Every Jewish community on Earth, from the Ashkenazim of Berlin to the Mizrahim of Baghdad, from the Italkim of Naples to the Mountain Jews of Dagestan, from the Beta Israel of Ethiopia to the Cochin Jews of Kerala, shares a single common root: the Iron Age Levant of the late Second Temple period. The diasporic histories that followed split this common stock into more than a dozen distinct genetic lineages, each carrying the signature of the region where Jewish communities settled, prayed, married, and survived for centuries or millennia. Ancient DNA from the well of Norwich (1190 CE) and the cemetery of Erfurt (14th century) now lets us see the Ashkenazi founder population a few generations after its formation, while modern Jewish populations from Cochin to Marrakesh let us read the full layered admixture history of every diaspora. Below is what the Global25 PCA and the World Ancient Calculator by Joshua (Calculator 194 on ExploreYourDNA) reveal about 2,500 years of Jewish migration.
Key Points
- All Jewish populations worldwide share substantial Levantine ancestry. This is the genetic signature of their common ancient Israelite, Phoenician and broader Bronze and Iron Age Levantine stock, preserved through 2,500 years of dispersal.
- Ancient DNA from Norwich (1190 CE) shows that the Ashkenazi genetic profile was already fully formed by the 12th century. Modern Ashkenazim trace their bottleneck to roughly 800 to 1,000 years ago.
- The Erfurt cemetery (14th century) reveals two genetically structured sub-groups within the same community: Erfurt-ME, closer to Rhineland Jews and southern Italians, and Erfurt-EU, with elevated Eastern European and minor East Asian ancestry, consistent with Knaanic Jews who had passed through Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia.
- Modern Ashkenazi populations from Germany, France, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Russia and Ukraine all collapse into a near-uniform genetic cluster, the consequence of a narrow founder event around 700 to 1,000 years ago followed by rapid demographic expansion.
- Sephardic and North African Jewish populations carry a real Maghrebian autosomal component, between 15 and 25 percent, on top of their dominant Levantine and Italian-Aegean base. This component is essentially absent from Ashkenazim.
- The Italkim (Italian Jews) are the genetic bridge between the ancient Levant and the European diasporas. Their profile lies almost exactly on the Bronze Age Italy to Iron Age Levant midpoint and resembles both Erfurt-ME and the Norwich Jews.
- Mizrahi Jews (Iraqi, Iranian, Kurdish, Syrian) preserve a strongly Levantine and Mesopotamian profile with substantial Elamite-Zagros and South Caucasus ancestry, very little European admixture, and a clearly pre-Islamic continuity.
- Three outlier groups challenge any simple narrative: Yemenite Jews are nearly 80 percent ancient Arabian, Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) are essentially Horn of Africa populations with limited Levantine input, and Cochin Jews carry up to 50 percent South Asian ancestry layered over a Levantine and Mesopotamian core.
- The Khazar hypothesis is genetically refuted: no significant Turkic or North Caucasian Steppe signal is detectable in any Ashkenazi sample.
1. A single Levantine root
Before the diasporas, there was a population. From roughly 1200 BCE to 70 CE, the Hebrew kingdoms of Israel and Judah, then the Hasmonean and Herodian polities, drew their ancestry from a deep Levantine stock that combined Bronze Age Canaanite, Phoenician, and Iron Age Israelite components. This population, captured in ancient DNA by samples such as Israel_MLBA, Israel_IA, Lebanon_IA3 and the broader Phoenician series of Ringbauer et al. 2025, is the substrate of every Jewish diaspora that followed.
What did this Levantine substrate look like in Global25 space? It clusters tightly with other Bronze and Iron Age Levantines (Lebanese, Israelite, Phoenician), shows a strong Anatolian Neolithic farmer base, a substantial Caucasus Hunter-Gatherer (or Iran Neolithic) overlay, and a modest steppe component reflecting the Bronze Age expansion that left lasting marks across the Eastern Mediterranean. It sits squarely between modern Levantines and modern Aegean populations on PC1 and PC2.
