Punic people were genetically diverse with almost no Levantine ancestors [Phoenicians and Carthaginians]

Nature ^ | 23 April 2025 | see list

[SunkenCiv]

[Abstract] The maritime Phoenician civilization from the Levant transformed the entire Mediterranean during the first millennium bce. However, the extent of human movement between the Levantine Phoenician homeland and Phoenician–Punic settlements in the central and western Mediterranean has been unclear in the absence of comprehensive ancient DNA studies. Here, we generated genome-wide data for 210 individuals, including 196 from 14 sites traditionally identified as Phoenician and Punic in the Levant, North Africa, Iberia, Sicily, Sardinia and Ibiza, and an early Iron Age individual from Algeria. Levantine Phoenicians made little genetic contribution to Punic settlements in the central and western Mediterranean between the sixth and second centuries bce, despite abundant archaeological evidence of cultural, historical, linguistic and religious links. Instead, these inheritors of Levantine Phoenician culture derived most of their ancestry from a genetic profile similar to that of Sicily and the Aegean. Much of the remaining ancestry originated from North Africa, reflecting the growing influence of Carthage. However, this was a minority contributor of ancestry in all of the sampled sites, including in Carthage itself. Different Punic sites across the central and western Mediterranean show similar patterns of high genetic diversity. We also detect genetic relationships across the Mediterranean, reflecting shared demographic processes that shaped the Punic world.

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ancientnavigation; carthaginians; genealogy; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; phoenicians

[SunkenCiv]

[Authors] Harald Ringbauer, Ayelet Salman-Minkov, Dalit Regev, Iñigo Olalde, Tomer Peled, Luca Sineo, Gioacchino Falsone, Peter van Dommelen, Alissa Mittnik, Iosif Lazaridis, Davide Pettener, Maria Bofill, Ana Mezquida, Benjamí Costa, Helena Jiménez, Patricia Smith, Stefania Vai, Alessandra Modi, Arie Shaus, Kim Callan, Elizabeth Curtis, Aisling Kearns, Ann Marie Lawson, Matthew Mah, Adam Micco, Jonas Oppenheimer, Lijun Qiu, Kristin Stewardson, J. Noah Workman, Nicholas Márquez-Grant, Antonio M. Sáez Romero, María Luisa Lavado Florido, Juan Manuel Jiménez-Arenas, Isidro Jorge Toro Moyano, Enrique Viguera, José Suárez Padilla, Sonia López Chamizo, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Esther Lizano, Alicia Rodero Riaza, Francesca Olivieri, Pamela Toti, Valentina Giuliana, Alon Barash, Liran Carmel, Elisabetta Boaretto, Marina Faerman, Michaela Lucci, Francesco La Pastina, Alessia Nava, Francesco Genchi, Carla Del Vais, Gabriele Lauria, Francesca Meli, Paola Sconzo, Giulio Catalano, Elisabetta Cilli, Anna Chiara Fariselli, Francesco Fontani, Donata Luiselli, Brendan J. Culleton, Swapan Mallick, Nadin Rohland, Lorenzo Nigro, Alfredo Coppa, David Caramelli, Ron Pinhasi, Carles Lalueza-Fox, Ilan Gronau & David Reich

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the link!

[Buttons12]

punic bkmk

[ComputerGuy]

Are you sure you didn’t leave anybody out?

[Buttons12]

The old finding:

Phoenicians Left Deep Genetic Mark, Study Shows https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2123363/posts

[Red Badger]

But they were Puny people.....................................

[Macoozie]

The original Boat People

[Red Badger]

Genetically diverse?.....The old saying, “Sailors have a girl in every port.” seems to come to mind..............

[Sirius Lee]

most of their ancestry from a genetic profile similar to that of Sicily

The process is the Punicment.

[Red Badger]

“...similar to that of Sicily”...

Explains much, it does.....................

[z3n]

Makes sense. Didn’t Cartage lose Sicily in the first punic war? If I remember right, Hanibal invaded the Italian peninsula and attacked roam because they were mad about that and Sardinia.

[ckilmer]

I just watched a program on the Philistines. Some scientists looked at their dna through the 12th and 11th century BC. The history is that they were a sea people whom to whom the Egyptians gave grants along the coast of Caanan. Who were they and what happened to them. The genetics showed that they were a southern european people. The first generation of Philistines were of southern european stock but within three generations they had interbred with the local caananites and their genetic fingerprint became similiar to the surrounding caananites.

It looks like the reverse happened in Carthage.

[Bull Snipe]

Delende est Carthago

[Dr. Franklin]

So this was a punitive study?

[SunkenCiv]

Someone said “try ream”, I didn’t get on board with the idea.

/rimshot