Who were the ancient Sumerians and which are their descendants today?

Examining groups with high frequencies of rh negative blood always leads back to the Celtic DNA. High percentages in the R-M269 marker usually equal high frequencies in rh negative blood.
But where do the Celts come from?

No matter how current the Celtic research might be, there is no denying that Sumerians need to be looked at in terms of possibly having been the original rh negative people.

And here is yet another reason:

Evidence of genetic stratification ascribable to the Sumerian development was provided by the Y-chromosome data where the J1-Page08 branch reveals a local expansion, almost contemporary with the Sumerian City State period that characterized Southern Mesopotamia. On the other hand, a more ancient background shared with Northern Mesopotamia is revealed by the less represented Y-chromosome lineage J1-M267*. Overall our results indicate that the introduction of water buffalo breeding and rice farming, most likely from the Indian sub-continent, only marginally affected the gene pool of autochthonous people of the region. Furthermore, a prevalent Middle Eastern ancestry of the modern population of the marshes of southern Iraq implies that if the Marsh Arabs are descendants of the ancient Sumerians, also the Sumerians were most likely autochthonous and not of Indian or South Asian ancestry.

(Source: “In search of the genetic footprints of Sumerians: a survey of Y-chromosome and mtDNA variation in the Marsh Arabs of Iraq”)

In recent publications regarding The Bedouins a high frequency of rh negative blood and a very high frequency of the same J-M267 marker have been proven to exist amongst them.

That means that alongside the Cohanim Jews, the Bedouins are definitely descendants of the ancient Sumerians on the male side and a “lost tribe” if you will.

The same and related Sumerian DNA markers have also been discovered in ancient Basques. So who were the ancient Sumerians? And what was their frequency of rh negatives amongst them?

See also: Were the Sumerians rh negative?