Mice Migration

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

1/13

Citation: The following pages form part of book, and can be cited as: Priyadarshi, P.,The First Civilization of the World, Siddhartha Publications, Delhi, 2011, pp. 127-131.

Mice Migration and Human Migration: TwoLinked Journeys

by P. Priyadarshi

Dispersal of Mice and Rats with farming Out of India

Over the last thirty years, we have known a lot aboutprehistory of mice from DNA studies. Domestic mice (Mus)lived on human stored food and food debris for ages. Thusthey could be called a commensal as well as a pest. Mus livedonly in north India since 900,000 years back,(1) as acommensal of Homo erectus and later of Homo sapienssapiens (Ferris, 1983).(2) This commensal relation betweenHomo erectus andMus is indirect evidence thatHomo erectushad India as his predominant habitat.

Mus diverged into three principal species, viz. Mus musculusdomesticus, M. musculus musculus and M. castaneus by500,000 years back (Geraldis, 2008; Din, 1996), and all thespecies continued to live in India.(3) In India, Homo erectuslived then. When Homo sapiens sapiens inhabited India inabout 100,000 ybp or earlier, these species became adapted tolive in and around human dwellings (Boursot, 1993).(4) Miceprobably felt safer there. Tsutim et al(2008) found that human

environment gives protection to sparrows from beingpredated by carnivorous birds and animals.(5) The sameapplies to mice. It is generally accepted that existence of thesemice was so much dependant on human food, that theymigrated with man as a passive migrant. One of the mostcharacteristic features of house mice life history is probably itscommensalism in relation to humans. The worldwide

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

2/13

colonization by this species is mainly due to passive transportby humans and is a consequence of its ecological dependenceon humans.(6) If not all, most of the Mus species can befound in India. Prager et al identified samples from

Afghanistan as Mus musculus musculus and castaneus andsamples from Pakistan, North India and Nepal as castaneus.(7)Wilson and Reeder noted: Genetic data indicated thatranges of musculus, custaneous and domesticus likelycorrespond to three distinct paths of expansion from theIndian cradle.(8) In fact later discovery of migration routesand distribution ranges of human male lineages (Y-DNA)R1a1a (Underhill, 2009); O2a (Kumar, Vikrant, 2007) and J2b(Sengupta, 2006; Priyadarshi, 2011) exactly overlap those of

the three mainMus species.

Fig. Showing male lineage R1a (M17) distribution which overlaps the range of Mus m. musculus. The inset picture gives the age of this lineage at variousplaces. That shows it originated in India. Source: Underhill, P. etal, Separatingthe post-glacial coancestry of European and Asian Y chromosomes within

haplogroup R1a, European Journal of Human Genetics, 2010, April 18(4): 178-184 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2987245/figure/fig1/

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

3/13

Fig Migration route of J2b. Source: Priyadarshi, P., The First Civilization of the World,Siddhartha Publications, Delhi, 2011.

Distribution of J2b. Source: Family tree DNA: History Unearthed Daily, M102Project; URLhttp://www.familytreedna.com/public/m102/default.aspx

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

4/13

Table 1.Haplogroup India Iran

(Southwest

Asia)

West Asia/

Anatolia

Balkans/Europe

J2b (M12) 0.431

0.332

0.243

0.1914

J2 (M172) 0.845

0.52STR Variance of Y-Chromosomal Haplogroups (Greater variance indicates older age at that place)

Table 2Haplogroup India Iran West Asia/

Anatolia

Balkans/Europe

J2 (M172) Not

available

Not

available

18,600 years7

J2b (M12;

also M102)

This is a

descendantof J2 (above)

Not

available

Not

available

8,600 years8

12,300 years in

Battaglias study;

9

6,700 years atNekomedeia

(Macedonia)10J2b2 (M241)

This is a

descendant

of J2b

(above)

13,800

years11

Not

available

10,100

years12

5,800 years

(Central Italy);

5,400 years

(Albania); 2,900

years (Greece);13

4,800 years14

Age of Y-Chromosomal Haplogroups J2b and J2 in different areas of its distribution (data pooled from

several studies). It has been proposed that J2b did not reach the Balkans from Anatolia, but used sea coastal

route to reach the Balkans and Italy. (See Di Giakomo, F. et al

15

). Tables are from Priyadarshi, P, 2011b

1Sengupta, 2006, Fig. 4, p. 212.