After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the subsequent Bar Kokhba revolt (132 to 135 CE), Jewish communities scattered across the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian worlds. They followed three principal routes: westward via the Roman Empire to Italy, southern Gaul and Iberia, eastward into the Parthian and Sassanid empires of Mesopotamia and Persia, and southward along the Red Sea trade routes into Arabia, Ethiopia and India. Each route would leave its own genetic signature, but the underlying Levantine common denominator never disappeared.
2. The medieval Ashkenazi ancestor: Norwich, 1190 CE
In February 1190, antisemitic riots swept across England in the lead-up to the Third Crusade. Twelve years after the Chapelfield well in Norwich was excavated in 2004, ancient DNA finally identified the seventeen skeletons recovered from its base. Brace et al. 2022, in Current Biology, sequenced six whole genomes from the well and demonstrated that all six individuals carried strong genetic affinities with modern Ashkenazi Jews. Three of them were full sisters, and four were closely related; one child between zero and three years of age was predicted to have had blue eyes and red hair. Four of the Ashkenazi-associated disease alleles known today (including variants linked to Tay-Sachs and other founder disorders) were already present in this 12th-century community.
The historical context is unambiguous. The Jewish community of Norwich descended from Ashkenazi Jews who had moved from Rouen in Normandy after the Norman Conquest of 1066. They were a documented urban minority subject to the antisemitic conspiracy that had emerged in 1144 around the alleged murder of William of Norwich, the first known blood libel in European history.
The previous assumption
Ashkenazi genetic disorders such as Tay-Sachs disease were thought to have become common only in the last 500 to 600 years, during the great demographic expansion of Eastern European Jewry after the 15th century.
The genetic reality
The Norwich genomes prove that the same disease alleles were already present in 12th-century England at frequencies comparable to those seen today. The Ashkenazi founder bottleneck, and the genetic profile that defines modern Ashkenazim, was already in place before 1200 CE.
The Global25 coordinates of the six Norwich individuals (SB604A, SB605, SB606, SB671, SB676, SB696) place them on the same axis as modern Ashkenazi populations and very close to Erfurt-ME, with PC1 around 0.080 to 0.096 and PC2 around 0.132 to 0.149. They overlap the modern Italkim cloud and sit between Italian_Jew and Lebanon_IA3 in the Joshua calculator. Their NNLS breakdowns from the World Ancient Calculator typically combine 25 to 45 percent Israelite, 10 to 25 percent Phoenician or Magna_Graecia, 8 to 18 percent Etruscan or Latium, and small Aegean and Maghrebian residuals.
3. The Erfurt cemetery: two communities, one diaspora
If Norwich shows us the Ashkenazim of the 12th century, the Erfurt cemetery shows us the same population two centuries later, after a substantial portion had migrated eastward into the Holy Roman Empire. Waldman et al. 2022, in Cell, sequenced 33 individuals from the medieval Jewish cemetery of Erfurt, dated to the 14th century, and identified two genetically distinct sub-groups within the same community.
Closer to modern Western Ashkenazi populations (Rhineland descendants), with a profile that overlaps Italian Jews and the Norwich samples almost perfectly. NNLS via Calculator 194 returns roughly 40 to 55 percent Italian-Aegean (Etruscan, Latium, Magna_Graecia, Aegean), 30 to 50 percent Levantine (Israelite, Phoenician, Caucasus_South), and minor Maghrebian residuals.
Closer to modern Eastern Ashkenazim, with elevated Eastern European ancestry and a small but consistent East Asian or Siberian trace. Best explained by historical records placing their immediate origins in Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and the early Polish lands. NNLS returns elevated Illyrian-Thracian, Indo-Aryan and Germanic components alongside the Levantine and Italian-Aegean core.
First-degree relationships identified four-individual pedigrees within the cemetery, including parent-child and sibling pairs. One third of the Erfurt individuals carried a mitochondrial lineage common in modern Ashkenazim, and eight carried pathogenic variants still elevated in Ashkenazi populations today.
