SCIENTISTS are baffled after identifying the global hotspot for a rare Middle Eastern DNA marker in a corner of Scotland.
The team behind the Scotland's DNA project have detected the world's highest concentration of an ancient female lineage, known as J1b1, in south-east Scotland.
Women carrying the marker are descended from a group of women nicknamed the Shell Collectors, because they decorated ceramics with seashell imprints.
The marker is believed to have originated in the Fertile Crescent - a region which today stretches from northern Egypt to the western fringes of Iran.
Women carrying the marker are believed to have emigrated to the Meditteranean around 10,000BC, settling between the Gulf of Genoa and Portugal, before eventually heading northwards to Britain in around 3500BC.
Although the marker is now rare, even in the Middle East, it occurs in around 6% of females in Lothian and Borders compared to just 1-2% in the rest of the UK. The team have no idea why.
"It's a real puzzle," said chief executive Alistair Moffat.
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