2Figure from Cinnioglu 2004, quoted by Sengupta, 2006, p. 216.

3Cinnioglu, C. et al, Excavating Y-chromosome haplotype strata in Anatolia, Hum Genet (2004) 114 : 127

148; Table 2, p. 131, J2b has been named J2e in this article. 4

Battaglia, 2009, Table 1, p. 7 of web version. Also, figure from Pericic et al. 2005, quoted by Sengupta

2006, p. 216.5

Thanseem, I. et al, Genetic affinities among the lower castes and tribal groups of India: inference from Y

chromosome and mitochondrial DNA,BMC Genetics 2006, 7:42 Fig. 2, p. 6 of 11, web version.6Cinnioglu, C. 2004, Table 2, p. 131. .

7Ibid

8

Ibid.9Battaglia, V. et al, Y-chromosomal evidence of the cultural diffusion of agriculture in southeast Europe,

European Journal of Human Genetics (2009) 17, 820830; Table 1, p. 826.10

King, R. J. et al, Differential Y-chromosome Anatolian Influences on the Greek and Cretan Neolithic,

Annals of Human Genetics 2008, 72,205214; Table 2, page 210.11

Sengupta, p. 216.12

Battaglia, V. et al, Y-chromosomal evidence of the cultural diffusion of agriculture in southeast Europe,

European Journal of Human Genetics (2009) 17, 820830; Table 2, p. 826.13

Ibid14

Ibid.

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

5/13

Groves (1984) surveyed a large number of murid rodents(mice) and found that they were introduced into IslandSoutheast Asia together with rice agriculture.(9) Mus caroli, Mus cervicolorand Rattus argentiventerare widely

distributed in Mainland Southeast Asia north of the MalayPeninsula; their distributions are spotty in the archipelagoand invariably restricted to wet rice growing areas.Mus dunni,a small mice, native of northeast India and Rattus nitidus, anative of Nepal, are ricefield pests of Indonesia. These allspecies originated in India. (10) Bandicoot-rat, Bandicotabengalensis, a noted rice-field pest in Indonesia originated inMahanadi delta in association with buffalo.(11)

Fig. . Showing distribution ofMus cervicolorin rice fields in the Southeast Asia.From: Groves, Colin P., Of mice and men and pigs in the Indo-Australian

archipelago, Canberra Anthropology 1984, 7:1-19.

15Di Giacomo, F. et al, Y chromosomal haplogroup J as a signature of the post-neolithic

colonization of Europe,Hum Genet2004, 115: 357371; p. 367, last line of conclusion.

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

6/13

Fig. DNA dendrogram showing that mice originated from India. Source: Darvish, J,Bonhomme, F. and Orth, A., Genetic transition in the house mouse, Mus musculus ofEastern Iranian Plateau, Folia Zool. 2006, 55(4): 349-357; URLhttp://www.ivb.cz/folia/55/4/349-357.pdf

Black rat (Rattus rattus) is another species which originated inIndia and then migrated to other parts of the world. FromIndia it migrated to West Asia and then to Europe. Rattusreached West Asia by 20,000 years before present, a datewhich is earlier than domestic mouse migration.(12) Othermigration of this species was from India to Madagascar andWestern Indian Ocean.(13) This was possibly because someIndian farmers migrated to Western Indian Ocean shores (at

20,000 ybp), earlier than the supposed date of agriculture inWest Asia.

A large number of scientists have been studying domesticmice migration for the last three decades. Domestic mousemigration out of India did not take place until migration offarming started after the glacial ice melted. The migration of

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

7/13

mouse out of India accompanied migration of cultivation(Macholan et al, 2007).(15) Munro (2003), on the basis ofarcheological evidence found that during the Natufian period,West Asian people hunted fast-running small games. (16)

Such practices probably existed at other places outside Indiatoo. Similar aggressive small game hunting was practiced inEurope too, where from a single site in Portugal dating 12,000

ybp, 9000 rabbit bones have been recovered.(17)

Fig. . Migration route of domestic black rat and domestic cattle as suggested by DorianFuller and Boivin Nicole. (14) The Indo-African migration suggested by them are muchlater than those suggested by large number of available genetic studies. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/people/staff/fuller/usercontent_profile/Fuller_Boivin_Etudes_IndienOcean.pdf

