Celtiberia population estimate

From the book  ENTRE Celtas e Íberos. Las poblaciones protohistóricas de las Galias e Hispania/ editado por Luis Berrocal-Rangel y Philippe Gardes. — Madrid : Real Academia de la Historia : Casa de Velázquez, 2001. — 248 p. : il. ; 30 cm. —(Bibliotheca Archaeologica Hispana ; 8).

Note, the Celtiberia here refers only to the proper Celtiberian tribes, and not all the Celts of Iberia.

Abstract

The demographic analysis of the Celtiberian is a hard question. To solve it we have analysed the ethnoarchaeological data and we have contrasted it with archaeological data, as the surface of the known Celtiberian civitates and oppida. We have contrasted the results with the few informations transmitted by classical historians and geographers, as the numbers of warriors in Celtiberian armies and the extension of the populi and civitates of Celtiberia after Plinius and Ptolomeus. As conclusion of the analysis, we can consider that Celtiberia, extended about 45.000 km2 had a theoretical demographic density of about 5/6 h./km2 in mountain areas, but could reach 8/10 h./km2 in the best areas, as river valleys and peripheral plains. These results allow us a calculation of the total Celtiberian population between 250.000 h. and about 350.000/450.000 h., a bigger and more logical number. The first demographic anlysis of the Celtiberia offers a interesanting information and very useful for further studies on Archaeology and Ancient History and Geography, and also to better understand the territorial and urban planning, the demography and the sociology of the Celtiberians.

ADMIXTURE up to K=20 (Rasmussen et al. 2011)

The recently published paper by Rasmussen et al. is focused on the Aboriginal Australians, and inlcudes a massive ADMIXTURE analysis up to 20 ancestral components (K=20). The Spaniard sample (taken from Behar et al.) in this run is similar-looking to other Western-European populations, showing the dark-blue component (peaks in Lithuanians) at similar levels as the French, and the whiteish-blue component (peaks in Sardinians).

The original size can be found in the supplementary PDF here (page 159) :

Sub-Saharan haplogroup mtDNA L in Spain and Europe

In the study of Rhouda et al. (2006) in a sample of 686 spaniards, not a single individual with haplogroup mtDNA L was found. In the rest of Western Europe, the recent study of García et al. 2011 finds L up to Northern Germany and Denmark . We observe the following percentages  :

Hérault (Languedoc) 2.4 %
Rhône (Lyonnais) 4.4 %
Vendée and Vienne (Poitou) 0.8 %
Calvados and Seine-Maritime (Normandy) 1.8 %
Somme (Picardie) 1.3 %
France Miscellanea 0.6 %
Scotland 0.1 %
England 0.7 %
Great Britain 0.9 %
North-Germany and Denmark 0.7 %

Skin reflectance of selected world populations

From the study of Nina Jablonski and George Chaplin (Academy of Sciences of California).
We can see that Spaniards, from León (NW Spain) and Basques (N Spain), are as light or even lighter than other Western Europeans. Higher values indicate lighter skintone.

Country and population or area	Observed reflectance at 685 nm
EUROPE
Netherlands	67•37
Germany (Mainz)	66•90
United Kingdom (Northern)	66•10
Spain (Basques)	65•70
United Kingdom (Wales)	65•00
Ireland (Rossmore)	64•75
Spain (Leon)	64•66
Belgium	63•14
United Kingdom (London)	62•30
WEST ASIA
Iraq/Syria (Kurds)	61•12
Turkey	59•15
Israel	58•20
Lebanon	58•20
Jordan	53•00
Saudi Arabia	52•50
NORTH AFRICA
Algeria (Aures)	58•05
Tunisia	56•30
Morrocco	54•85
Libya (Tripoli)	54•40
Libya (Fezzan)	44•00
SOUTH ASIA
India (Northern)	53•26
Pakistan	52•30
India (Southern)	46•70
EAST ASIA
China (Southern)	59•17
Vietnam	55•90
Japan (Northern)	54•90
Philippines (Manila)	54•10
Cambodia	54•00
Japan (Southwest)	53•55
Nepal (Eastern)	50•42
AUSTRO-MELANESIA
Papua New Guinea	35•30
Australia (Darwin)	19•30
AMERICAS
Greenland (Southern)	55•70
Peru (Nunoa)	47•70
Peru (Maranon)	43•05
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
South Africa (Hottentot)	46•80
Botswana (San)	42•40
Zaire	33•20
Kenya	32•40
Ethiopia	31•70
Tanzania (Sandewe)	28•90
Namibia	25•55
Cameroon (Fali)	21•50
Mozambique (Chopi)	19•45

