Jebel Moya
Dental morphology
### Dental morphology

The dental study by J.D. Irish et al. was modeled on the original craniometric testing done by Murkhajee and Rao, and results were similar; ‘indications of outside biological influence’. 36 dental traits were recorded in 19 African samples. The phenetic similarity suggests that the population at Jebel Moya contains features from both sub\-Saharan and North African peoples, but is specifically distinct from those populations. Results suggest that the population of Jebel Moya was uniform, but distinct, from other populations.

The population of Jebel Moya shows the closest dental similarities to North Africans, but cranially, the population was more similar to sub\-Saharan samples. This could be due to different heritability of dental vs. cranial features. These results show that Jebel Moyans had a complex genetic heritage from populations surrounding central Sudan. Regardless of the origin of the population of Jebel Moya, culturally, it was distinctive from (aforementioned) outside groups. Dental data puts Jebel Moyans closest to Ethiopians and A\-group Nubians, and furthers from Meroitic and C\-group Nubians \- which shows a cultural influence without ‘biological affinity’. The appearance of this distinct Jebel Moya group coincided with the beginning of Phase 2 (3000\-800 BCE) and continued through Phase 3 (800\-100BC); this corresponds with recovered skeletal remains. Gerharz regarded the Jebel Moyans as a distinct heterogeneous culture which blended various elements from outside groups. The diversity in grave types, orientations, and goods is supportive of this theory. Gerharz theory suggests that Jebel Moya was an ‘annual meeting place of widely distributed segmentary family units, the common identity of which was maintained by their periodical cohabitation there’. Overall: Jebel Moyans appeared to be most closely biologically related to northeast Africans. Culturally, there appears to be a mosaic of northern, southern, and western influences, incorporated into a distinct Jebel Moya Complex.


Is it possible for a population to be culturally distinct but biologically similar?