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

8/13

Hence in pre-Neolithic Iran, West Asia, Central Asia and Chinaboth man and carnivores alike possible hunted any miceleaving India and reaching those countries. Domestic mouse

is the only animal which has stayed in India for over 900,000 years without leaving this country until dispersal of farmingstarted. We have noted that Pre-Pottery Neolithic agriculturestarted in India roughly about 13,000 ybp to 14,000 ybp. Musdomesticus reached the Eastern Mediterranean basin in about10,000 ybp. (18) We can corroborate these two findings andsay that 3000 years was the time required for migration ofmice from India to West Asia, the time which actually lapsedin migration of Pre-Pottery Neolithic from India to West Asia.Logical inference is that agriculture began first in India,possibly much earlier than we can imagine, which kept micebound within Indian land for ages until finally agricultureitself migrated out of India.(19) The route map of micemigration as mapped by the geneticists is exactly the same asthat of human migration.

Fig. Route map of dispersal of domestic mice. The Mus musculus domesticusmigration, which occurred about 15,000 to 10,000 ybp, exactly mimics thedistribution map of haplogroup J2b to the west of India. Source: Figure from

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

9/13

Bonhomme et al.Genome Biology 2007 8:R80 doi:10.1186/gb-2007-8-5-r80(20). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1929145/figure/F1/

Fig. Routes of mice migration out of India. The route marked d (for domesticus) overlaps theroute of human migration of male lineage haplogroup J2b. The route of mice marked m (formusculus) overlies the route of human migration of male lineage R1a (M17; new name R1a1a). Itis remarkable that J2 has been identified as a lineage carrying Indo-European language andfarming into West Asia and South Europe. On the other hand, R1a has been identified as a markerof Aryan migration (Wells, 2001).

Source: Boursot et al1996, URL:http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1420-9101.1996.9040391.x/pdf

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

10/13

Fig. Sowing farming and Austro-Asiatic language migration to the Southeast Asia as

male lineage (Y-Chr) )2a. This migration overlaps mice migration of castaneus sub sp.

Source: Kumar, V. et al, Kumar, Vikrant et al; Y-chromosome evidence suggests acommon paternal heritage of Austro-Asiatic populations, BMC Evol Biol 2007, 7: 47.

URL:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1851701/figure/F1/

Rajabi-Maham et al(2008) found that after reaching the FertileCrescent mice expansion toward Europe and Asia Minor tookat least two routes, tentatively termed the Mediterranean andthe Bosphorus/Black Sea routes. This scenario resembles that

of another domesticated species, the goat, and fits with theknown progression of Neolithic culture, they note. Migrationof both the goat and the domestic mouse took exactly thesame routes, at the same time around 12,000 years ago. Thiscannot be a mere coincidence and is an evidence of Neolithichuman migration from India with goat and Musdomesticus.(21)

Protracted commensality of Mus m. domesticus in India

indicates that Homo sapiens sapiens was doing someprimitive farming or foraging and storing food since muchbefore actual onset of Neolithic migration. Indians of that erahad possibly a settled life and home and they depended oncereal, fruit and tuber diet. Initially, population was small, andland abundant. Hence cultivation was not needed. Man used

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

11/13

to harvest ripe grains (rice, barley, millets) from wild fields andstore them. This stored food kept Mus domesticus tied to theIndian households. Pestering of human households by miceforced man to use more and more burnt clay pottery, and it

must have prompted him to invent and use metal potterymuch later in history.

The other sub-species of mice which migrated out of India toSoutheast Asia isMus castaneus. This species has been adeptat digging holes in soil over hundreds of thousand years.Probably they learned to do this in a bid to eat tubers whichgrew in plenty under Indian soil.Mus caroli is another speciesof Southeast Asian mice which dwells in rice fields. It seems tohave migrated much earlier than other species.

Cognate words for mouse are found exclusively within theIndo-European family of languages (English mouse, Latinmus, Sanskrit mUSaka, muSika, mUs, muSka, (22) Pahlavimusk ), indicating expansion of domestic mouse out of Indiawith migrating Neolithic culture of the Indo-Europeanspeakers of north India.

