Identifying genetic traces of historical expansions: Phoenician footprints in the Mediterranean.
The Phoenicians were the dominant traders in the Mediterranean Sea two thousand to three thousand years ago and expanded from their homeland in the Levant to establish colonies and trading posts throughout the Mediterranean, but then they disappeared from history. We wished to identify their male genetic traces in modern populations. Therefore, we chose Phoenician-influenced sites on the basis of well-documented historical records and collected new Y-chromosomal data from 1330 men from six such sites, as well as comparative data from the literature. We then developed an analytical strategy to distinguish between lineages specifically associated with the Phoenicians and those spread by geographically similar but historically distinct events, such as the Neolithic, Greek, and Jewish expansions. This involved comparing historically documented Phoenician sites with neighboring non-Phoenician sites for the identification of weak but systematic signatures shared by the Phoenician sites that could not readily be explained by chance or by other expansions. From these comparisons, we found that haplogroup J2, in general, and six Y-STR haplotypes, in particular, exhibited a Phoenician signature that contributed > 6% to the modern Phoenician-influenced populations examined. Our methodology can be applied to any historically documented expansion in which contact and noncontact sites can be identified.
Zalloua
Pierre A
PA
Lebanese American University, Chouran, Beirut 1102 2801, Lebanon.
Platt
Daniel E
DE
El Sibai
Mirvat
M
Khalife
Jade
J
Makhoul
Nadine
N
Haber
Marc
M
Xue
Yali
Y
Izaabel
Hassan
H
Bosch
Elena
E
Adams
Susan M
SM
Arroyo
Eduardo
E
López-Parra
Ana María
AM
Aler
Mercedes
M
Picornell
Antònia
A
Ramon
Misericordia
M
Jobling
Mark A
MA
Comas
David
D
Bertranpetit
Jaume
J
Wells
R Spencer
RS
Tyler-Smith
Chris
C
D000483:Alleles; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011157:Population Dynamics