A new study takes a look at Sicilian haploid genetics in its wider geographical context.
Stephania Samo et al., An Ancient Mediterranean Melting Pot: Investigating the Uniparental Genetic Structure and Population History of Sicily and Southern Italy. PLoS ONE 2014. Open access → LINK [doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0096074]
Abstract
Due to their strategic geographic location between three different continents, Sicily and Southern Italy have long represented a major Mediterranean crossroad where different peoples and cultures came together over time. However, its multi-layered history of migration pathways and cultural exchanges, has made the reconstruction of its genetic history and population structure extremely controversial and widely debated. To address this debate, we surveyed the genetic variability of 326 accurately selected individuals from 8 different provinces of Sicily and Southern Italy, through a comprehensive evaluation of both Y-chromosome and mtDNA genomes. The main goal was to investigate the structuring of maternal and paternal genetic pools within Sicily and Southern Italy, and to examine their degrees of interaction with other Mediterranean populations. Our findings show high levels of within-population variability, coupled with the lack of significant genetic sub-structures both within Sicily, as well as between Sicily and Southern Italy. When Sicilian and Southern Italian populations were contextualized within the Euro-Mediterranean genetic space, we observed different historical dynamics for maternal and paternal inheritances. Y-chromosome results highlight a significant genetic differentiation between the North-Western and South-Eastern part of the Mediterranean, the Italian Peninsula occupying an intermediate position therein. In particular, Sicily and Southern Italy reveal a shared paternal genetic background with the Balkan Peninsula and the time estimates of main Y-chromosome lineages signal paternal genetic traces of Neolithic and post-Neolithic migration events. On the contrary, despite showing some correspondence with its paternal counterpart, mtDNA reveals a substantially homogeneous genetic landscape, which may reflect older population events or different demographic dynamics between males and females. Overall, both uniparental genetic structures and TMRCA estimates confirm the role of Sicily and Southern Italy as an ancient Mediterranean melting pot for genes and cultures.
No particular haplogroup is dominant in the island in the Y-DNA side and, although H has some clear prevalence among mtDNA haplogroups, it is actually well under the normal European levels for this common haplogroup.
| Table 1. Age estimates (in YBP) of STR and HVS variation for the most frequent haplogroups in Sicily and Southern Italy. |
Y-DNA
We can see how the following patrilineages are more common: J2a (16%), G2a (12%) and E1b1b1a1b1a (10%) and R1b1a2a1a2 (9%). R1a1a (5%), J1 (5%) R1b1a2a1a1 (4%) and J2b (4%) are less common instead.
 |
| Fig, S2(a) - Principal Component Analysis (PCA) based on haplogroup frequencies for Y-chromosome (a) (...). Population codes as in Table S1. Colour codes for geographic affiliations as in the legends at the bottom-left of each plot. Legend abbreviations: NAFR: North-Africa, LEV: Levant, BALK: Balkans, SSI: Sicily and South-Italy, NCI: North-Central Italy, IBE: Iberian Peninsula, GER: Germany. |
There is an interesting tendency in Agrigento (AG) towards Lebanon (which in this graph includes all the LEV category), while other areas of Sicily and Southern Italy (Lecce, Cosenza, Enna) tend instead towards the Aegean (Pho, Smy). These tendencies could be interpreted (at least partly) in terms of historical colonization events by Phoenicians and Greeks. Catania instead tends towards Central-North Italy, maybe reflecting its important role under Roman rule and a historical colonization in the times of Augustus.
The Southern Italian towns of Matera (Basilicata) and Campobasso (Molise) also show a tendency towards the Northern Balcans (represented by Serbia here).
The authors confirm previous impressions of a West-East Y-DNA duality in the Mediterranean that divides Italy:
When comparing SSI with Mediterranean reference populations, Y-chromosome results (Figure 1 and Figure S2) revealed a clear-cut genetic differentiation between the North-Western vs. the Central- and South-Eastern Mediterranean genetic pools (as confirmed by both sPCA G-test and AMOVA FCT statistically significant tests). These results are consistent with our previous study about Italy [12], in which we detected a discontinuous paternal genetic structure, clearly separating the South-Eastern and the North-Western parts of the Italian Peninsula. Here this pattern appears extended to the whole Mediterranean Basin, particularly suggesting a shared genetic background between South-Eastern Italy and the South-Eastern Mediterranean cluster from one side, and between North-Western Italy and the Western Europe from the other side (Figure 2).
Mitochondrial DNA
The main matrilinages of Sicily are H (28%) T (13%), J (10%) and HV(xH) (5%). U5 is also well under the usual European frequencies with just 3% of prevalence.
While the AMOVA statistical significance tests say that PC2 in the following graph is not really significant. However PC1 is still relevant, I understand.
 |
| Fig S1(b) - Principal Component Analysis (PCA) based on haplogroup frequencies for (...) mtDNA (b). Population codes as in Table S1. Colour codes for geographic affiliations as in the legends at the bottom-left of each plot. Legend abbreviations: NAFR: North-Africa, LEV: Levant, BALK: Balkans, SSI: Sicily and South-Italy, NCI: North-Central Italy, IBE: Iberian Peninsula, GER: Germany. |
If anything there is some discrepancy between Y-DNA tendencies and those of mtDNA. For example the "Phoenician" Agrigento in the Y-DNA graph, looks "Iberian" or "Tuscan" in the mtDNA one.