The Erfurt individuals show more variability in Eastern European-related ancestry than modern Ashkenazim, indicating that the homogenisation visible today came after the 14th century, through subsequent endogamy and demographic expansion. But the bottleneck itself, the formation of the Ashkenazi founder pool, had clearly already happened.
The structure at Erfurt is not a curiosity. It captures, in real time, the moment when two distinct streams of medieval Ashkenazim, Rhineland Jews from the west and Knaanic Jews from the east, met in central Germany and would eventually merge demographically into the single homogeneous population we know today. The local European admixture in the EU sub-group is small in proportion but real, and likely reflects historically documented conversions, integration of Slavic-speaking individuals into the community, and ordinary admixture with Eastern Christian neighbours over several centuries before the cemetery dates.
4. The modern Ashkenazi cluster
Modern Ashkenazi populations form one of the tightest endogamous clusters in human genetics. Ashkenazi_Germany, Ashkenazi_France, Ashkenazi_Austria, Ashkenazi_Poland, Ashkenazi_Lithuania, Ashkenazi_Russia, Ashkenazi_Ukraine, Ashkenazi_Belarus and Ashkenazi_Romania all collapse into a single PCA region. Their pairwise G25 distances are smaller than the distance between Sicilians and Sardinians, despite the geographic spread from Strasbourg to Lviv.
This homogeneity is the legacy of the founder event. Carmi et al. 2014 and Xue et al. 2017 estimated that the effective Ashkenazi founder population was roughly 350 individuals around 800 to 1,000 years ago, followed by exponential demographic growth. Every modern Ashkenazi Jew is descended, mathematically, from a relatively small pool of medieval ancestors whose own ancestry combined two main components.
NNLS via Calculator 194 (World Ancient by Joshua): Modern Ashkenazi populations
Two observations stand out. First, the Italian-Aegean component is the single largest piece of Ashkenazi ancestry in every population, typically 45 to 60 percent of the total, and it sits between modern southern Italians and ancient Aegeans in PCA space. This is the genetic record of the early diaspora in Italy and the eastern Mediterranean, before the move north into the Rhineland. Second, the Levantine component, while no longer the majority, never falls below 30 percent and is the strongest pull on PC2 in any Ashkenazi sample. The Khazar hypothesis, which would predict a substantial Turkic-Steppe or North Caucasian signal, is contradicted: no such signal is detectable in any of the Ashkenazi populations above.
The small East European and minor East Asian fraction (5 to 11 percent in Eastern Ashkenazim, near zero in Western Ashkenazim) is what distinguishes Polish, Lithuanian, Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian Jews from German and French Jews. This is the Erfurt-EU signal projected forward into the present, and it represents the gradual integration of a small but consistent local component during the medieval expansion into Slavic-speaking lands.
5. The Italkim: the genetic bridge
If any Jewish population can claim to be the missing link between the ancient Levant and the medieval European diasporas, it is the Italkim, the Italian Jews of the Mezzogiorno and the Roman ghetto. Their continuous presence in Italy is documented from at least the 2nd century BCE, when the Maccabean delegation arrived at the Roman Senate, and many southern Italian communities trace continuous Jewish settlement back to the late Republic. The Italkim never left Italy. They never adopted a Slavic, Germanic or Iberian language. They sat through every major demographic event of the Mediterranean from the inside.
The Italkim G25 profile reflects exactly this. Their NNLS breakdown via Calculator 194 returns approximately:
NNLS: Italkim (Italian Jews) via Calculator 194
This is essentially the same profile as Erfurt-ME and the Norwich Ashkenazim. The Italkim are not a parallel diaspora to the Ashkenazim, they are the closest living relative of the Ashkenazi founder population. The autosomal evidence from Italkim Jews, as Parker (2026) recently argued, also serves as a falsification test of the claim that Ashkenazi clustering with southern Italians is a maternal European artifact: the Italkim never left Italy, their ancestry is autosomal (not just mitochondrial), and they sit squarely in the same PCA region as southern Italian populations of Calabria, Campania, Apulia and Sicily as well as Magna Graecia Greek populations of Kos and Rhodes.
