Articles
3 articles on mediterranean, ancient-DNA research written up for readers who want the evidence, not just the headline.
The Mediterranean is the sea that made its coasts one genetic neighbourhood: colonists, soldiers and traders moved across it for three thousand years, and ancient DNA now shows those crossings in the cemeteries of Italy, Sicily, the Aegean and North Africa. The result is a steep cline rather than a set of separate peoples; where a genome sits on it is a matter of descent, not identity.
The articles follow Rome's ancient-DNA transect from the Iron Age Latins through the imperial eastern shift, explain why Italy holds Europe's largest internal genetic variation and what Sardinia preserves, read Sicily's record from island foragers to the Norman centuries, and report that Punic communities shared Phoenician culture but drew most of their sampled ancestry from Sicily, the Aegean and North Africa.
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Rome's ancient-DNA transect, the Iron Age base, the imperial eastern shift, why Italy holds Europe's largest internal genetic variation, and what Sardinia preserves. How to read an Italian genome, region by region.
Sicily's ancient-DNA record runs from island foragers through a late steppe arrival, Greek and Phoenician colonists, Roman, Arab and Norman centuries. What each layer actually left in Sicilian genomes, and how to read your own.
Ancient DNA reveals that Punic communities shared Phoenician culture but drew most sampled ancestry from Sicily, the Aegean and North Africa.