The Origins of the Phoenicians (DNA)

do phoenician origins dna genetics ancient mitochondrial dna of phoenicians from sardinia and lebanon a story of settlement integration and female mobility adaptedfromaplus.org open archive article and narrated by dw draffen the aim of this study was to seek mitochondrial dna markers recovered from ancient samples that can be associated with phoenician origins and ancestry enabling us to track phoenician mobility and genetic impacts of settlement in this case in sardinia we collected ancient samples from documented middle bronze age and phoenician burials in lebanon and from monte ciri sardinia one of the largest phoenician punic necropoli in the central mediterranean the phoenicians one of the great ancient civilizations emerged in the northern levant around 1800 bce and by the 9th century bce had brought together east and west by spreading their culture across the mediterranean basin they linked asia europe and africa through their trade networks and settlements and they created the ancestral alphabet of most of the western world today they were skilled navigators whose trade networks extended throughout the entire mediterranean basin and they had completed an egyptian-sponsored circumnavigation of africa long before the vikings ventured out of the site of land despite their widespread influence what is known of the phoenicians comes from what was written about them by the greeks and egyptians in this study we investigate the extent of phoenician integration with the sardinian communities they settled we present 14 new ancient mitogenome sequences from pre-phoenician circa 1800 bce and phoenician circa 700-400 bce samples four from lebanon and ten from sardinia we then compare these with 87 new complete mito genomes from modern lebanese and 21 recently published pre-phoenician ancient mito genomes from sardinia to investigate the population dynamics of the phoenician punic site of montecirai in southern sardinia our results indicate evidence of continuity of some lineages from pre-phoenician populations suggesting integration of indigenous sardinians in the montessiri phoenician community we also find evidence of the arrival of new unique mitochondrial lineages indicating the movement of women from sites in the near east or north africa to sardinia but also possibly from non-mediterranean populations and the likely movement of women from europe to phoenician sites in lebanon combined this evidence suggests female mobility and genetic diversity in phoenician communities reflecting the inclusive and multicultural nature of phoenician society the details from their homeland in what is today lebanon the phoenicians sailed extensively across the mediterranean for trade and established settlements in cyprus malta sicily sardinia ibiza the iberian peninsula and along the north african coast most notably carthage their naval dominance was respected throughout the mediterranean and they provided maritime support to the persians and the egyptians despite their enduring influence scant historical documentation attributed directly to the phoenicians exists most of the phoenician historic documents were written on papyrus and have not survived or been discovered yet what we do know of them is what others the greeks romans egyptians wrote about them they were never a unified political state or distinct ethnicity within their homeland the emerging coastal city-states of biblos and seiden thrived as maritime trade centers during the third and second millennia bce and later the city of tyre during the first millennium bce their occupants were referred to by the greeks and thus today as the phoenicians from the greek foinique or purple country in reference to their production of the valuable purple dye used in textile production prior to this however the region was occupied by canaanites who due to political events in the north south and east were confined to the thin coastal strip between the steep cedar-covered mountains of lebanon and the eastern mediterranean this coastal isolation meant that phoenicians could only expand westwards and this they did targeting sources of valuable metals including silver and tin they established settlements across the mediterranean and dominated maritime trade networks for centuries starting in the middle of the 8th century bce the assyrians waged war on the phoenicians and soon after they brought them under their yoke with the decline of phoenician influence in the east carthage a city that was settled by phoenicians fleeing tyre in 813 bce became the center of western phoenician or punic dominance until its destruction in 146 bce by the romans in the third punic war carthage like many of the early phoenician cities around the mediterranean adopted many of the rituals and features of their homeland the island of sardinia like cyprus malta sicily and ibiza was a significant location in the early phoenician trade routes to the iberian and north african coasts and later in the punic interaction sphere phoenician settlements were established primarily along the south and west coast of sardinia with two of the earliest located at sulcus and slightly inland montessirae as was common in phoenician sardinia monte sarai was built next to the previous nuragic tower used by the first inhabitants like a shrine the necropolis at monte sarai was one of the largest punic burial sites in sardinia and was used between the end of the seventh and the first half of the fourth