> the last generation of pure-blooded people and holders of possibly the only untampered gene pool left in the world.<p>I'm no geneticist but I wonder if such statements have any scientific value or even meaning.<p>What is an "untampered" gene pool? The article mentions that they are likely to have migrated there from somewhere. Their existence was a secret to no one in the region. That they may have had a high rate of intermarriage for centuries due to relative seclusion seems likely. But is that tantamount to being "pire blooded"...
> it comes from the Sanskrit 'arya', meaning 'nobleman', and originally referred to a people who spoke an Indo-Iranian language and migrated from Central Asia to India and Iran.<p>I thought it referred to a hypothetical group of ppl who spoke the root language of all indo-european group of languages. It didn't ever refer to a specific group of ppl that are known to exist to us, only hypothetical.<p>I think their name "aryans" is not related to Mueller's aryan invasion theory. Its merely a coincidence. Author seems to have conflated both of those. Sanskrit arya has nothing to do with origins of the tribe or migration from iran.
> . It was later used to refer to tribal groups who lived in the Indus River valleys that are now part of Pakistan and India, and it is their descendants who are said to make up this tiny minority found in the Ladakh region today.<p>curious, how was this link established?