Source : "The Evolution of Human Skin Coloration". J Hum Evol, 2000; pp. 74-75

R1b frequencies in Spain and Europe

The paper from Belareseque et al. 2010 gives us new percentages of R1b1b2 from different countries of Europe, as we can see in the table below. There is also a map of frequencies. As we can see again, Spain has among the highest percentages of Europe, especially the Spanish Basques, with 87.1 %, second most in Europe after Wales with 92.3 %.

Here are the levels for the regions of Spain :

• Spain Basques........................87.1 %
• Catalonia, Spain .....................81.3 %
• Andalucia East, Spain ............72.0 %
• Castilla La Mancha, Spain..... 72.0 %
• Galicia, Spain.........................58.0 %
• Andalucia West, Spain...........55.0 %

 Complete table with all countries :

Map of frequencies : 

Spaniards genetically similar to Western and Northern Europeans

Study from Gayán et al. 2010 , some extracts :
 
In this study we have sampled over 800 unrelated individuals from the population of Spain, and have genotyped them with a genome-wide coverage. We have carried out linkage disequilibrium, haplotype, population structure and copy-number variation (CNV) analyses, and have compared these estimates of the Spanish population with existing data from similar efforts. Conclusions: In general, the Spanish population is similar to the Western and Northern Europeans but has a more diverse haplotypic structure. These results suggest that the general Spanish population, as characterized in the present study by sampling from eight different cities widely-spaced across Spain, is generally similar to other European populations, although more genetically diverse than Western and Northern Europeans. Moreover, the Spanish population is remarkably homogeneous within itself in terms of global genetic structure. In view of these results, the population of Spain is sufficiently genetically similar to the CEU sample (White-Americans from Utah) so that the CEU HapMap dataset could be used to infer genotypes for the Spanish population.

North-African mtDNA in Spain...and Europe

The minor presence of the typical north-african mtDNA haplgroup U6  in Spain, even if at low levels, was tought to be higher than anywherelse in Europe. Interestingly we will see that this is not the case. The truth is that U6 is found everywhere in Europe, but it has been found at higher frequencies in France. Obviously these studies make sure the testees are natives, having the 4 grandparents from the same area, and their surnames native. We see now the studies :

In this study of Dubut et al. 2004 there is a total of 4.5% of U6 in Finistère (Brittany, France) and 1.4% in Périgord-Limousin.

In this very recent study of García et al. 2011 we find these frequencies for France :

• U6a1/a2/a3 Perigord-Limousin (Limousin) 1.4 %
                     Finistère (Brittany) 0.7 %
• U6a  France Miscellanea 0.6 %

Spain : 

Andalusians n=3/158    1.9%   Plaza 2003.

Asturias   n=1/89     1.1%    Garcia 2011.

Aragón     n=0/119    0.0%    Garcia 2011.

Catalonia-Aragón  n=2/164  1.2%  Garcia 2011.
Catalonia n=3/80    3.9%      Garcia 2011.
Catalonia n=78     0.0 %    Plaza 2003.

Central Spain   n=1/50  2.0%   Plaza 2003.

Basques    n=45  ??   0.6%    Maca-Meyer 2003.
Basques    n=0/377    0.0%    Garcia 2011.
Basques    n=1/85     1.2%    Garcia 2011.
Basques    n=173      0.0%    Plaza 2003.

Galicia      ??       2.3%    Maca-Meyer 2003.
Galicia    n=3/185    1.5%    Garcia 2011.
Galicia    n=2/103      1.9%    Plaza 2003.

Cantabria  n=1/105    1.0%    García 2011.
Potes      n=0/72     0.0%    Maca-Meyer 2003.

Lebaniegos n=0/72   0.0%      Maca-Meyer 2003.
Pasiegos   n=0/82   0.0%      Maca-Meyer 2003.

Valencia   n=0/30     0.0 %     Plaza 2003.

% M1 and U6a1a = 2/214 = 0.93%   Álvarez 2010


TOtal SPain = 18/2.022 = 0.89%