The authors believe that mtDNA lineages could be older than Y-DNA ones in many cases:
Y-chromosome results however contrast with the lack of statistical support to the sPCA global structure observed for mtDNA diversity, excepted for a similar NW-SE genetic pattern identified by sPC1 (Figure 3). The common South-East to North-West pattern in the distribution of genetic variation across the European and Mediterranean domain, could be interpreted as reflecting the same SE to NW genetic cline extensively reported in literature for the whole of Europe [71]–[74]. However, the general lack of statistical support to the global structure observed for mtDNA markers suggests a higher homogeneity for maternal than paternal genetic pools in the Mediterranean genetic landscape. These results could be ascribed to older population events and/or different demographic and historical dynamics for females than males. (...) In fact, whereas the different continental and within continental contributions to the current SSI genetic pool appeared to be more equally distributed on the maternal side (despite a noteworthy contribution of Levantine females), the paternal counterpart appeared to be clearly affected by South-Eastern Mediterranean, mainly Balkan [Aegean], males.
See also:
The total absence of Y-DNA I and very low percentage of mtDNA U5, the most common
ReplyDeleteEpipaleolithic uniparental markers in ancient DNA is quite notable. Moreover, even if H is present in the Epipaleolithic in Southern and/or Southwestern Europe (a hypothesis which has credible evidence) the low levels of it in this sample are likewise notable and are small enough to have a predominantly Neolithic provenance.
The high levels of Y-DNA G and low levels of Y-DNA R, however, support a hypothesis, that Sicilians (not unlike the type case of the Sardinians) have more first wave Neolithic, and comparatively less of the second wave Neolithic/Copper Age migration of farmer/herders than is found in much of the rest of Europe.
The significant presence of Y-DNA E-V13 and absence of other Y-DNA E clades confirms (and maybe even drives) the PCA observation of similarity to the men of the Aegean and Levant relative to other West Eurasians.
What do you mean by "second wave"? The Aegean Bronze clearly influenced much of Italy and particularly the South, and then of course they have all that Greek-like genetics, consistent with historical colonization as well, so there is clearly a "second wave" and even a "third wave" affecting this area. Just maybe not the "one" you have in mind (whichever it is).
DeleteI was thinking late Neolithic/Copper Age when I wrote "second wave", but really, in context and after considering your comment, it would perhaps be more fair to draw lines of "first wave Neolithic", transitional population genetic mixes, and the modern population genetic mix which is largely in place by ca. 2500 years ago or perhaps a few centuries earlier.
DeleteI guess that you're probably thinking in Central Europe's genetic paleohistory, right? I would say that each region had its own dynamics and merely extrapolating Central Europe's data to all the subcontinent makes no sense.
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ReplyDeleteWhat is going on here? The 2013 report about Italy's genetic sex bias clearly stated that most of Italy's YDNA pool was pre colonial ie was Neolithic and Bronze Age. These results here seem to be all over the place, and contradicting the previous.
ReplyDeleteThat's just normal: different studies by different authors reach to somewhat different conclusions. It's even more madness if you look at the molecular clock estimates, which for me mean absolutely nothing (I just don't trust them at all - unless they are done on full Y chromosome sequences, very rare, in which case I may consider recalibrating them but never take at face value).
DeleteWhat matters is the raw data (haplogroup frequencies and such). Reach to your own conclusions critically on that - at least it's what I try to do.
That was my fault then, I didn't realize it was different authors. Makes sense. Honestly, I see more validity in the "sex bias" report by Boattini, and I recently discussed this with both him and Luiselli, who both confirm the 2013 report. To me, just my opinion, this latest report looks messy to say the least. Example, on one area it says the genetic make up on both mtdna and ydna lineages in the South and Sicily are "homogeneous", and then describes a "melting pot". Other things are also strange. Im mtdna J2a1 for example, of Tuscan Matrilineage. ALL sources TMRCA date the minor J2a1 clade to have arose in Europe roughly 16,500 ybp. However, this new report gives some new and bizarrely archaic date for J2a clades in the South.
ReplyDeleteJust for reference I added a "see also" section at the end of the entry with links to the latest studies on Italian genetics discussed in this blog. It's always good to contrast.
DeleteTRMCA estimates (among other distorting factors, which are many) are affected by the local diversity. Say that in a given region there is presence of X1 and X2 and they measure the age of X as a whole, it will always produce an age older than that of X1 and X2 separately (unless STRs are by chance similar in both clades maybe). I don't think you can really estimate local ages but, at best, only haplogroup ages without any geographic constriction.
There are many other issues: choice of method, calibration point (all scholarly methods heavily underestimate both the OoA age and the Pan-Homo split age), reliability of the set of markers used, etc. As I said, I don't take age estimates even half seriously: for me they are blank spaces, totally meaningless.