century bce this period of use coincides with the carthaginian dominion in sardinia starting at the end of the 6th century bce genetic research on modern populations in lebanon and the levant the homeland of the phoenicians shows that much of the genetic structure of the region today is influenced by historic migrations associated with the spread of major religions christians muslims and druze research on the y chromosome dna of men currently living in locations of historic phoenician influence from across the mediterranean compared with men from nearby locations with no evidence of phoenician contact has identified likely phoenician y chromosome markers these markers were present in more than six percent of the men living in phoenician-influenced locations around the mediterranean and in more than 30 percent of lebanese men comparative analyses of uniparental genetic markers in modern lebanese indicate different genetic histories between males and females with significantly more european lineages evident in the maternally inherited mitochondrial dna than observed for the paternally inherited y chromosome when these european-derived lineages were integrated into the lebanese population is not yet fully resolved if identified mitochondrial markers associated with phoenician settlement around the mediterranean may help document the movement of women within the phoenician networks they can also be used to indicate how much integration with indigenous inhabitants occurred in phoenician settlements we now have the opportunity to investigate the genetic and cultural history of the phoenicians and their spread across the mediterranean through the analysis of ancient dna from skeletal remains recovered from pre-phoenician phoenician and punic archaeological sites across the mediterranean a total of 28 ancient tooth samples were obtained for ancient dna analyses from four archaeological sites in lebanon including telfadus farabida and one site montessori in sardinia the archaeological context of the samples from the first lebanese site relates to the late phoenician achaemenid period 539-330 bce in addition to the stratigraphy a pilgrim flask a dish a pitcher a gold ring and red carnelian beads were found in the tomb enabling accurate dating of this archaeological context at one site in beirut the skeletal remains of children were found in pits excavated in the geological substrate all these burial rituals are consistent with a 5th to 4th century bce date at telfado's farabida a town situated 2 kilometers south of the coastal town of batron we sourced our samples from three tombs the pottery from the three tombs is quite homogeneous and can be dated to the end of the middle bronze age one circa 1800 bce this dating is also supported by a scarab found within one of the burials which dates to the late 12th to 13th egyptian middle kingdom dynasty the archaeological site of montessori is a hilltop settlement located in carbonia southwestern sardinia italy the site is comprised of three large sectors the main sector of the settlement the acropolis located in the southern portion of the hill the sacred place or toffet located in the northern portion of the site and the large necropolis located in the valley separating the settlement from the toffet archaeological evidence indicates that montessori was founded by phoenicians in the last quarter of the 8th century bce and totally abandoned during the first century bce the necropolis contained several tomb types including inhumations of single and multiple individuals primary cremations ence trismoy child burials in transport amphorae and semi-combustions the archaeological interpretation of the group burials in montessori is that they could represent family burials we found that one group burial containing four individuals included two six to twelve-year-olds who had near-identical haplotypes they also shared two novel mutations it is therefore possible that these two were indeed siblings or otherwise maternally related for example cousins the other two burials in that group had two non-local lineages another six to twelve-year-old and a young adult female 16 to 22 years of age while this indicates that there is not a maternal connection between these four individuals who were buried together it is possible that they are family members related through paternal connections analyses of more burials from montessori and possible extended analyses of y-chromosome or autosomal data are necessary to further test the relatedness of individuals buried in montessori without ancient dna a phoenician-introduced signature can be difficult to distinguish from earlier near eastern lineages that spread during the neolithic expansion to european sites that were later colonized by the phoenicians like montessori it is expected however the neolithic expansions would spread lineages broadly across the landscape where phoenician signatures are likely to be restricted to locations of well-established phoenician contact due to the relative isolation of sardinia and the unusual genetic signature of its population modern sardinians are often presented as the best representation of the early neolithic population that expanded from the near east into southern europe while the later phoenician influence in sardinia was likely via carthage as indicated by the archaeological evidence from montessiri we still might expect to see the appearance of new near-eastern and or north african mitochondrial lineages