<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-1782" title="phoeniciantrade" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/phoeniciantrade.png" alt="" width="300" height="225" />
About 3,500 years ago, the Phoenicians expanded from their homeland in present-day Syria and Lebanon, using their superior maritime technology to establish trading posts across southern Europe and North Africa.
<h2>The Rise and Fall of the Phoenicians</h2>
They traded silver from Iberia, copper from Cyprus, and textiles from Morocco. They built cities in Sicily, Malta, and Tunisia that rivaled those in Greece and Rome. However, by the 1st century BC, nearly all evidence of their power and authority over Mediterranean trade routes had vanished.
The Phoenicians&#8217; fate as a maritime power is well documented. The Persians conquered the Phoenician homeland in 539 BC. Two centuries later, Alexander the Great&#8217;s army swept in from the west. Finally, the Roman Empire conquered—and destroyed—the Phoenician city of Carthage in 146 BC following the Third Punic War.
<h2>The Disappearance of the Phoenicians</h2>
But what happened to the Phoenicians themselves? Were they wiped out, too? Or are their descendants still alive today?
In a study published this week, researchers identify Phoenician-specific DNA markers in present-day Mediterranean populations, demonstrating that genetic traces of the ancient civilization still exist in some modern-day peoples. These people could be descendants of the Phoenicians themselves.

It has always been difficult to use genetics to trace specific historical migrations, such as the Jewish Diaspora, the Norman invasion of Britain, or even the Viking expansions into Western Europe.
<h2>Using DNA to Tell a Story</h2>
Attempting to trace migrations across the Mediterranean is even more arduous, as there have been multiple migrations at different times throughout history. How do scientists sort out each unique migration event over the long and complex population history of the region? A team of geneticists from National Geographic and IBM’s Genographic Project believes they have found a way to do just that. They discuss their research in the latest American Journal of Human Genetics issue.
Traditionally, when scientists want to understand the genetic history of an area, they collect DNA samples from the entire region of interest. But in this case, the authors of the AJHG paper collected samples from specific towns and cities that are believed to have been built on or near ancient Phoenician archaeological sites, including Carthage, Cyprus, and Sicily. They reasoned that if descendants of the Phoenicians do indeed exist, they would more likely be found near these sites.
<h2>Tracing Paternal Lines</h2>
Armed with this newly collected data, the authors focused on the Y-chromosome to trace the Phoenicians’ genetic history. According to Chris Tyler-Smith, one of the study’s authors, “We chose the Y-chromosome because its male-specificity means that it would have been carried by the predominantly male Phoenician traders.” They then used a newly devised analytical method of distinguishing any Phoenician migration from other geographically similar migrations. Their results are surprisingly informative.
The authors found a weak — but significant — genetic signature among their samples that could not be explained by chance. Many of the samples belonged to a particular branch of haplogroup J2, which the authors believe points back to distinct migrations by Phoenician traders from the Middle East into Europe and North Africa more than 3,000 years ago.
The applications of the authors’ new approach to studies of population history are incredibly far-reaching. Perhaps similar analyses could be used to trace the genetic footprints of Alexander the Great and his army into Persia during the 4th century BC or migrations along the Silk Road from China during the Middle Ages. The authors even propose that their technique could be used within populations to discover historical migrations that we never even knew existed.
Photograph courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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23andMe Blog Team