I'm pretty knowledgeable about this subject, but not on all the details. Thank you for the explanation. I comprehend for the most part. Another example of what you're describing would be my Ydna. My Paternal side is from Yorkshire, England, and Im the minor Haplogroup I2a1c (P37.2, L233), and is found at a low frequency (0.3%) in England and in Germany. This is refered to as the "Chauci" Subclade (the Chauci being an ancient Germanic tribe on the Continental North Sea coast), as the general demographic and TMRCA consensus is that its origin was the NW of what is now Germany. L233 is therefore generally held to represent the fewer I2a1s who settled NW Germania. As such, its presence in Britain is called an "Anglo Saxon" Subclade, since, given this scenario, it would have arrived with the Dark Ages Germanic settlement as a minority, lost in the dominant R1bs (Germanic Subclade) and I1s that comprised the bulk of those population movements. Nevertheless, you can still find, albeit rarely, source proposals that it was a possible "Isles" (Ancient British/Pre Roman) Haplogroup in Britain.
ReplyDeleteCosenza is not in Sicily it is in Calabria. You wrote this above. ''while other areas of Sicily (Lecce, Cosenza, Enna)''.
ReplyDeleteAlright, I'll edit that. Thanks.
DeleteI have a question if I may so do this here. Other genetic testing I did by far did not give any indicator of that, but on GEDmatch some people are telling me that supposedly they see an "inflated" "Aegean" / Greece-Anatolia contribution in my DNA. Others have said that my results look perfectly normal for a half English/half Italian, showing no "inflation". I know that the "West Asian", "Middle Eastern", and "East Mediterranean" readings are showing up because of Prehistoric (most likely Neolithic) Admixture, which is normal, but those who are telling me of an "inflation" are meaning that my results give reason to believe I had significant Post-Neolithic "Aegean" i.e. colonial Greek, Admixture. Again, if this is appropriate, I ask opinions please. # 174701
ReplyDeleteI don't know the details of the test (compared pops. and such) but in general Southern Italians and Aegeans are not that different.
DeleteIn fact some recent studies on ancient DNA (Lazaridis 2013 specifically, see here) appears to show that Sicilians and Maltese are abnormally too "West Asian", even more than "allowed" by admixture of ancient Neolithic farmers (form the Alps I must say) and ancient Western European hunter-gatherers. Of course it may be something very old but it is also anomalous regarding Europe, because not even Greeks show that "poor fit" with the triple admixture model, although Ashkenazi Jews do.
It's just one study and the reference populations are not directly related to Sicily but it does suggest that there's something different about Sicilians (and maybe other South Italians).
Notice please that the main Greek colonial power was Phocaea (near Smyrna/Izmir in Asia Minor) and also that Sicily had some important Phoenician colonization, as well as becoming later the main Roman "plantation colony", what implied massive import of slaves from all around the Mediterranean. I don't see any obvious legacy in haploid DNA of this last element but at least the two others should have influenced Sicily in quite significant ways, more so as the Aegean influences are as old as Chalcolithic and probably also Mycenaean age (not only the Magna Graecia period allows for Aegean inflows).
I see what you mean. My East Mediterranean scores are roughly 10-15%, and West Asian and Middle Eastern are minor, so I don't think, at least as far as I know, this "inflation" scenario for me being more "Aegean" is correct. My Italian side was from Tuscany and Abruzzo (no Post-Neolithic eastern Admixture) and Campania. Campania would be the most reasonable candidate if there was this "colonial" or Post Neolithic scenario at play with my DNA. Anyway, this "East Mediterranean" doesn't necessarily mean "Aegean" or "Near Eastern" in GEDmatch terms as far as I've seen. The map used for that reference seems to scope from the Middle East to around Corsica (very broad), so perhaps that is the only reason why.
ReplyDelete"My Italian side was from Tuscany and Abruzzo ... and Campania".
DeleteAh, I though you meant Sicilian (because of context and also because it's the typical source of emigrants to North America.
Although mainland Italy (including Tuscany) is a good fit for the Lazaridis model, that does not mean that there was no Aegean influences in the peninsula: there were some in the Chalcolithic (not limited to the South at all but also Central Italy - we don't know the genetic impact, just some cultural influence apparent in the archaeological record) and many suspect Etruscans to have been formed in a later Aegean migration which would have formed the Villanova culture (this was once apparently supported by ancient mtDNA but has been contested later on). Another support for this is the persistence of an Etruscan-related language in the island of Lemnos, near ancient Troy, in historical times and, indirectly, the Roman legend about the foundation of the city by Aeneas, which might have been borrowed from Etruscans (?), who ruled the city for some time and strongly influenced Roman techno-cultural progress (basically Roman architecture is Etruscan, as is their alphabet, etc.)