in the burials from the site given that carthage was settled directly from tyre the most common haplogroup seen in our ancient lebanese and sardinian samples was the super haplogroup h identified in seven of fourteen samples two of the four ancient lebanese samples belong to haplogroup h and a third belongs to the sister clade r0 five of the montessori fifty percent were identified as having h haplotypes there were no shared haplotypes between the ancient samples of lebanon and those from montessori however all sequences belonging to haplogroups h and r0 ancient samples of lebanon and sardinia and montessori are very closely related as they are separated by only a few mutations in modern populations the frequencies of haplogroup h range between 40 to 50 percent in europe and about 20 percent in southwest asia subclades h1 and h3 the major subclades of this haplogroup are almost exclusively european h1 and h3 are the most common found in modern sardinians no h3 lineages were found in our ancient or modern lebanese samples its presence in sardinia in ancient samples both pre-phoenician and phoenician combined with a diversity seen in the modern sardinian population is consistent with at least a neolithic introduction to the island if not pre-neolithic haplogroup hv is also an ancient european lineage likely originating in the mediterranean region during the last glacial maximum and has been identified in early neolithic remains from spain two samples from monticerai have j1c haplotypes this full motif was not found in any of our modern lebanese samples this haplotype was identified in one pre-phoenician sample dating to around 4000 bce in the near east it is clear that j1c was present in sardinia prior to the arrival of phoenicians and possibly prior to neolithic expansions the presence of one sample from montessiri a six to twelve-year-old child that has an n1b haplotype is of particular interest haplogroup n lineages are rare in modern sardinians brant and others suggest that n is a marker of western european hunter-gatherers as it has been found in mesolithic samples from portugal and a paleolithic sample in southern italy ancient samples with haplogroup n1a have been found in early neolithic sites from spain and germany but n1b has not been recorded in neolithic samples outside of the levant with two exceptions from anatolia n1b is a relatively common haplogroup in lebanon occurring in 10 percent of modern samples while we have not found any n1b in our ancient lebanese samples it is not unlikely that this haplogroup was introduced to sardinia via phoenician contact either directly from the levant or via phoenician punic settlements in north africa for example carthage n1b 1a lineages have been identified in modern tunisians and in a modern moroccan as well as in a modern individual from sicily another island with known phoenician settlement haplogroup w is thought to have evolved during the last glacial maximum around the caspian sea region haplogroups w1 w3 and w6 have been found in late neolithic and early bronze age sites in germany and russia and w1 has been identified in a neolithic sample from the iberian peninsula while haplogroups w1 w3 and w10 are present in modern sardinians the archaeological sample from montessiri of a young female included in a group burial is as far as we know the first w-5 identified in sardinia our ancient result from montessori is indeed significant and establishes a minimum date of late 5th century bce for haplogroup w-5 in the mediterranean region and given the phoenician trade networks could explain the presence of w-5 in north africa it is possible that haplogroup w-5 got into the mediterranean via the phoenician tin trade with britain or ireland though only further ancient dna work can confirm this hypothesis a sample from montessori belonged to haplogroup x2b haplogroup x is relatively rare in europe generally found at frequencies of less than one percent the highest frequencies of x in europe are reported in catalonia the pyrenees and southern portugal at about 2.5 percent it is found at relatively high frequencies in druze from the levant where it reaches frequencies of up to 15 percent though we did not identify x haplotypes in any of our modern lebanese samples it is possible that x2b was a phoenician haplogroup introduced to sardinia either directly from lebanon or via north africa though an earlier early neolithic introduction perhaps via a maritime route cannot be rejected however haplogroup x was not found in any of the 21 ancient sardinian samples of earlier studies and finally a sample in beirut was identified as a t2b a haplogroup that we did not identify in any of the modern lebanese we sequenced though t2 is found at low frequencies there today and was identified in one of our modern lebanese samples haplogroup t2 is currently founded around 10 frequency in northern and central europe though some of the highest rates are in sardinia southern portugal and pockets in northern spain t2b is the most common t2 subgroup found in europe today and it has been identified in ancient samples from central europe there has been some debate regarding the origins of the t2 lineages which were originally thought to have had a near east origin and spread into europe with neolithic expansions it is possible that the origins of t2 and in particular t2b may indeed be in southern central europe in the last glacial maximum the presence of a t2b3 haplotype in an ancient sample