6. The Sephardim and the North African component
Sephardic Jewish history bifurcates at 1492. Before the Edict of Expulsion, Sephardic communities lived continuously in the Iberian Peninsula from at least the Roman period, with substantial demographic growth under Visigothic and especially Islamic rule. After 1492, they scattered: a substantial fraction crossed into North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya), another stream went to the Ottoman Empire and settled in Salonika, Constantinople, Sarajevo and Bulgaria, and a third stream made its way to the Netherlands, the Levant itself, and eventually the Americas.
The North African Sephardic populations show what is, at first glance, a paradoxical genetic profile. They are clearly Levantine in their core, like all Jewish populations, but they also carry a real and quantifiable Maghrebian component that distinguishes them from Ashkenazim, Italkim, and Mizrahim. This is not a methodological artifact.
NNLS via Calculator 194: Sephardic and North African Jewish populations
Three points about the Maghrebian component deserve emphasis. First, it is real and reproducible across calculators (Calculator 194 by Joshua, Migration Era Calculator and other Levantine-aware tools). Second, it does not correspond to recent (post-1492) admixture with Muslim Berbers, although that did occur. Most of it appears to predate 1492, reflecting the continuous presence of Jewish communities in North Africa since the Roman period, the Berber Jewish populations of the Atlas, and the well-documented partial Judaisation of Berber tribes during late antiquity. Third, the Maghrebian component is essentially absent from Ashkenazi populations, even from Western Ashkenazim, which definitively rules out any meaningful Sephardic backflow into the Ashkenazi gene pool.
7. The Mizrahim: continuity from Mesopotamia to Persia
The eastern Jewish communities of Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau represent the oldest continuous Jewish diaspora. Their founding event predates everything else: the Babylonian Exile of 597 to 538 BCE, when the Neo-Babylonian Empire deported the elites of the Kingdom of Judah to Babylon. Although Cyrus the Great allowed the exiles to return after 538 BCE, a substantial portion chose to remain in Mesopotamia, where they would form the demographic foundation of the Babylonian Jewish community for the next 2,500 years.
Mizrahi populations therefore preserve a pre-Christian, pre-Islamic Levantine and Mesopotamian profile with very little subsequent European admixture. Their NNLS breakdowns are unambiguous.
NNLS via Calculator 194: Mizrahi (eastern) Jewish populations
Three sub-clusters emerge from this data. Iraqi, Iranian and Kurdish Jews form a tight Mesopotamian-Zagros group, dominated by Israelite and Elamite-Zagros ancestry. The Mountain Jews of the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Dagestan) and Georgian Jews form a Caucasian-Levantine group, dominated by Israelite and South Caucasus ancestry with substantial Iranian plateau input. Bukharian Jews of Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan) sit further east, with a Median-dominated profile and a small but real Central Asian East Asian trace, reflecting their long residence on the Silk Road.
Critically, none of these populations carries any meaningful European, North African, Italian or Aegean component. They preserve the genetic profile of pre-Hellenistic, pre-Roman, pre-Islamic Levantine and Mesopotamian populations with exceptional fidelity. The Druze of Lebanon and Israel, by comparison, preserve a similar (though purely Levantine) genetic capsule of the pre-Islamic Near East, but the Mizrahim extend this preservation eastward into Mesopotamia and Persia.
8. Three outlier groups: Yemen, Ethiopia, India
Three Jewish populations break the mould entirely. Each of them has a deeply local genetic profile combined with a smaller (or, in one case, almost absent) Levantine signal. Each tells a different story about what conversion, integration, and endogamy can do over centuries.
The Yemenite Jewish community is documented continuously from at least the 3rd century CE, and possibly much earlier, in the highlands of southern Arabia. Their NNLS profile from Calculator 194 returns 78.6% Arabia_Ancient and 18.6% Israelite, with 2.8% Nubian Highland. The Levantine core is unmistakable but minoritarian. The Yemenite Jewish community appears to combine an original Israelite settler population with a much larger Arabian autosomal substrate, likely reflecting conversion among local Himyarite tribes and extensive intermarriage with the surrounding South Arabian population before the rise of Islam.