I personally do lean for an Eastern origin of the Etruscan elites, for the reasons mentioned above but also because some of their words do look oriental: lukumon (king) resembles Sumerian lugal (king), Nept (Neptune) resembles the Egyptian goddess of the Nile Nephtis, etc.; also their hair-styles initially were totally Minoan-like, as was to some extent their art; and finally modern Tuscans generally deviate a bit eastwards when compared with other Italians. Their arrival c. 1300 BCE is coincident with the period of Mycenaean naval expansion (c. 1500 into Crete and also influences as far west as Iberia, c. 1100 "Sea Peoples" rampage: destruction of Troy, Ugarit, colonization of Cyprus...) So it seems reasonable to imagine that they were pushed westwards by the Greek Bronze Age expansion somehow. The legend of Aeneas may have some real base after all.
"Anyway, this "East Mediterranean" doesn't necessarily mean "Aegean" or "Near Eastern" in GEDmatch terms as far as I've seen. The map used for that reference seems to scope from the Middle East to around Corsica (very broad), so perhaps that is the only reason why".
That looks like a very reasonable explanation indeed. If Italy is part of that "Eastern Mediterranean" element, there you have it.
All Europeans have "Negro" DNA, don't be naive nor prejudiced. Africa and Europe are too close to each other and genetic flow in both directions is clearly demonstrated, particularly in the Neolithic.
ReplyDeleteAgrigento was not a Phoenician city to begin with, since that people only founded two small emporiums in the western tip of the island (Palermo and Mozia), unlike tens of Indigenous Italic settlements and at least 20 Greek colonies.
ReplyDeleteAgrigento was founded by colonists from Crete and Rhodes, here there aren't samples from those two Greek islands for a comparison but I have seen they have high J Y-Chromosome and some R1b U152.
Agrigento was not a Phoenician city, that people only founded two emporiums in the western part of the island (Palermo and Mothia).
ReplyDeleteAgrigento was one of the most important ancient Greek city of the world, it was called Akragas and founded by Cretans and Rhodians.
Unfortunately there aren't samples from those two Greek islands but I'm pretty sure they have genetic overlap for sure, at least I know the Greek islands tend to have a significant portion of Y-Chromosome J.
About the slaves: Roman empire carried slaves from all empire in all of the empire (including Spain of course) basically not exclusively in South Italy as you said.
Well, the fact is that Agrigento looks rather "Lebanese" (would be ancient Phoenician), unlike other Sicilian areas, which look more "Turkish" (would be ancient Greek). I can't help it if the genetic facts seem to contradict historical "knowledge". However...
DeleteMaybe it has to do with the fact that Agrigento was settled from Gela, which in turn has origins not in Phocaea but in Crete and Rhodes, which may have a different genetic makeup (certainly Crete is different from the rest of Greece). The tendency towards Lebanon may in fact mask that Cretan origin (Cretans have lots of J2, while mainland Greeks do not but Lebanese do too): high J2 and low E1b would look Lebanese but also Cretan, so maybe that's the answer.
"About the slaves: Roman empire carried slaves from all empire in all of the empire (including Spain of course) basically not exclusively in South Italy as you said".
AFAIK that's not really correct, Italy and Sicily had a much larger slave population than any other part of the empire (although maybe there were other exceptions). In many areas traditional farming (often with free farmers, at least in the West) persisted as dominant until the late Empire's feudalization that attempted to enslave all free farmers (what in turn triggered the Bagaudae revolts and the collapse of the Western Empire, already very weakened by the lost of the Eastern colonies to the new Christian Neo-Hellenistic order).
Without samples from Crete and Rhodes we can't speak about Punic influences in Agrigento which aren't hystorically confirmed.
DeleteI have seen tens of studies about the Greeks and there is an huge differences between mainland Greeks and islanders.
Usually Cretas are more near eastern shift than mainland Greeks and that can play a role in the fact that Agrigento (ancient Akragas) is a bit different from the rest of Sicily.
About Catania in Northern Italian direction (47% of R1b in that study) I think it has to do with ancient Sicels and a strong Roman settlement.
About the slaves: it depends, some parts of Italy (including Sicily) had latifundium but slaves can not only exclusive from all the Mediterranean but there were many Gauls and Germans as well.
But i don't think they left a significant influences among the Italian gene-pool.
The tendency towards Lebanon is only in the Y-DNA graph, there is no such thing (rather the opposite) in the mtDNA graph. Therefore we should focus this part of the discussion on Y-DNA.
DeleteAnd we are lucky because there was a quite detailed Y-DNA review of Greece years ago and shows clearly that Cretans are distinct from mainland Greeks, with much less E1b and much more J2. There was no data for Rhodes. See: http://leherensuge.blogspot.com/2008/05/greek-y-dna-review-at-dienekes.html
So that's probably it because you are right that Agrigento was a Greek and not a Phoenician colony. Makes sense.
As for Catania, I can't say, because such high frequencies of R1b are not common neither in Greece nor most of Italy, including Lazio.
About slaves I agree that no obvious influence is apparent. Their life was probably quite brutal and short, especially in the latifundia and mines (home slaves on the other hand had better lives usually but those were not so important numerically and often were of Italian origin).
Yeah I know about Crete.
