Articles
3 articles on sicily, ancient-DNA research written up for readers who want the evidence, not just the headline.
Sicily is the Mediterranean's great crossroads, and its ancient-DNA record shows it: island foragers, a late steppe arrival, Greek and Phoenician colonists, then Roman, Arab and Norman centuries, each leaving a measurable trace. The Greek army that fought at Himera in 480 BCE drew soldiers from far beyond the island, and the Punic communities of the western Mediterranean took much of their sampled ancestry from Sicily itself. A Sicilian genome records those layers as descent, not as an identity.
The articles read Sicilian ancestry layer by layer, with what each period actually left in Sicilian genomes and a guide to reading one, report the Himera genomes that reveal a diverse army of local soldiers and distant mercenaries and mobility across the Mediterranean, and cover the Punic world, whose communities shared Phoenician culture but drew most of their sampled ancestry from Sicily, the Aegean and North Africa.
What the paid qpAdm analysis includes
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.
DNA from ancient Himera reveals a diverse 480 BCE Greek army, distant mercenaries, local soldiers and mobility across the Mediterranean.
Ancient DNA reveals that Punic communities shared Phoenician culture but drew most sampled ancestry from Sicily, the Aegean and North Africa.