The following news story reminded me of this thread:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11174-on-the-origin-of-the-
etruscan-civilisation.html
On the origin of the Etruscan civilisation
00:01 14 February 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Michael Day
One of anthropology's most enduring mysteries - the origins of the
ancient Etruscan civilisation - may finally have been solved, with a
study of cattle.
This culturally distinct and technologically advanced civilisation
inhabited central Italy from about the 8th century BC, until it was
assimilated into Roman culture around the end of the 4th century BC.
The origins of the Etruscans, with their own non-Indo-European
language, have been debated by archaeologists, geneticists and
linguists for centuries. Writing in the 5th century BC, the Ancient
Greek historian Herodotus claimed that the Etruscans had arrived in
Italy from Lydia, now called Anatolia in modern-day Turkey.
To try and discover more about the Etruscans' movements, Marco
Pellecchia at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in
Piacenza, Italy, and colleagues have analysed mitochondrial DNA in
modern herds of Bos Taurus cattle in the north, south and central
regions of Italy. This genetic material is passed down the female
line from mother to offspring.
Genetic revelations
The team found that almost 60% of the mitochondrial DNA in cows in
the central Tuscan region of the country - where the Etruscan
civilisation is thought to have arisen - was the same as that in cows
from Anatolia and the Middle East. There was little or no genetic
convergence between cows from the north and south of Italy and those
from Turkey and the Middle East, the researchers say.
Pellecchia notes that no archaeological or genetic traces of Etruscan
culture have been found elsewhere between Turkey and Italy. This,
combined with the Etruscans' famed nautical prowess leads Pellecchia
to conclude that the Etruscans and their cattle arrived in Italy by
sea, and not by land.
Mark Thomas, a human geneticist at University College London in the
UK, says that European cattle tend to be genetically very similar, so
the study's conclusion is plausible.
Journal reference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological
Sciences (DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2006.0258)
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- Chris Gwinn