DeleteThere is also some U152 in that island.
About Catania: I have read the complete paper and it's surprising the high U106 (around 12%) and it's very surprising indeed.
Not at all, Sicilians are primarily an Italian population with Greek input in the coasts.
ReplyDeleteThe rest, especially Spanish, North Europeans, French and Arabs left a very small input in the Sicilian gene-pool.
Frederick II removed, exterminated and expelled all the muslims from the island and most of them were just local Sicilians converted to islam.
And other populations you have mentioned didn't setted in the island en masse.
The Piedmontese who settled your part came from 1000 years ago for replaced the muslims who were expelled by Roger I not just 500 years ago.
Well, all that is something we can't know for sure until we look at the genetics, right? That's what we're trying to do here, not just parroting the well known historical narrative. Sometimes the real people's history is not well reflected or at all in know history, you know. Especially ancient historians often did not feel the need to talk of commoners, only about the elites - but elites are by definition exceptional.
DeleteNot sure what's up with the Piedmontese, sounds intriguing.
My last reply was for the guy Peter who has spoken about northern Italian settlements in Sicily in the middle ages.
DeleteAnyway the normans used mainlander Italians to repopoulate part of Sicily, but they were mostly from mainland South Italy rather than northern Italians who settled in specific areas.
My mtn Dna is j1 c1. Am 100%sicilian, and I now the names of my ancestor
DeleteSince 1740 . I know remenello remains find neat the Po river had the same
Mtn dna I'm from agrigento area. Very intrigued about j1c1... Is that easily found in Sicily?
What we know from this study is that J1 (in general) makes up about 5% of Sicilian genetics. So in principle it should not be a rare lineage.
DeleteSomething that is plausible about J1 is that it probably arrived in connection with Phoenicians or Arabs. But we cannot say with 100% certainty, as some J1 also exists in the NE Mediterranean, so it could also be Greek, etc. (but less likely).
I've been as of late caressing the idea of ancient Siculi/Sicels being a Semitic people, the Shekelesh of the Sea Peoples' narrations, who may have arrived in Italy together with the Etruscans (Teresh = Tyrsenians) and maybe "invited" or "incited" by the Sardinians (Shardana or Sherden) to fight against the invading Indoeuropeans (Italics, proto-Latins included) who were then advancing from the North. After being defeated in mainland Italy, probably in Latium itself, they settled Sicily and Calabria. This could be another way for J1 lineages to have arrived to Sicily and Italy in general but it's a tad more hypothetical, as we're dealing with reconstructed proto-history.
In any case my theory is based on the fact that the Shekelesh are described as "circumcised" (as Israelites and other Semites) but not like Teresh (Trojans/Dardani quite plausibly) and other Euro-Asian peoples of the North. The name Shekelesh might mean "mercenaries", as "shekhel" is an old weight measure and later coin in the West Asian area.
PD- About my theory on Shekelesh, "si no é vero, é ben trovatto". Non lo so.
DeletePeter I don't know why you speak about Arabic admixture since the Genetics show that the J1 in Sicily and South Italy founded in that study is older than the short muslim dominion.
ReplyDeleteLook at that: "However, for the types found in Sicily and in the South it was calculated age of 3261 years ± 1345 corresponding to the end of the Bronze Age."
February 2017,came back on this page. So J1c1 mtn in Sicily, no one have an "explanation "
ReplyDeleteIf remedello had the same, remains found near Piemonte, can't help?
If Remedello carried it, then maybe the most simple explanation is that your matrilineage has been in Italy "all the time", since Neolithic or so, right? It's impossible to know such things for a fact, maybe some day we'll get a good collection of ancient Sicilian DNA that helps but until then...
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI recently took a DNA test through 23&me. I am 100% Sicilian, both parents are from Palermo. My maternal haplogroup is: L2b1a. How normal is this? From the research that I have done, I have found no one else of Sicilian ethnicity to share this haplogroup with. I understand that it is predominately found in West Africa. Any ideas as to how it could have ended up in Sicily? Also, my Middle Eastern/ North Africa score is 25% (14.8% ME/ 10% NA). Using the Eurogenes k13 calculator puts me at 33% eastern med. It also shows 14% West Asian and 6% Red Sea. Could it point to a rather recent ancestor from these regions of the world? Thank you.
For what I can gather right now L2b (unspecified subclades) would seem to be from North Africa (or further south, but guess less likely). It is relatively common in Algeria, particularly in the district of Zenata (Tlemcen province):
Deletehttp://forwhattheywereweare.blogspot.com/2015/11/algerian-complex-genetics.html
Specifically L2b1, I can only find in my references at Puerto Rico: it arose in a conversation about possible Guanche (Canarian Berber) ancestry for the inhabitants of that island, in this blog and thread:
http://geneacanaria.blogspot.com/2013/12/desde-la-lejania-una-aventura-del.html
The discussion is in Spanish but I guess you can figure out, as do most Italians.