The Beta Israel of Ethiopia returns 83% Puntite_Horn_Africa, 9.2% Arabia_Ancient and 7.8% Nubian_Highland on Calculator 194. No detectable Israelite or Phoenician signal. This is the genetic profile of a Habesha (Cushitic-Semitic) Ethiopian population, essentially indistinguishable from non-Jewish Amhara and Tigray neighbours. Genetic studies (Behar et al. 2008, Hodgson et al. 2014) have repeatedly concluded that the Beta Israel are most parsimoniously interpreted as descendants of a local Ethiopian population that adopted Judaism around 1,500 to 2,000 years ago, rather than as a direct genetic lineage of Israelite migrants. This finding is religiously and politically sensitive but autosomally robust.
The Cochin Jewish community of Kerala has long been described in oral tradition as the product of multiple waves of Jewish settlement, from the Solomonic era through the medieval Indian Ocean trade. The autosomal data confirm this. Cochin_Jew_A shows 28% Phoenician, 32.2% Indus_Delta, 16% Israelite and 8.2% Indo_Aryan_Interior, a Levantine-Mesopotamian core overlaid with substantial South Asian admixture. Cochin_Jew_B is much more thoroughly Indianised, with 50.6% Indo_Aryan_Interior and 36% Indus_Delta, only 4% Phoenician and 8.4% Babylonian_Core. The two profiles represent different sub-populations of the Kerala Jewish community with different histories of integration.
The contrast between the outliers (Yemen, Ethiopia, India) and the core diasporas (Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Mizrahim) reflects different histories of integration with surrounding populations. Where endogamy was strict and the host population genetically distinct, the Levantine core was preserved (Mizrahim, Italkim, Ashkenazim). Where conversion and intermarriage with locally distinct populations were extensive and continuous (Beta Israel, Cochin Jew B), the local component overwhelmed the original Levantine signal.
9. The PCA portrait: where every Jewish diaspora sits
If we project all the modern Jewish populations onto the same Global25 PC1 and PC2 axes used in the Italkim falsification article (Parker, 2026), a coherent geographic logic emerges. Reading from west to east and from south to north:
- Belmonte_Jew sits furthest west and north on PC2, pulled toward modern Iberians by 4 to 5 centuries of crypto-Jewish life within Portuguese society.
- Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian and Libyan Jews form a tight Mediterranean cluster pulled south on PC1 by their Maghrebian component, with Libyan Jews the most Levantine and Moroccan Jews the most Iberian-shifted.
- Italian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Romaniote and Western Ashkenazi populations form an overlapping Mediterranean Jewish cloud, with Ashkenazi_Germany, Ashkenazi_France and Italian_Jew nearly indistinguishable.
- Eastern Ashkenazi populations (Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus) shift slightly east on PC1, the trace of the small but real Erfurt-EU type Eastern European component.
- Syrian, Iraqi, Iranian, Kurdish, Caucasian Mountain and Georgian Jews form the Eastern Levantine and Mesopotamian cloud, pulled away from Europe entirely.
- Bukharian Jews sit further east still, between Mizrahim and the populations of the Iranian plateau.
- Yemenite, Ethiopian and Cochin Jewish populations sit far from every other Jewish group, each in a unique position determined by their dominant local substrate.
The Erfurt-ME and Norwich samples sit exactly where the modern Italkim, Western Ashkenazim and the Bulgarian-Turkish Sephardim cluster, confirming that the medieval Ashkenazi founder pool had the genetic profile of an Italian-Levantine Mediterranean Jewish population. The Erfurt-EU samples, by contrast, sit pulled north-east on PC1, the first medieval glimpse of what would become the modern Eastern Ashkenazi signal.
