One illusion less to find Alexander’s descendants among the Kalash

It has been widely debated whether or not the Kalash Tribe in Pakistan are descendants of Alexander the Great’s army. Pros and cons have been discussed in a previous blog: The Kalash, a lost tribe of Alexander the Great?

[Picture from Les Alans]

In a recent study by British, Italian and Pakistani scientists, DNA samples of 23 Kalash people living in three different valleys have been collected and analyzed to be compared with the DNA of ancient hunter-gatherers and European farmers. The result shows that the Kalash have a closest affinity with hunter-gatherers from Siberia, meaning that they are from northern Eurasian origin. This widely contradicts an earlier analysis according to which a genetic miscegenation between Kalash and western Eurasian had occurred, which led to the association of this tribe with Alexander the Great.

I cannot judge whether this latest analysis should be more reliable than the previous one. For now, I would simply put another question mark to this theory. Maybe in the future there will be more substantial evidence.