Sicilians and Maltese have an unusual genetic (autosomal) affinity to the Middle East for Europeans, even greater than Greeks. This can't be explained by any historical nor known prehistorical event, unless it is my pet theory, I understand. My theory is as follows:
Delete1. The Shekelesh were one of the "Sea Peoples". We know from the Egyptian records that they were circumcised, hence most likely Semitic. Shekelesh also reminds to shekel, the old Semitic "pound" (both weight and coin) so they might be a group of mercenaries (speculative) or maybe traders (proto-phoenicians?)
2. Because in that period, at the very end of the 2nd millennium, the Italics (Latins, Samnites, etc.) were invading Central and South Italy, I speculate that the Sherden (Sardinians) and the Teresh (Tauresi, Trojans?, Tyrsenoi = Etruscans) may have formed an alliance to fight against them. The Etruscans managed to keep their niche but it is know (or so I've heard) that the Sicels were expelled from Central Italy and had to settle Sicily and Calabria.
So this would be, in my theory at least, the reason why Sicilians are quite more West Asian than they should by geography.
However I know of no particular affinity to North Africa, so your c. 10% North African is peculiar of your individual ancestry, most likely. If it'd come from a single person, it'd be your maternal great-grandmother (judging from the mtDNA lineage and that each great-grandparent contributes approx. 12.5% of the ancestry, exact amount will vary) Alternatively it may be some North African ancestry that runs in your great-granny's home town or home district, which may have originated with the Phoenicians, the Arabs or some other historical accident.
I recently took a DNA test through 23&me. I am 100% Sicilian, both parents are from Palermo. My maternal haplogroup is: L2b1a. How normal is this? From the research that I have done, I have found no one else of Sicilian ethnicity to have share this haplogroup with. I understand that it is predominately found in West Africa. Any ideas as to how it could have ended up in Sicily? Also, my Middle Eastern/ North Africa score is 25% (14.8% ME/ 10% NA). Using the Eurogenes k13 calculator puts me at 33% eastern med. It also shows 14% West Asian and 6% Red Sea. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSorry for the very belated reply, I did not notice your comment until now. L2b has some presence in North Africa: https://forwhattheywereweare.blogspot.com/2015/11/algerian-complex-genetics.html
DeleteThank you for your insight!!
ReplyDeleteI do not know my paternal DNA (my dad passed away a long time ago) however my maternal one is X2 (I looked it up and it seems rare). In any event I am 100% Sicilian from the province of Siracusa. When a few years ago I did the DNA testing like a lot of other people, I got different results from three organizations. So, where do the people from the province of Siracusa come from?
ReplyDeleteI always thought we were mostly of greek ancestry. Now I am not sure
X2 is not that rare: it is one of the various mtDNA haplogroups that arrived to Europe from West Asia with the Neolithic (or also later migrations maybe). Actually everything that is not U or HV seems to have arrived to Europe with the Neolithic (and maybe also some subclades of U and HV).
DeleteWhere do Siracusans or in general Sicilians come from? Surely there is some Greek ancestry in the areas of the historical Greek colonies like Siracusa (Syracuse in English), there's hardly any denial about that but in the last years I have become persuaded that there was a major demographic impact in the Bronze-Iron Age transition period (around 1000 BCE) originating in the area of Lebanon-Syria approx. This would be the "Sea People" known as the Shekelesh, often associated to Sicily (and the historical tribes Sicels and Siculi that gave the island its name) but in obscure and speculative ways.
The issue is that (in autosomal or "general" DNA) Sicilians (and Maltese) diverge from the general European genetic pattern quite a bit, tending a lot towards the Levant, they are the more Oriental tending of all European peoples save Jews, more than Greeks even. And they don't tend neatly towards Turkey or the Caucasus, as Greeks or others may do, but towards further South, towards roughly Lebanon-Syria. Can it be the Muslim conquest? Nope, that would make Sicilians tend to Tunisia or Saudi Arabia instead and it does not happen. Can it be the Phoenician colonization? Nope because they only really controlled the Western part of the island. Could it be a legacy of Roman slave plantations? Probably not because slaves came all over the place and there's no especial reason why they would come from Syria of all places.
So this brings us to a most obscure period of European and Mediterraenan Prehistory: the Late Bronze Age collapse and the Sea Peoples, the name of various coalitions of IMO mostly Aegean peoples, including the Mycenaean Greeks (called Ekwesh first, Denesh later) that ravaged the Eastern Mediterranean on several occasions around 1200 BCE. One of those peoples were the Sherden, very clearly Nuraghic Sardinians, another one, the most obscure Weshesh, I tend to identify with pre-Indoeuropean South Italian Ausones, who are archaeologically documented to have made piracy against Greece at the very least, these are the only two I think are aboriginal Italian, the rest are either Berbers (Meswesh, Libu) or from further East (most).
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DeleteAt least two of these may have ended in Italy in the struggles around 1100-1000 BCE with the invading Indoeuropeans (mostly Italics, maybe some Celts too) of the Urnfields culture. One are the quite famous Etruscans (or at least their elites), who can be identified with the Teresh (Tauresi, Tyrsenoi, tu-Rassena in Etruscan probably, where "tu", later "ty", would be the article "the". These were probably originally a epi-Trojan pre-Indoeuropean population of the area south of the Marmara Sea or something like that.
