Basal Eurasian

Basal Eurasian is a proposed lineage of anatomically modern humans with reduced, or zero, Neanderthal admixture (ancestry) compared to other ancient non-Africans.

[2] Basal Eurasians may have originated in a region stretching from North Africa to the Middle East, before admixing with West-Eurasian populations.

[10] Ferreira et al. in 2021 argued for a point of origin for Basal Eurasians into the Middle East, specifically in the Persian Gulf region on the Arab peninsula.

[16] The Ancient North African Iberomaurusian (Taforalt) individuals were found to have harbored ~65% West Eurasian-like ancestry and considered likely direct descendants of such "Basal Eurasian" population.

However they were shown to be genetically closer to Holocene-era Iranians and Levantine populations, which already harbored increased archaic (Neanderthal) admixture.

[7] Modern Bedouins and Yemenis are considered to represent direct descendants of the Basal Eurasians, carrying the highest amount of indigenous 'Arabian ancestry', and being basal to all modern Eurasian populations without displaying higher 'African-associated' admixture, and thus "are among the best genetic representatives of the autochthonous population on the Arabian Peninsula".

Admixture graph model showing Basal Eurasian branch according to Allentoft et al. 2024
Phylogenetic position of Basal Eurasians in a wider Eurasian context [ 9 ]