Ror population genetics

What Ror genetics actually shows

The sampled genomes preserve one of South Asia’s clearest documented signals of Bronze Age Steppe pastoralist ancestry. In the main published model, Ror ranked first among 22 multi-person modern group estimates.

Main model62.1%

Steppe_MLBA related ancestry. 6.8 percentage points above the next group.

Pathak et al. 2018 ↗

1stamong 22 multi-person modern group estimates

+6.8percentage point lead over the next group

R=.91correlation between European Steppe ancestry and Ror IBD sharing

15Ror genotyped. 14 in most autosomal analyses

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Decode Steppe

A time, a place and a population movement

Steppe_MLBA is not one gene or a performance score. It is ancestry related to Middle and Late Bronze Age pastoralist populations that moved across the Eurasian grasslands, through Central Asia and into South Asia. Its importance for Ror is historical. The sample retains an unusually strong record of that movement.

3300 BCE

Yamnaya expansion

Pastoralist ancestry expanded from grasslands north of the Black and Caspian seas.

2100 BCE

MLBA groups

Sintashta, Petrovka and Srubnaya related groups moved toward Central Asia.

2000–1000 BCE

Into South Asia

Ancient DNA places this ancestry stream moving south in the first half of the second millennium BCE.

2018

Ror sample

Several genetic tests placed this Bronze Age signal at the top end of the South Asian comparison.

MLBA

Which people

Middle and Late Bronze Age Steppe groups. They carried a blend of earlier Yamnaya related and European farmer related ancestry.

ANI

Why Ror matters

The paper notes that Kalash might carry more total ANI. Ror was proposed as a useful alternative present-day proxy because of lower genetic drift and its distinctive MLBA signal.

Ror

The real distinction

The evidence makes Ror an unusually clear genetic record of north-west India’s population history. That is the strong, documented claim.

Ancient DNA study of South and Central Asia ↗

Direct ranking

Ror (Haryana) leads the multi-person comparison

In the main three-source qpAdm model, Ror (Haryana) ranked first among 22 multi-person modern groups at 62.1%. Khatri at 55.3% and Pathan at 54.7% were next.

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Published Steppe_MLBA-related ancestry estimates for 10 of 22 multi-person modern groups
Population	Rank	Estimate	Standard error	Sample	Model p
Ror (Haryana)	1	62.1%	±2.4	n = 15	0.296
Khatri	2	55.3%	±2.5	n = 19	0.090
Pathan	3	54.7%	±2.4	n = 22	0.334
Brahmins, UP	4	51.0%	±3.1	n = 9	0.221
Gujjar	5	49.2%	±2.8	n = 15	0.266
Brahmin, Gujarat	6	48.9%	±2.5	n = 20	0.148
Kamboj	7	48.5%	±2.7	n = 14	0.125
Kshatriya	8	46.4%	±3.1	n = 7	0.173
Dharkar	9	46.3%	±3.0	n = 11	0.534
Gujarati	10	44.3%	±2.6	n = 100	0.091

+6.8

percentage point lead over Khatri. Ror (Haryana) 62.1%, Khatri 55.3%.

Source: Pathak et al. 2018, Document S1, Table S11. Bars include modern groups represented by more than one person.

Inside the 62.1%

Three ancient streams in one Ror model

qpAdm tries to reproduce the Ror allele-sharing pattern as a mixture of selected ancient references. The references are statistical proxies, not a literal list of ancestors. Select a segment to read its meaning.

Middle and Late Bronze Age62.1%

Bronze Age Steppe

Ancestry related to pastoralist populations that moved across the Eurasian grasslands, through Central Asia and into South Asia. Narasimhan et al. identify Central Steppe MLBA groups as the main conduit of this ancestry stream into South Asia.

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Ror ancestry composition in the main qpAdm model
Modelled source	Share
Bronze Age Steppe	62.1%
Early Iranian farmer related	17.9%
Deep South Asian proxy	20.0%

17.9 + 62.1 + 20.0 = 100.0. Source: Pathak et al. 2018, Document S1, Table S11.