And then there is the Shekelesh, these are almost certainly Semitic because they were circumcised (a detail the Egyptians paid a lot of attention to when dealing with foreign enemies in rather cruel ways) and also because "shekel" is a weight unit and a historical coin of the Levant (akin to Western "pound"). So it's possible that "Shekelesh" means something like "mercenaries" or "pirates". Where exactly did they originate at? Unsure, I speculate that they might be very roughly proto-Phoenicians, based in islands like Arwad (insert big question mark), in the disputed areas between the Hittite and Egyptian empires around the Lebanese-Syrian border by the coast. In any case, they probably migrated to Italy with the Etruscans, either on their own accord or invited by some of the warrying parties like the Sherden and Weshesh, and carved their niches there: the Etruscans in central-north Italy and the Shekelesh in Sicily. Some Italian guy told me that he believed that the Shekleshe were first in the area of Southern Lazio but were expelled from them by the Italics (would-be Latins) but I haven't been able to confirm this detail.
Hello, my Y haplogroup is R2a, and my paternal family comes from Syracuse’s province. I know of all my ancestors, all from that village, up to 1720. My mother is X2 and her family is from the province of Enna.
ReplyDeleteMy dna results 38% north Turkish 12% South Caucasus 4% Spain 7% Tuscany 8% Levant and the rest south Italy. Also, my family has been characterised by red hair and very fair skin since we know of. What do you make of these results? And especially when do you think the R2a was introduced to Sicily?
Not sure if there's been something new on R2 in the last few years but in principle it is a South Asian (Indian) specific haplogroup, hence it seems that your patrilineal ancestors have more exotic origins than usual.
DeleteMtDNA X2 on the other hand is very specifically West Eurasian (in Europe only since Neolithic (also present in Native Americans via Siberia but not relevant here).
Not sure how to gauge the autosomal DNA composition nor the pigmentation details. Red hair is scattered through many populations (although it only really manifests in low pigmentation types I believe, there are IMO "genetic red hairs" with black or brown hair, and that you may notice in reddish hues in the skin, while "genetic blonds" are more yellowish instead), it is true that it is most common towards NW Europe (peaking in Scotland) but it's a very distributed trait anyhow.
You may be just an example of not all Mediterraneans being brunet and tanning easily. Some of the most famous classical Greek characters like Pyrrhus of Epirus (or Pyrrhic victory "fame", who was indeed campaigning in Sicily too) or the more legendary Achilles had red hair, so it's not that uncommon (and almost certainly you need to be pale-ish to show strong red hair, slightly darker skin people would show either auburn or just black-brown shades typically, it's not too well researched anyhow).
From what I have seen via websites My R2a formed in out Iran around 5 bce, the closest sample to it is a 1000 AD Viking (British autosomal buried in Iceland). Further at low but significant levels R2 is found closer to where it originated among Kurds and Armenians. His is the closest related subclade. I guess that what I wonder is: could it be something that arrived in Sicily in very remote times? Or should I exclude it given that there are no other R2 ever noted in Sicily? If it is recent do you think I should focus my genealogical research on the early medieval period and think of slaves or hellenised persians migrants etc.? Or could have entered Sicily earlier? (perhaps with the Alans, an Indo Iranic group that would have had R2 haplotypes?) in other words and more simply, given how rare it is, should I suppose it entered in Sicily in the last 1000 years? Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteI'll quote from Wikipedia (because right now I don't have anything better to say): "Haplogroup R2a (R-M124) is characterized by SNPs M124, F820/Page4, L381, P249,[1] and is mainly found in South Asia, with lower frequencies in Central Asia and the Caucasus.[citation needed] R-M124 is also found in multiple Jewish populations: Iraqi Jews, Persian Jews, Mountain Jews, and Ashkenazi Jews.[3]"
DeleteAlso earlier: "Most research has tested only for the presence of R-M479 (R2) and R-M124 (R2a)" (...) "In addition, relatively little research has been done within South Asia, which is known to have the greatest concentration of R2".
So I guess R2a may have a more westerly distribution than generic R2 but still the main area is India (subcontinent).
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DeleteMy best guess is that:
1. K2b and P (SE Asia) c. 70 Ka BP
2. P1 (Bengal-Bihar) c. 60 Ka BP
3. R1, R2 and Q in NW India, Iran and Southern Central Asia c. 50 Ka BP
There's no indication that R2 was at all present in the mainstream (Vasconic) Neolithic of Anatolian roots, so it probably arrived later, either with the Pelasgo-Tyrsenians (whose main marker in Europe is J2, although West of the Alps it means Roman colonization rather) or the Indoeuropeans (whose main marker in Europe west of the Dniepr is R1a). The presence of R2a in the Caucasus and among Western Jews (of Hellenistic Cypriot or Anatolian origin) suggests these two possible roads Westwards for the haplogroup. It could of course be a Jewish marker although it's not the most common one anyhow (E1b, G2, J2 and J1 are the usual ones).