10. Summary: every diaspora is Levantine
| Population | Levantine core | Italian / Aegean | North African | Local / Other | Historical interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norwich (1190) | 30 to 50% | 40 to 55% | 0 to 8% | Negligible | Pre-bottleneck Ashkenazi founders, Rouen origin |
| Erfurt-ME (14th c.) | 35 to 50% | 40 to 55% | 0 to 8% | 0 to 5% East EU | Rhineland Ashkenazim, like modern Western AJ |
| Erfurt-EU (14th c.) | 25 to 40% | 30 to 45% | 0 to 5% | 10 to 25% East EU | Knaanic Jews from Bohemia and Moravia |
| Ashkenazi_Germany | 47% | 38% | 4% | 11% East EU + minor | Modern Rhineland descendants |
| Ashkenazi_Poland | 32% | 51% | 5% | 11% East EU + minor | Eastern AJ expansion 14th to 19th c. |
| Italian_Jew (Italkim) | 46% | 49% | 5% | 0% | Continuous Italian presence since antiquity |
| Moroccan_Jew | 46% | 29% | 20% | 6% Iberian | Sephardic descent + Berber substrate |
| Tunisian_Jew | 44% | 33% | 18% | 6% Iberian | Ancient Carthaginian + Sephardic mix |
| Libyan_Jew | 62% | 18% | 19% | 0% | Most Levantine of North African Sephardim |
| Belmonte_Jew | 51% | 0% | 12% | 39% Iberian | Portuguese crypto-Jewish lineage |
| Iraqi_Jew | 65% | 0% | 0% | 35% Iranian plateau | Babylonian Exile continuity |
| Iranian_Jew | 58% | 0% | 0% | 42% Iranian plateau | Persian Jewish continuity |
| Bukharian_Jew | 22% | 3% | 0% | 75% Iranian + Asian | Silk Road Jewish community |
| Mountain_Jew_Dagestan | 62% | 0% | 0% | 35% Caucasus + Iranian | Persian Jewish migration into Caucasus |
| Yemenite_Jew | 19% | 0% | 0% | 79% Arabian + Nubian | Himyarite conversion + Israelite core |
| Ethiopian_Jew (Beta Israel) | 0% | 0% | 0% | 100% Horn of Africa | Local Habesha population, Judaisation |
| Cochin_Jew_A | 44% | 4% | 4% | 48% South Asian | Older Levantine-Mesopotamian Cochin wave |
| Cochin_Jew_B | 13% | 0% | 0% | 87% South Asian | More thoroughly Indianised Cochin sub-group |
11. Three lessons on diaspora and identity
The genetic atlas of Jewish populations confirms three principles that the broader paleogenetic literature has been articulating for two decades. They apply with particular clarity here because Judaism has been one of the most thoroughly endogamous religious cultures in human history.
First, religious endogamy preserves ancestry. The Italkim, the Mizrahim and the Western Ashkenazim all preserve substantial Levantine ancestry 2,000 to 2,500 years after their respective diasporic foundations. This preservation is not automatic; it is the consequence of strict marriage norms maintained across many generations. The contrast with North African Jewish populations, where the Maghrebian component is real but minoritarian, shows how slow this dilution occurs under conditions of partial integration. The Beta Israel and Cochin_Jew_B cases, by contrast, illustrate what happens when religious adoption was wider than ancestral immigration.
Second, geographic mixing is layered, not erased. The Ashkenazi founder population combined Levantine and Italian-Aegean ancestry, both visible today. The North African Sephardim added a Maghrebian layer. The Eastern Ashkenazim added a small Slavic layer. None of these additions replaced the underlying Levantine core; they sit on top of it, like sediment, and they can be peeled off again in NNLS modelling. The reason the Khazar hypothesis is rejected is not that adding new layers is impossible, but that the specific Turkic-Steppe layer it predicts is absent from the data.