from lebanon is unusual as it does not appear to be an indigenous lineage the tomb in which the burial was found was not marked and did not have any of the artifacts found in other sites suggesting different burial customs this is further evidence that this individual belonged to a different socioeconomic class or ethnic group perhaps a slave brought to beirut from one of the phoenician settlements such as cagliari sardinia formerly kharali our ancient beirut sample is most closely related to modern samples from tunisia again possibly indicating movement of women through the phoenician networks from european colonies and trading ports to phoenician cities in the homeland and carthage earlier studies suggest that sardinian-specific haplogroups and ancient mito genomes dating to between 6000 and 3000 years ago may indicate that the earliest inhabitants of the island arrived prior to the neolithic expansion into the region which is consistent with archaeological and y-chromosome data suggesting earlier settlement recent analyses of 3514 whole genome sequences of modern sardinians suggest pre-neolithic occupation of the island and that some of the populations particularly those in the mountainous central eastern ghenargento region of the island carry higher levels of this hunter-gatherer dna compared to populations from more accessible regions our result may be indicative of early social and or geographic isolation of those hunter-gatherer populations the proposed phoenician lineages w5 and 1b1a5 and x2b are not found in sardinians today suggesting rare introductions of the nature of single individuals rather than as representative of major colonizing groups we suggest that n1b1a5 could be an introduction from carthage or some other north african location within the phoenician network conclusions our analyses of ancient pre-phoenician and phoenician mitogenomes from lebanon and sardinia provide important clues on cultural expansion assimilation and population mobility in the mediterranean between the 5th and 3rd centuries bce first we see a certain degree of continuity of population ancestry between phoenician and pre-phoenician populations in sardinia which is consistent with archaeological evidence of integration between the cultures however our data from montessiri combined with our previously published result identifying a european mitochondrial haplogroup u5b2c1 in a young man buried in a phoenician crypt in carthage north africa provide evidence of several instances of unexpected non-indigenous mitochondrial haplotypes in phoenician burials both in and outside the homeland of lebanon these include the t2b3 haplotype in beirut and the near eastern n1b1a5 and a northern european w-5 found in montessori sardinia the sardinian population is often described as the best representation of early farmer ancestry and indeed we do see the likely early farmer mitochondrial dna lineages combined with those of the southwestern central mediterranean mesolithic particularly haplogroups h and possibly h1 h3 and h5 in the phoenician samples at monticerai n1b1a5 and w5 which have not yet been recorded in modern sardinian populations and possibly x2b we suggest are examples of phoenician introductions to sardinia not only from the phoenician homeland or via punic settlements in north africa but may represent the mobility of women through the wider phoenician trade networks while previous y chromosome analyses of modern populations around the mediterranean demonstrated the impact of phoenician males on the genetic makeup of many communities we now see that it is likely that the phoenician trade networks or settlement strategies also included the translocation of women throughout the region as well as the assimilation of indigenous women in phoenician settlements analyses of genetic variation in modern lebanese populations suggest closer affiliations with europe based on mitochondrial lineages our result identifying the european lineage t2b3 in the beirut site suggests that some of those european mitochondrial dna lineages could be associated with the integration of european women in phoenician communities in lebanon finally numerous studies published in the last five years highlight the importance of ancestral dna studies in understanding population change through time though most of these have focused on the neolithic transition while these studies tell a story of significant population replacement in europe with the arrival of farmers analyses of later historic burials associated with roman britain for example and now our data from phoenician sites demonstrate that both migration and cultural assimilation were common resulting in surprisingly cosmopolitan communities in the past my name is dw drafin i do voiceover and i'm available for hire

Channel: Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Views: 192,499

Keywords: Ancient, Ancient History, Ancient DNA, Bronze Age, Bronze Age Collapse, Late Bronze Age, Ancient Canaan, Bible History, Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Canaanites, Ancient Egypt, Carthage, Carthaginian, Phoenicians, phoenician origin, phoenician DNA, Phoenicia, carthaginian empire, Phoenician History, mesopotamia history, ancient mediterranean, ancient near east, Nuragic, Ancient Sardinia, Ancient Africa, North Africa History, ancient civilization, Sumerian, Ugaritic, History, Origin

Id: 6o2jZoMUj_8

Length: 29min 14sec (1754 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 28 2020