Honestly I don't think you can really pinpoint a genealogical origin unless you find close matches, i.e. distant "cousins" by the same patrlineage. Sicily has been in many hands, not just in antiquity but also in the Middle Ages, would it be an issue of "most people" but being a rare lineage it could really come from anywhere (although the compass points to the East: to Asia Minor, the Caucasus or generally West Asia).
There are three members with a R2a (R-M124) result in my FTDNA Anatolia-Balkans-Caucasus DNA Project with over 650 members with a Y-DNA result, and no R2 (xM124) result. Of these three R2a members, one is Anatolian Turk, one is Anatolian Greek and one is Mizrahi Jew from Iraq/Iran by known direct paternal ancestry.
DeleteThe Anatolian Greek and the Anatolian Turk have no Y-DNA matches whereas the Mizrahi Jew has lots of Y-DNA matches (all 12-marker Y-STR matches since he has only taken a 12-marker Y-STR test at FTDNA), most of whom are Ashkenazi Jews but among whom there are some Mizrahi Jews as well. Obviously the high number of Ashkenazi Y-DNA matches is due to too many Ashkenazi Jews taking tests, but their existence among the Y-DNA matches of a Mizrahi Jew and their total non-existence among the Y-DNA matches of an Anatolian Greek and an Anatolian Turk is indicative of some Jewish-specific deep Y-DNA connections.
The fact that R2a exists not just in an Anatolian Turk but also in an Anatolian Greek points to the long existence of R2a in Anatolia, even if as a rare Y-DNA haplogroup. R2a is rare in West Asia in general anyway.
I think A Classicist's R2a indeed came from West Asia. Could be Anatolian-related, Jewish-related or some other West Asian-related, his Y-DNA matches can inform us on that. If he has already taken a Y-DNA test at FTDNA, he can see his Y-DNA matches at various levels of resolution. If he has not, I suggest him such a test right now while there is still a Black Friday sale at FTDNA at the moment (November 30 is the last day of the sale). A Big Y test would be the most informative by far.
Finally, since my FTDNA project is not focused on the parts of West Asia outside the territories of Turkey, Cyprus and the South Caucasus, the parts of West Asia outside these three regions are not well-represented in my project. So a Mizrahi Jewish member with origins from Iraq/Iran with a R2a result is remarkable for my project.
There are three members with a R2a (R-M124) result in my FTDNA Anatolia-Balkans-Caucasus DNA Project with over 650 members with a Y-DNA result, and no R2 (xM124) result. Of these three R2a members, one is Anatolian Turk, one is Anatolian Greek and one is Mizrahi Jew from Iraq/Iran by known direct paternal ancestry.
ReplyDeleteThe Anatolian Greek and the Anatolian Turk have no Y-DNA matches whereas the Mizrahi Jew has lots of Y-DNA matches (all 12-marker Y-STR matches since he has only taken a 12-marker Y-STR test at FTDNA), most of whom are Ashkenazi Jews but among whom there are some Mizrahi Jews as well. Obviously the high number of Ashkenazi Y-DNA matches is due to too many Ashkenazi Jews taking tests, but their existence among the Y-DNA matches of a Mizrahi Jew and their total non-existence among the Y-DNA matches of an Anatolian Greek and an Anatolian Turk is indicative of some Jewish-specific deep Y-DNA connections.
The fact that R2a exists not just in an Anatolian Turk but also in an Anatolian Greek points to the long existence of R2a in Anatolia, even if as a rare Y-DNA haplogroup. R2a is rare in West Asia in general anyway.
I think A Classicist's R2a indeed came from West Asia. Could be Anatolian-related, Jewish-related or some other West Asian-related, his Y-DNA matches can inform us on that. If he has already taken a Y-DNA test at FTDNA, he can see his Y-DNA matches at various levels of resolution. If he has not, I suggest him such a test right now while there is still a Black Friday sale at FTDNA at the moment (November 30 is the last day of the sale). A Big Y test would be the most informative by far.
Finally, since my FTDNA project is not focused on the parts of West Asia outside the territories of Turkey, Cyprus and the South Caucasus, the parts of West Asia outside these three regions are not well-represented in my project. So a Mizrahi Jewish member with origins from Iraq/Iran with a R2a result is remarkable for my project.
Hello, A Classicist here. Thank you for this. Are you saying that my ancestor would have been Jewish? It would be helpful to ask you more about your project and if you have an email please let me know how to get in touch. Yours, Francesco
DeleteHello, A Classicist here. Thank you for this. Are you saying that my ancestor would have been Jewish? It would be helpful to ask you more about your project and if you have an email please let me know how to get in touch. Yours, Francesco
DeleteHello Francesco. Your Y-DNA may be Jewish-related or not, cannot speak for certain without seeing your Y-DNA results and matches. You can join my FTDNA project for me to examine your results, here is its link (my email address can be seen by moving the cursor to the mail icon next to my name on the left): https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/anatol-balkan-caucas/about
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