Robustness test

Change the references. The strong signal remains.

Different ancient sources ask different questions, so the estimate moves from 43.6% to 62.1%. Every accepted model still assigns a large Steppe-related share. A rerun with equal-sized Steppe_EMBA and Steppe_MLBA references returned 56.9%.

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Ror Steppe-related estimates across six accepted model specifications
Model	Estimate	Model p	Table
Main MLBA	62.1%	0.296	S11
EMBA + MLBA	57.5%	0.951	S13
Equal source rerun	56.9%	0.942	S17
EMBA only	54.4%	0.863	S12
Indus proximal	47.3%	0.642	S15
Namazga proximal	43.6%	0.110	S14

43.6–62.1%range across published accepted models

56.9%equal-sized ancient-source rerun

6published model specifications compared

Source: Pathak et al. 2018, Document S1, Tables S11 to S17.

A second formal test on the same dataset

Steppe references produced the two strongest signals

The study paired each northern or western reference with Paniya in an admixture f3 test of the Ror target. A more negative Z means stronger evidence of ancestry related to both sides. Steppe_MLBA and Steppe_EMBA produced the strongest results.

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Selected admixture f3 Z scores for Ror paired with Paniya
Reference	Z score
Steppe_MLBA	-24.165
Steppe_EMBA	-23.768
Anatolia_N	-14.353
BMAC	-10.269
EHG	-9.045
CHG	-7.279

R=.91

IBD

Across 11 European groups, more Steppe ancestry tracked more shared DNA segments with Ror. p = 0.00012.

p<.01

CHROMOPAINTER

Ror received more European chromosome chunks than the other studied north-west Indian groups.

Closest

Ancient Swat

Ror was the closest modern group to the prehistoric and early historic Swat samples in the study.

Lowest

RoH

Ror had the smallest average number of runs of homozygosity in the comparison.

The chart shows selected ancient references paired with Paniya. Source: Pathak et al. 2018, Document S1, Table S6 and article results.

Genetic neighbourhood

Pathan and Sindhi sit nearest to Ror

FST measures differentiation in allele frequencies. A smaller number means less differentiation in this chart. Pathan was nearest at 0.003510, Sindhi second at 0.003955 and Brahmins third at 0.005203.

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FST distance from Ror to the nearest 8 populations
Population	FST
Pathan	0.003510
Sindhi	0.003955
Brahmins	0.005203
Khatri	0.005594
Pashtun	0.005672
Tajiks	0.005760
Kshatriya	0.006191
Gujjar	0.006442

FST is not a percentage of shared ancestry. Source: Pathak et al. 2018, Document S1, Table S5.

Time depth

The mixture signal predates colonial rule by centuries

Across 11 reference-pair runs on the same Ror target, point estimates range from 1,204 to 1,893 years before sampling. The paper summarized this as about 50 generations or 1,500 years and argued against a major colonial-era contribution. These are not separate events.

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ALDER time estimates for 11 reference-pair runs on the Ror target
Reference pair	Proxy family	Years before sampling	Standard error
Asur + French	French	1310.4	±257.7
Kol + French	French	1460.7	±222.6
Ho + French	French	1401.6	±223.2
Tharu + French	French	1270.8	±228.6
Santhal + French	French	1625.1	±282.9
Gond + French	French	1786.8	±300.6
Kol + German	German	1491.0	±255.0
Ho + German	German	1471.8	±254.1
Tharu + German	German	1203.6	±230.1
Santhal + German	German	1628.1	±342.0
Gond + German	German	1892.7	±293.7

Based on the paper’s 30 years per generation convention. Error bars show ±1 SE. Source: Pathak et al. 2018, Document S1, Table S18.

Trait-linked evidence

Lactase allele and measured pigmentation

This section reports allele frequencies, one model-predicted digestion phenotype and a measured melanin index. These come from primary studies separate from the 2018 ancestry model.

Lactase persistence allele

Ror formed the peak in the India-wide sample

In a 2012 study of 2,284 people from 106 populations, Ror had the highest -13910*T allele frequency among the 81 groups with adequate sample size. The authors linked the peak to a long dairying and pastoralist tradition.

