which populations in the Middle East are the most genetically similar to the ancient Israelites the ancient Israelites were a Semitic people who fundamentally shaped the concept of monotheism originating in the Levant during the Iron Age both the Jews and Samaritans claimed desent from them in this video we are going to conduct a DNA and historic analysis to understand who these ancient people were from a genetic perspective the sites of Abel Beth Mara and megiddo have played a very important role in the archaeology of the Levant both of these sites are mentioned in the Bible and
have been home to human habitation dating back to the Bronze Age Two fossils found within these sites date back to when the historic Kingdom of Israel ruled and on this basis the archaeogenetics community has labeled these samples as being Israelite in origin these samples although similar display genetic variants thus from the very onset of this video before we dive even deeper we can ascertain that the Israelite DNA is not a monolith over here I've got a stone age ancestral breakdown of the average Iron Age Israelite and interestingly what we can see is around 30% of
their ancestry is Nan derived the nans were a Proto agriculturalist culture from the Levant who lived approximately 15,000 years ago and who today form the highest genetic component of modern Southern Arabian populations but if we look closer at this breakdown what you'll see is around 42% of their ancient ancestry is anat atan Neolithic farmer derived the Anatolian Neolithic Farmers lived just north of the nans around 9,000 years ago they begin to migrate into the Levant and by mixing with the nans they form a new genetic component known as Levant Neolithic farmer Levant Neolithic farmer forms
a substantial portion of the ancient Israelite genome at around 55% and is a characteristic genetic signal found throughout parts of the ancient Fertile Crescent the Stone Age would end approximately 7,000 years ago and would be followed by the copper Age The Copper age would witness mass migrations of a southern Mesopotamian peoples known as the ubide culture into the region these groups which were rich in Iranian Neolithic ancestry would go on to mix with the local lentine population and form the ancestral backbone behind the early Bronze Age Canaanites these early Canaanites would exist in the region
for many years but due to a drying event which occurred during the end of the early Bronze Age there were mass migrations of a people known as the amorites the mixture between the early Bronze Age 11s with these Northerly migrants is what not only forms the backbone behind the middle Bronze Age ancestry of the Southern Levant But ultimately the largest genetic component detected in the two Israelite samples we have access to the Bronze Age would abruptly end in an event which is known as the late Bronze Age collapse this time period was characterized by Major
societal collapse throughout the Bronze Age World which also o coincided with severe climatic changes that would result in droughts and famines this resulting breakdown in Civil Society would cause migrations of the famed sea peoples into the area the sea peoples were a loose collection of differing groups of likely aan and Anatolian Origins a group of them known as the Philistines would go on to attack various regions in the Eastern Mediterranean region and after being defeated in ancient Egypt by Pharaoh Ramsey II in the Nile Delta would later go on to settle into the southern letine
coast of the modern day Gaza Strip the merger of the sea peoples within the local Southern Canaanite culture is what would form the foundation of the Iron Age Southern lentine ancestry when we look at the two Israelite samples they also possess components of Greek like ad mixture indicating that ancestry isn't the primary driving Factor behind why the Israelites were distinguished from their neighbors so what was so unique about the Israelites well the Israelites were distinguished by their use of ancient Hebrew a subdialect of the larger Canaanite languages which included other sister languages such as Phoenician
moabit ammonite and Edomite they were also distinguished by their primary worship of the Canaanite god Yahweh but at this time in particular they were still polytheistic and would also worship other gods of the Canaanite Pantheon as well by the middle Iron Age the Israelites would eventually form into two distinct kingdoms the Kingdom of Israel in the north with its capital centered in Samaria and the kingdom of Judah of the South with its capital in Jerusalem in 722 BC the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo Assyrian Empire and as punishment for their resistance
some of the local population was deported to the Assyrian Homeland the Assyrians were then conquered by the Babylonians and in 586 BC they would finally conquer the southern Kingdom of Judah like the Assyrians before them the Babylonians would Deport some of the local population to elsewhere in their empire this could explain why many Jewish population score components of Northwest Asian related ancestry when conducting DNA tests nevertheless it was during this time in captivity that the Hebrew Bible which is the backbone of the modern Jewish faith was completed and with the rise of the Persian Empire
with the rule of Cyrus the Great many of these exiled Israelites were allowed to return back to their Homeland allowing them to spread their Newfound monotheistic Faith to the local population the region would then be conquered by the Greeks under the the command of Alexander the Great and following brief self-rule as a result of the maban Revolt the area would be conquered by the Romans in the first century ad following another Revolt of the local population against their rule the Romans would violently repress the revolt and after the destruction of the second temple would later
