Moors and Saracens in Europe: estimating the medieval North African male legacy in southern Europe.
To investigate the male genetic legacy of the Arab rule in southern Europe during medieval times, we focused on specific Northwest African haplogroups and identified evolutionary close STR-defined haplotypes in Iberia, Sicily and the Italian peninsula. Our results point to a higher recent Northwest African contribution in Iberia and Sicily in agreement with historical data. southern Italian regions known to have experienced long-term Arab presence also show an enrichment of Northwest African types. The forensic and genomic implications of these findings are discussed.
Capelli
Cristian
C
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. cristian.capelli@zoo.ox.ac.uk
Onofri
Valerio
V
Brisighelli
Francesca
F
Boschi
Ilaria
I
Scarnicci
Francesca
F
Masullo
Mara
M
Ferri
Gianmarco
G
Tofanelli
Sergio
S
Tagliabracci
Adriano
A
Gusmao
Leonor
L
Amorim
Antonio
A
Gatto
Francesco
F
Kirin
Mirna
M
Merlitti
Davide
D
Brion
Maria
M
Verea
Alejandro Blanco
AB
Romano
Valentino
V
Cali
Francesco
F
Pascali
Vincenzo
V
D000352:Africa, Northern / Q000208:ethnology; D018912:Arabs / Q000235:genetics*; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y / Q000235:genetics*; D005060:Europe; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male