Ripples in the Mediterranean: Tracing the Genetic Origins of the Phoenicians

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-1261" title="samaritans" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/samaritans.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="186" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/samaritans.jpg 350w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/samaritans-300x159.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" />
Upon hearing the name &#8220;Samaritans,&#8221; many people are immediately reminded of the famous passage from the Gospel of Luke (10: 25-37), the so called ‘Good Samaritan’ parable. Jesus tells of a Levite (a Jew) who is beaten and left on the side of the road. None who pass by the injured man stop to help, save a Samaritan. This parable was originally meant to highlight the fact that, even when two groups of people disapprove of each other (as did the Jews and the Samaritans), a single person from one group can still show kindness towards a member of the other.
<h2>Who Are The Samaritans?</h2>
Many people who know this parable or the term ‘Good Samaritan’ are unaware of who the Samaritans really are. In actuality, the Samaritans are a unique people whose history can be traced to Biblical times.
They are not considered ethnically Jewish or Arab, despite the fact that Samaritans have lived in close proximity to both groups for thousands of years. Though they used to be numerous, there are now only about 700 Samaritans left, divided between two towns near Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. They rarely marry non-Samaritans, and their religious practices are distinct from all Jewish sects.
Their ability to remain both (seemingly) genetically and culturally isolated in one of the most diverse regions on Earth has piqued the interest of both geneticists and historians, who have spent years trying to understand this unique group of people tucked away in the Levantine desert.
<h2>The Origins of the Samaritans</h2>
The origins of the Samaritans have always been clouded in uncertainty.
The traditional view is that, when the Jews were captured by the Assyrians in 721 BC as part of the infamous Babylonian Captivity, the Assyrians then repopulated Israel with people from the land of Samaria to the east. Then, when the Jews finally returned from exile 200 years later, they found these Samaritans already living in their ancestral homeland. As can be expected, tensions between the Samaritans and the Jews quickly escalated and would persist for the next several hundred years.
<h2>New Insights</h2>
However, recent archaeological findings, coupled with a deeper examination of religious texts, have led researchers to propose that the Samaritans were Jews themselves.
(Learn more about your ancestry and trace your family tree with 23andMe&#8217;s <a class="waffle-rich-text-link" href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">DNA Ancestry service</a>, or sign-up for a <a class="waffle-rich-text-link" href="https://www.23andme.com/membership/">membership</a> for advanced ancestry reports and features.)
Specifically, researchers argue that during the Babylonian Captivity, not all Jews were rounded up by the Assyrians. Some stayed behind, possibly marrying other Assyrian exiles who themselves had been relocated. This would make sense given that, even though Samaritans are not considered Jews, they share many of the same ancient Hebrew rituals.
While these rituals have evolved for hundreds of years among most Jewish sects, they remain unchanged among the isolated Samaritans, even to this day. This also fits well with the historical animosity of Jews toward Samaritans because of their association with non-Jews.
<h2>The Genetics of Samaritans</h2>
But what do the genetic data reveal about the Samaritans&#8217; origins? Luckily, there have been many genetic studies of the Samaritans, both to uncover their origins and to understand how they have survived so many generations of isolation.
One such study by Peidong Shen and colleagues in the Journal Human Mutation has used both mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome DNA of modern-day Samaritans to discover their origins and genetic relationship to Near Eastern Jews. Their results are fascinating.
The mitochondrial DNA results, which show maternal history (i.e. your mother’s mother’s mother, etc.), reveal no major difference between the Samaritans, Jews, or Palestinians in the Levant who were also sampled. These three groups have relatively similar maternal genetic histories.
<h2>Insights from the Y-Chromosome</h2>
However, the story of the Y-chromosome, which shows paternal history (i.e. your father’s father’s father) is quite different. Indeed, not only are the Y-chromosomes of the Jews and Samaritans more similar to each other than either is to the Palestinians&#8217;, the Y-chromosomes of the Samaritans show striking similarities to a very specific Y-chromosome most often associated with Jewish men. Although the Samaritan type is slightly different from the Jewish type, it is clear that the two share a common ancestor, probably within the last few thousand years.
As a result, Shen and colleagues argue that the traditional hypothesis, that the Samaritans were transported into the Levant by the Assyrians and have no Jewish heritage, is largely incorrect. Rather, these Samaritan lineages are remnants of those few Jews who did not go into exile when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BC. Those who remained in the Levant may have take non-Jewish wives, which would account for the genetic admixture on the female side. But according to the authors the Y-chromosome clearly shows that the Samaritans and the Jews share common ancestry dating to at least 2,500 years ago.
The similarity between the Y chromosomes of Samaritans and Jews illustrates that groups considered quite distinct today can actually have relatively recent genetic connections. Indeed, we are all connected to each other in some way through our shared genes, shared ancestry, and shared history. The research into the origin of the Samaritans is just one example of this connection.
<h2>Learn More</h2>
Explore more about 23andMe&#8217;s ancestry reports <a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry-composition-guide/">here, or </a> find out if your <a href="https://www.23andme.com/test-info/genetic-health/">genetics</a> might Increase your risk for any health conditions with 23andMe.