RorFull Indian sample

48.9%allele frequency, n = 4673.9%predicted adult digestion phenotype

Gallego Romero et al. 2012 ↗

Pigmentation-associated variant

SLC24A5 A allele at 94.3%

A 2013 study reported the rs1426654-A allele at 94.3% in its genotyped Ror cohort. The variant is associated with lighter pigmentation in South Asia and helps study pigmentation variation and population history.

94.3%n = 44

Mean melanin index41.7

Ror pigmentation cohort, n = 56. Cohort B overall averaged 45.7 and included Ror. This is a descriptive comparison, not a separate control group.

Mallick et al. 2013 ↗

Height and physical context

Haryana samples repeatedly show a tall regional setting

No peer-reviewed study was found that measures average Ror height separately. The accurate claim here is regional. Haryana ranked first in a 2006 comparison of six regional samples. A 2023 five-district study measured 200 Haryana male farmers at a mean 171.83 cm.

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Mean stature across six Indian regional samples
Region	Mean height	Sample
Haryana	167.72 cm	n = 100
North-east	164.87 cm	n = 280
South	164.60 cm	n = 128
West	162.10 cm	n = 40
Central	162.00 cm	n = 39
East	160.70 cm	n = 134

171.83 cm200 Haryana male farmers across five districts in 2023

45.6 kgmean dominant hand grip in the same study

4,405Haryana schoolchildren, taller than ICMR standards at every age studied

Regional chart: National Productivity Council, 2006. Farmer study: Kharb et al. 2023. Child study: Bhasin et al. 1990. The samples use different periods and selection methods, so they are not combined into one average.

Maternal and paternal lines

The whole genome is larger than one lineage

mtDNA follows one maternal line and Y-DNA one paternal line. They are not pieces to add to the 62.1% autosomal model. They still reveal different layers of Ror population history.

mtDNAn = 96

58.3% South Asian37.5% West Eurasian3.1% East or Southeast Asian1.0% Central Asian

Y-DNAn = 139

35% R1a129% L13% J28% H8% R26% C1% Q

Source: Pathak et al. 2018, Document S1, Tables S3 and S4.

One minute glossary

Five terms behind the evidence

qpAdm

Tests which mixture of selected ancient references can reproduce a target’s allele-sharing pattern.

IBD

Long DNA segments inherited from a shared ancestor. More and longer segments can signal more recent shared ancestry.

FST

Differentiation between the allele frequencies of two samples. Lower means less differentiated on this measure.

ANI

A reconstructed ancestry profile used to model northern Indian population formation. It is not the name of one caste or ancient tribe.

Swat samples

Prehistoric and historic DNA from northern Pakistan, where Indus-related and Steppe-related ancestry appear together.

Primary studies

The source behind every number

2018 · AJHG

Pathak et al.

Ror genome-wide ancestry, IBD, FST, qpAdm, mtDNA, Y-DNA and ALDER.

↗2019 · Science

Narasimhan et al.

Ancient DNA framework for the Steppe_MLBA movement and ANI formation in South Asia.

↗2012 · MBE

Gallego Romero et al.

Lactase persistence across India, the Ror peak and its link to dairying culture.

↗2013 · PLOS Genetics

Mallick et al.

Ror SLC24A5 frequency, measured melanin index and South Asian pigmentation.

↗NCBI · GSE119653

Original genotype dataset

Public record for the 45 new north-west Indian genome-wide samples in the 2018 study.

↗2006 · Productivity

Regional Indian stature

Haryana had the highest mean stature in a comparison of six regional samples.

↗2023 · Springer

Haryana male farmers

Stature, weight and grip strength of 200 farmers across five districts.

↗1990 · Indian Pediatrics

Haryana child growth

Height and weight of 4,405 children exceeded ICMR standards at every age studied.

↗

The evidence supports a clear Ror lead in the multi-person Steppe comparison and the lactase-persistence allele survey, with real historical importance. It does not turn ancestry into a biological ranking of intelligence, strength, health or human worth.