relation among the Sámi that comes from more than just sharing a lifestyle. There has been a discovery of a “Sámi motif,” which is a group of three specific mutations found in 1/3 of the Sámi people. The significance of this rests with the fact that this mutation has only been found in six other samples. One was Finnish and the remaining five were Karelian. This may be the result of a period of isolation the group experienced in the course of their natural history. This period may possibly have been a reflection of the Sámi living in their current region during the last ice age (20000-16000 BCE), continuing their way of life even through the time of the last glacial coverage of Scandinavia. If this is true, they would have been separated from other Europeans, who traveled back south during this time. This ice age did not officially end until 9500 BCE with larger population growth not occurring until 8000 BCE. This means that the Sámi could very well have been almost completely isolated for several thousands of years. The study of Y chromosomal polymorphisms also seems to support the theory of the Sámis’ long isolation; however, it seems that they were not always living completely alone. The study of these Y chromosomal polymorphisms shows “two major founding male lineages” in not only the Sámi, but the Finns as well. This is a result of a founding effect or a bottleneck effect. Both events occur when a few individuals are responsible for beginning a population, either as a result of arriving to their area first or after a massive reduction in a population that leaves only a few individuals to repopulate the area, as it is with bottlenecking. So it does appear that the Sámi experienced a period of isolation and at some point in time the Finns seem to be included in this isolation. Still this does not answer the underlying question of where the Sámi originally came from. For many years, there was a common belief that the Sámi may have migrated from the east and have an Asian genetic background rather than a European one. For several hundred years, there was a belief that the Sámi and the Finns had a Mongoloid origin. This false belief was due to linguists of the time believing that Finno-Ugric languages had an eastern origin. It was also due to the Finns’ and Sámis’ tendency to have a phenotypic resemblance to the Mongoloids. In actuality, these Mongoloid-like traits do not occur at a higher average rate than they would in other Northern European groups. It merely appears this way due to the many generations that the Europeans have been farming, an activity that has caused physical features, such as high cheekbones that allow for bigger masseter muscles to chew tougher food, to reduce in size. Though the Sámi do have some Asian genetic influence, at its highest rate it is only 20-30%, which is no higher than the European average. So with a large amount of growing evidence, it seems that the Sámi came from somewhere much closer to their current home. In very recent studies, some overwhelming new evidence has challenged the myth of the Finns and the Sámi as having a strictly Asian origin. Extensive genetic testing has helped put an end to the false conclusions that came from biased studies, based on everything from tooth size to skull shape. With modern technology, it now appears that the Finns and the Sámi may have originated from an “old population in Europe which diverged from other European populations prior to subsequent linguistic and cultural diversification.” Genetic testing has shown that the Finns and the Sámi are “phenotypically and genetically typical Europeans.”
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 11:35:10 +0000
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