The Genetic History of the Samaritans

By Brenna Henn
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-750" style="border: 0pt none;" title="maasihut_sat" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/maasihut_sat.jpg" alt="" width="314" height="234" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/maasihut_sat.jpg 350w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/maasihut_sat-300x225.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 314px) 100vw, 314px" />A Nilotic-speaking pastoralist from Tanzania / Sarah A. Tishkoff
Genes are just one component that children inherit from their parents. Throughout much of human history, especially when populations consisted of small hunter-gatherer groups, the language and lifestyle of a people were also inherited from generation to generation.
This is why genetic patterns and cultural traits are often correlated. So, when scientists see cultural similarities between two populations, they can ask whether there are genetic similarities between the two groups as well.
For many cultural traits, such as pastoralism and agriculture there is still a debate: did people actually migrate into new regions, bringing their genes and culture with them, or did the language and lifestyle simply spread by word of mouth to new lands?
<h6>Pastoralism</h6>
In this week&#8217;s <a href="https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0801184105" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, scientists from Stanford University (several of whom are also associated with 23andMe, including myself) have used the principle of genetic and cultural exchange to find the first genetic evidence of a prehistoric migration of people from Tanzania to southern Africa. We discovered a mutation (aka &#8216;SNP&#8217;) on the Y-chromosome that originated about 10,000 years ago in eastern Africa and is now most common among people from two regions: Tanzania and southern Africa.
Pastoralists (people who rely heavily on animal husbandry for food) such as the Datog and Burunge of northern Tanzania carry the newly discovered SNP. In fact, it is present among 30-40% of men from these populations. Unexpectedly, the click-speaking Kxoe of southern Africa carry the same SNP at similar levels to the Tanzanian populations, indicating that these people are closely related to the Tanzanian pastoralists. The evidence indicates that men from southern and eastern Africa shared very recent common ancestors between about 1,200 and 2,700 years ago.
<h6>Genetic Exchange</h6>
With this genetic evidence in hand, we then turned to archaeologists to see if the fossil record indicated an ancient migration around this time.
As it turns out, the current thinking among archaeologists is slightly different than what this new genetic evidence has revealed. Archaeologists currently favor a model in which the cultural practice of pastoralism spread from an unknown eastern African group into southern Africa about 2,000 years ago, perhaps without any sort of movement of people (i.e. genetic exchange).
Our new genetic study<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-751 alignright" title="donkeycart" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/donkeycart.jpg" alt="" width="268" height="400" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/donkeycart.jpg 350w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/donkeycart-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 268px) 100vw, 268px" />, while still supporting the archaeological record for the timing and place of the origins of pastoralism in sub-Saharan Africa, puts a new twist on the current thinking. It suggests that a small group of men actually migrated into southern Africa about 2,000 years ago. These men probably married into local hunter-gatherer populations, contributing their livestock and cultural knowledge of pastoralism. These migrants were probably closely related to the modern day Datog and Burunge groups of Tanzania.
<h6>Nama of Nambia</h6>
A shift to pastoralism was a fundamental change for the hunter-gatherers of southern Africa during the last couple thousand years. It caused a dramatic change in the culture and belief systems of these people. As pastoralism became more widespread in southern Africa, so did the beginnings of a sense of ownership of animals and the emergence of chieftans.
These changes can still be seen today in the practices of people throughout Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. For example, the Nama of Namibia began practicing pastoralism not long after its arrival in southern Africa and continue to do so today.
The question of whether the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture was the result of cultural exchange or actual migrations between groups is one of the most important debates among archaeologists and geneticists. With this new genetic evidence, we think we have answered this question, at least in southern Africa.
Future studies will further examine the relationhip between genes and culture, and how this relationship has influenced the genetic and cultural makeup of modern African populations.
&nbsp;
 Brenna Henn is a doctoral student in Stanford University&#8217;s Department of Anthropology and a 23andMe consultant. Brenna studies human evolution using genetic information. Her interests include the origin of modern humans, migration patterns among African groups, and genetic models of demography.

Brenna Henn

The Origins of Pastoralism in Africa: What do the Genes Say

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="290" height="400" class="right size-full wp-image-281" style="float: right;" title="jessejamessmall" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/jessejamessmall.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/jessejamessmall.jpg 290w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/jessejamessmall-218x300.jpg 218w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px" />Jesse James

Editor&#8217;s note: This post has been corrected from the original, which gave the incorrect location of Jesse James&#8217; grave. 


One of the most engaging features of 23andMe’s Personal Genome Service is a customer’s ability to trace his or her genetic ancestry using the mitochondrial DNA and the Y-chromosome.
Once customers learn their own ancestry, the Genome Sharing feature allows them to see how they compare with friends and family.
However, the ancestry section of 23andMe also allows customers to see how they compare to well-known individuals. In the maternal and paternal ancestry features, customers can view the haplogroup assignments of such figures as Thomas Jefferson, Genghis Khan and Bono.
<h6>Am I Related to Someone Famous? Sort of.</h6>
But how can anyone know the ancestry of someone like Thomas Jefferson, who has been dead for a few hundred years, or Genghis Khan, who has been dead for close to a thousand?
It turns out there are several ways to find out these well-known figures’ ancestry. The most obvious: Celebrities can sign up for 23andMe’s Personal Genome Service, just like the rest of us! For example, Jimmy Buffett and Warren Buffett have been interested for years in finding out whether their shared surname was an indication of common genetic ancestry. Unfortunately, their genetic profiles show the two are not closely related.
<h6>
 Founding Fathers&#8217; Haplogroups</h6>