rename their Province Syria Palestina as a result many but not all the local Jewish population would migrate to various regions of the world and form the Jewish diaspora as we know it today now to finally answer the question as to which modern populations possess the highest components of this Israelite ancestry at least based on the two samples we have access to we will first need to determine which modern populations show the closest genetic distance to these two samples over here I have a genetic distance chart which shows the closeness modern populations have to the two
samples analyzed as we can see the Samaritans who are an endogamous group in the Levant show the closest genetic distance to both of these samples the Samaritans an ethn religious group from ancient Samaria in the central lant consider themselves the direct descendants of the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and manasse distinct from the Jewish Community they have unique religious practices based on the Samaritan Torah this genetic continuity is largely attributed to the Samaritans consistent habitation in the same geographical area as well as their practice of endogamy meaning they don't marry outside of their Community Pres deserving
their genetic makeup over Millennia despite all of this however the origins of the Samaritans have always been clouded in uncertainty the traditional Jewish view is that when the Israelites were captured by the Assyrians in 721 BC the Assyrians repopulated the region with foreign populations these foreigners intermingled with the remaining Israelites leading to the emergence of the Samaritans thus from a Jewish perspective Samaritans were seen as a mixed population a view which the Samaritans themselves do not agree upon recent genetic studies however challenge the traditional Jewish perspective on the Samaritan Origins two papers analyzing the DNA
of the Samaritan Community revealed that the majority of their males have y DNA markers which are shared by the Jewish Priestly class known as kohanim indicating at least based on the Jewish Viewpoint a paternal connection to Aaron Moses's brother furthermore their mitochondrial DNA which tracks maternal lineage is incredibly rare and absent for the most part in other eth ethnic groups worldwide revealing a relatively unmixed origin these findings indicate that Samaritans are likely descendants of Israelites who remained in the region after the Assyrian Conquest maintaining their distinct cultural and genetic identity it is for this reason
in the next section of our analysis we'll be using DNA samples from Samaritans instead of the two ancient Israelites this choice is not only consistent with qpm models employed by geneticists but also the Samaritan samples we have access to are of better quality and more plentiful allowing for better coverage and making our genetic analysis more thorough and reliable over here I have a DNA breakdown exploring Samaritan and Iron Age ad mixture and as we can see the modern Palestinians derive 60 to 80% of their ancestry from a Samaritan likee profile the labeling and choice of
these models are done to replicate qadm models to reduce over fit as a general rule of thumb there is both a religious and geographical gradient influencing this ancestry with Christians generally scoring higher results and Northern Palestinian Muslims scoring higher than those in the South although there has been a history of Samaritans in mixing with the modern Palestinians please bear into consideration though that G25 assessment does not signify direct desent but rather is a Showcase of genetic Affinity based on the available samples sequenced by scientists When comparing other groups what we find is that various Jewish
populations also derive a portion of their ancestry from a Samaritan like Source out of all populations Mahi Jews specifically those in Iraq appear to score the highest however it is important to consider that Jewish groups as a whole are quite genetically diverse and do not constitute as a single genetic profile with differing populations additionally deriving portions of their ancestry from the diverse peoples they have lived alongside throughout the centuries as a final note it is important to approach these findings with an open mind and respect for the diverse Nar narratives and beliefs that exist within
our audience identity transcends Beyond DNA and the study of genetics is only one of the many useful tools that allow us to better understand our shared past and should only be used to unite us not divide us thank you for watching and remember if you've done an existing DNA test and would like to learn more about your own ancient ancestry be sure to check my deep ancestry Services linked within the description of this video my services include a personalized ancestry report which provides you with an ancient DNA breakdown that explores your ancestry through a variety
of different time periods this analysis is particularly useful if the results of your modern DNA test were vague as you will learn substantially more about your heritage when you peel back the layers of time to understand how the various human migrations throughout history have impacted your own DNA story The methodologies I Implement are open source and accessible for you yourself to discover I encourage you to be inquisitive and and explore these on your own however should you require training and mentorship on these tools I also offer a mastermind course where I can teach you the
techniques involved in conducting rudimentary ad mixture analysis all links and sources are within the description so you can learn more this is ancestral Brew signing out and I'll catch you on the next video peace
