[SunkenCiv]

• ---

  Genetic testing raises an age-old question -- are the Jews a people, or a religion? -- The first study, by researchers at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, found that Jews across the globe share distinct genetic traits that are different from other groups and that trace back to the ancient Middle East. Researchers say the study, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, puts to rest age-old questions about whether Jews are a group of unrelated people who share a religious ideology or a distinct ethnicity with common ancestry. "The debate is over," said Dr. Edward R. Burns, one of the lead authors of the study. "The Jewish people are one people with a common genetic thread that evolved in the second or third century BC."

  ---

• Studies Show Jews' Genetic Similarity
• Events of Jewish Diaspora Seen in the Genomes
  ("large-scale southern European conversion")
• Genes set Jews apart, study finds
  (European Jews Descended from Ancient Roman Converts?)
• Penn Researchers Add Genetic Data to Archaeology and Linguistics
  to Get Picture of African Population History
• Articles Highlight Different Views on Genetic Basis of Race

[gleeaikin]

I read one of your posts about Jewish genetics. You made reference to Heroditus, Colchis and circumcism and Egypt. It is believed the one Egyptian ruler about 2,000 bc extended his reach as far as Colchis on the east end of the Black Sea. Soldiers and perhaps Egyptian merchants and settlers were stationed there and it has been reported that people there sometimes have black curly hair suggesting some African influence (interesting genetic study project). I believe the ruler was Sesostris II.

A related tidbit of information. Colchicine is a medicine (for gout?) taken from a kind of crocus found in that area. There is a picture from Santorini in ruins preserved by volcanic ash (Akrotiri?) which shows a Greek goddess surrounding with crocuses. Perhaps these were the medicinal crocuses from Colchis? That might have been around 1600 bc. The question marks are because I am too tired/lazy? to Google the facts, just using memory.