But what about people like Thomas Jefferson?
He is no 23andMe customer, but this does not mean that scientists cannot trace his ancestry by other means. Tracing the maternal or paternal ancestry of any deceased individual is usually done by one of two ways: either getting DNA from the physical remains of the individual, or getting DNA from direct descendants of a relevant lineage.
He is no 23andMe customer, but this does not mean that scientists cannot trace his ancestry by other means. Tracing the maternal or paternal ancestry of any deceased individual is usually done by one of two ways: either getting DNA from the physical remains of the individual, or getting DNA from direct descendants of a relevant lineage.
In the cases of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, scientists used DNA from direct descendants of their ancestors. For example, in 1998 scientists inferred Jefferson’s paternal ancestry by analyzing the Y-chromosome of direct descendants of Jefferson’s paternal uncle (Jefferson had no confirmed sons).
<h6>Marie Antoinette and other Royal Haplogroups</h6>
Likewise, in the case of historical royalty such as Tsar Nicholas II of Russia or Marie Antoinette of France, extensive and detailed royal pedigrees make finding direct descendants a breeze.
Likewise, in the case of historical royalty such as Tsar Nicholas II of Russia or Marie Antoinette of France, extensive and detailed royal pedigrees make finding direct descendants a breeze.
In the case of the infamous outlaw Jesse James, a more direct approach was used. It had been widely believed that after James died in 1882, his body was buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Kearney, Missouri. In order to test this hypothesis, scientists exhumed the body, extracting a few teeth. They compared DNA from the teeth to that of the great-grandson and great great-grandson of James’ sister. Scientists found an exact match between the extracted teeth and James’ sister&#8217;s descendants, thus confirming that the body in Mt. Olivet Cemetery was most likely that of Jesse James and establishing his ancestry to boot.

<h6>
How about Genghis Khan?</h6>
He is listed in our famous people sidebar as being a member of Y-chromosome Haplogroup C. But we do not have any information on his direct descendants alive today, nor do we have any preserved remains of his body. However, scientists have examined the Y-chromosomes of many present-day inhabitants of Mongolia (the ancestral home of Genghis Khan).
In doing so, they have found that about 8% of Mongolian males share the exact same DNA pattern in a highly variable part of their Y-chromosomes. Further analysis has revealed that this particular Y-chromosome type, which falls into haplogroup C, originated about 1,000 years ago and that its dispersal across Central Asia corresponds to the boundaries of the Mongol Empire. Historians have long noted Khan’s prolific nature; he is rumored to have fathered more than 40 sons, with some of his descendants also fathering many sons of their own. So it&#8217;s a good bet that we&#8217;re seeing Genghis Khan&#8217;s legacy in the 8% of Mongolian males alive today who have identical Y-chromosome signatures.
There are a number of ways we can determine the haplogroups of well-known figures — both past and present — and displaying information about these individuals adds to the fun of understanding and comparing the genetic ancestry of ourselves, our friends and family, and the rich and famous (or infamous).
Explore the origins of your ancestry at <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">23andMe.com</a>.

Haplogroups of the Rich and Famous

<img decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/siegeofacre1291.jpg" alt="siegeofacre1291.jpg" class="right alignright" />Generally, the DNA in a man&#8217;s Y-chromosome contains information about prehistoric migrations that happened many millennia in the past. But a recent study of men in Lebanon shows that genetics can be a reflection of more recent events as well.
A paper published in the April issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics shows that two major events in the history of religion — the spread of Islam and the Crusades — have left their mark on Lebanon&#8217;s male population.
The authors of the AJHG paper showed that a disproportionate percentage of Muslim men in Lebanon have Y-chromosomes of a type that is common on the Arabian peninsula. Migrants from Arabia brought Islam to Lebanon during the 7th century.
Similarly, a disproportionate number of Lebanese Christian and Druze men have Y-chromosomes similar to those found in western Europe. In fact, the most common Y-chromosome signature in Lebanon is most abundant in France, Spain, northern Italy and the Low Countries. But it is found nowhere else east of Hungary.

The authors of the AJHG paper attribute that remarkable genetic connection to the Crusades, a series of military campaigns by European invaders against Jerusalem and other cities of religious significance in the Near East.
There is also an indication that men from Turkey introduced their genes into the Lebanese population during the time of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Lebanon from the 16th to 20th centuries.
In most countries, geography is the most significant factor influencing the genetic variability of the population. But in Lebanon, religion accounts for more than three times as much genetic variation as geography.
&#8220;Such structure might arise only when several unusual criteria are met,&#8221; the AJHG paper concludes. &#8220;Migrations based on religion must take place between areas with different representative Y-chromosomal types, and they must establish genetically differentiated communities that remain stable over long time periods. In Lebanon, these conditions appear to have been met for over 1,300 years.&#8221;
&#8220;The Siege of Acre&#8221; by Dominique Louis Papety (1815-1849)

Y-chromosome — Page 2

Ripples in the Mediterranean: Tracing the Genetic Origins of the Phoenicians

The Genetic History of the Samaritans

The Origins of Pastoralism in Africa: What do the Genes Say

Haplogroups of the Rich and Famous

Historical Genetics: Researchers Find Traces of Crusades, Spread of Islam in Lebanon

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