Articles
8 articles on jewish-ancestry, ancient-DNA research written up for readers who want the evidence, not just the headline.
Jewish ancestry in genetics means the shared Levantine layer carried by communities that lived for centuries in Europe, North Africa, Mesopotamia, Persia, the Caucasus and Arabia, combined with the local admixture each community picked up on the way. Consumer tests report it as a single percentage against other Jewish testers, which is circular. Ancient genomes from the Bronze Age Levant and medieval Erfurt make it possible to ask a different question: which dated populations, in what proportions, explain a Jewish genome. Ancestry is a measurement of descent, not a statement about anyone's identity or belonging.
The articles cover each community by name: the Ashkenazi split between Levantine and southern European halves, the several genetic histories inside the word Sephardic, the Iraqi, Iranian, Kurdish and Syrian communities closest to the Bronze Age Levant, the Persian-Jewish core of the Mountain, Georgian and Bukharian Jews, and the Yemenite community between the Levant and Arabia. A separate piece explains the Canaanite population built from the Megiddo and Hazor genomes, and a buyer's guide sets out what a qpAdm model shows for a Jewish genome, with its honest limits: endogamy, drift and coverage.
What the paid qpAdm analysis includes
What ancient genomes actually say about Jewish ancestry, why a consumer 'Ashkenazi Jewish' percentage answers a different question, and what a formal qpAdm model with a p-value shows for a Jewish genome.
Why Ashkenazi genomes read as their own category on consumer tests, what the medieval Erfurt genomes settled, and how a qpAdm model separates the Levantine and southern European halves of Ashkenazi ancestry.
What ancient DNA says about Sephardic ancestry across Turkey, the Balkans, North Africa and Iberia, why 'Sephardic' covers several different genetic histories, and how a qpAdm model separates the Levantine, Iberian and North African layers.
Why the Jewish communities of Mesopotamia, Persia and Kurdistan sit closest to the Bronze Age Levant, what the Iranian-related layer in their genomes is, and how a qpAdm model resolves a Mizrahi genome.
What ancient DNA says about the Yemenite Jewish community, the Himyarite question, and how a qpAdm model tests a Yemenite genome against the Canaanite and Arabian Peninsula sources.
What genome-wide and ancient DNA say about the Jewish communities of Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Central Asia, their Persian-Jewish core and local admixture, and how a qpAdm model resolves them.
Who the Canaanites were genetically, who carries their ancestry today, and why the qpAdm source catalog now has a Canaanite (2000 - 1200 BC) population built from the Megiddo and Hazor genomes.
What consumer ancestry percentages measure for Jewish customers, why an 'Ashkenazi 99%' result is circular, what a formal qpAdm model shows instead, what the four tiers buy, and the honest limits: endogamy, drift and coverage.