REFERENCES:

1.Boursot, P., et al, Origin and radiation of the house mouse: mitochondrial DNA

phylogeny,Journal of Evolutionary Biology 1996, 9: 391-415.

2. Ferris, S. D. et al, Mitochondrial DNA evolution in mice, Genetics 1983, 105(3):681-

721.

3.Geraldis, Armando, et al, Inferring the history of speciation in house mice from

autosomal, X-linked, Y-linked and mitochondrial genes,Molecular Ecology 2008,

17(24):5349-5363. Also, Din, W. et al, Origin and radiation of the house mouse: clues

from nuclear genes,Journal of Evolutionary Biology 1996, 9(5):519-539.

4. Boursot, P. et al, Evolution of House Mice,Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics1993, 24:119-152.

5. Tsutim, Ido, et al., Foraging Behavior of Urban Birds: Are Human Commensals Less

Sensitive to Predation Risk than their Non-urban Counterparts, The Condor2008,

110(4):772-776.

6. Wilson, D. E. and Reeder, D. M.,Mammal species of the world: A taxonomic and

geographic reference, JHU Press, 2005, p. 1401.

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

12/13

7. Mentioned by Wilson and Reeder (ibid), p. 1401.

8.Ibid., p. 1401. Quoted by Wilson and Reed, and originally said by Boursot et al, The

Evolution of House Mice,Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 1993, 24: 119-

152; see page 128.

9. Groves, Colin P., Domesticated and Commensal Mammals of Austronesia and Their

Histories, in Bellwood, P., Fox, J. and Tryon, D., The Austronesians: Historical and

Comparative Perspectives, 1995. Also, Groves, C. P., Of mice and men and pigs inthe Indo-Australian archipelago, Canberra Anthropology1984, 7:1-19.

10. Groves in Bellwood, P. et al, 1995.

11.Ibid.

12. Alpin, Ken in Science News, Science Daily, Feb. 6, 2008.

13. Tollenaere, C. et al, Phylogenpgraphy of the introduced speciesRattus rattus in the

western Indian Ocean, with special emphasis on the colonization history of Madagascar,

Journal of Biogeography 2010, 37 (3): 398-410.

14. Fuller, D. and Boivin, Nicole, Crops, cattle and commensals across the Indian Ocean:

current and potential archaeobiological evidence,Etudes Ocean Indie 2009, 42-43:13-46.

15. Macholan, M., Bonhomme, F. et al; Genetic variation and phylogeography of free-

living mouse species (genusMus) in the Balkans and the Middle East, inMol Ecol 2007,

16 (22):4774-4788.

16. Munro, Natalie D., Small game, the younger dryas, and the transition to agriculture in

the southern Levant,Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft fr Urgeschichte 2003, 12:47-71. p.

53.

17. Hockett, Bryan Scott and Bicho, Nuno Ferraria, The Rabbits of Picareiro Cave: Small

Mammal Hunting During the Late Upper Palaeolithic in the Portuguese Estremadura,Journal of Archeological Science 2000, 27(8):715-723.

18. Cucchi, Thomas, Vigne J. D. and Auffray, J. C., First occurrence of the house mouse

(Mus musculus domesticus Schwarz & Schwarz, 1943) in the Western Mediterranean:

Western Mediterranean: a zooarchaeological revision of subfossil occurrences, Biological

Journal of the Linnean Society 2005, 84: 429-445.

19 Rajabi-Maham, H., Orth A and Bonhomme F., Phylogeography and post-glacial

expansion ofMus musculus domesticus inferred from mitochondrial DNA coalescent,

from Iran to Europe,Mol Ecol 2007, 17(2): 627-641. Also, Cucchi, T. and Vigne, J.,

Origin and Diffusion of the House Mice in the Mediterranean,Human Evolution 2006,

21(2):95-106.20 Bonhomme, F., Species-wide distribution of highly polymorphic minisatellite markers

suggests past and present genetic exchanges among house mouse subspecies, Genome

Biology 2007, 8:R80.

21. Rajabi-Maham, H. et al, Phylogeography and postglacial expansion ofMus musculus

domesticus inferred from mitochondrial DNA coalescent, from Iran to Europe,Mol. Ecol.

2008, 17 (2): 627-41.

8/6/2019 Mice Migration

13/13

22. Monier Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary, Cologne Scanned copy on the net, pp.

824, 827.