Third, the diaspora is one family. Despite the geographic spread and despite the dozen distinct local profiles, every Jewish population sits closer to every other Jewish population, on the Israelite-Phoenician axis, than to the local majority population it has lived among. Iraqi Jews are closer to Polish Jews than to Iraqi Arabs. Moroccan Jews are closer to Italian Jews than to Moroccan Berbers. Yemenite Jews are closer to Mizrahi Jews than to Yemeni Arabs. This is the genetic signature of 2,500 years of endogamy operating on a single founder population, and it is the most quantitatively robust answer modern science has been able to give to the question of who the Jewish people are.
12. Global25 coordinates: the full data
The following Global25 scaled coordinates correspond to the Jewish populations and ancient samples discussed in this article. Copy them into Vahaduo, Karl Hogstrom's K248, the Standard G25 Calculator by Davidski, the Migration Era Calculator, or the World Ancient Calculator by Joshua (Calculator 194 on ExploreYourDNA) for your own modeling.
Erfurt_ME:I13861,0.103579,0.15436,-0.018856,-0.051357,0.006463,-0.017012,0.008695,-0.000462,0.006954,0.017677,0.011042,-0.006894,0.002379,-0.013762,-0.005836,0.009414,0.008345,-0.001014,-0.005154,0.002251,-0.005989,0.004451,0.001602,-0.00253,0.002515 Erfurt_ME:I13864,0.094473,0.151314,-0.019233,-0.052972,0.010463,-0.014502,-0.00188,-0.001615,0.018612,0.024784,0.005684,-0.000300,0.003271,0.003853,0.002714,0.001193,-0.01369,0.003421,0.003645,-0.012881,0.00262,0.002597,-0.002711,0.006266,-0.003113 Erfurt_ME:I13865,0.092197,0.142174,-0.014331,-0.059755,0.020619,-0.026774,-0.00611,-0.000923,0.01268,0.02041,0.00406,-0.000599,0.00446,0.003441,0.002036,-0.007027,-0.011474,0.004307,0.000126,-0.012506,-0.002745,-0.003957,0.008134,-0.005422,-0.003832 Erfurt_ME:I14737,0.08992,0.147252,-0.017725,-0.048773,0.008617,-0.028726,-0.00517,0.001385,0.013908,0.020228,0.00341,-0.001649,0.008176,0.007844,-0.012215,-0.0179,-0.017732,-0.002407,-0.000754,0.006878,-0.000873,-0.001113,0.005916,-0.002048,0.003832 Erfurt_ME:I14739,0.08992,0.144205,-0.018102,-0.063631,0.01508,-0.03012,0.00235,-0.006923,0.007567,0.01713,0.001624,0.001349,0.00996,-0.001927,-0.002172,-0.00305,-0.008214,0.000887,-0.01169,0.001251,0.000998,-0.001978,0.008134,-0.008194,-0.000838 Erfurt_ME:I14852,0.103579,0.148267,-0.016593,-0.062662,0.005232,-0.022032,-0.001175,-0.018461,0.010431,0.022597,-0.001624,0.003747,0.001784,0.001789,-0.008686,0.002121,0.002477,0.004054,-0.009679,-0.004752,-0.00262,-0.018548,0.006779,0.012652,0.007185 Erfurt_ME:I14903,0.103579,0.146236,-0.021496,-0.051034,0.004001,-0.015897,0.000235,-0.003692,0.005318,0.024966,0.002111,-0.009292,-0.000595,-0.002752,-0.010179,0.000398,-0.002217,0.003674,-0.002388,0.002876,-0.00549,-0.00371,0.002711,0.000843,0.000958 Erfurt_ME_o:I13863,0.093335,0.132019,-0.020742,-0.064277,0.011079,-0.016455,-0.00423,-0.001846,0.01268,0.024602,0.007632,-0.003447,0.005203,-0.004542,-0.007465,-0.003713,-0.003129,-0.002914,-0.004902,-0.005378,-0.006239,-0.014838,-0.003574,-0.001687,-0.006586 Erfurt_ME_o:I13870,0.094473,0.148267,-0.01697,-0.057494,0.008001,-0.024542,-0.00282,-0.000692,0.019839,0.008018,0.005034,0.004946,0.016204,-0.004679,-0.002036,0.007027,0.006389,-0.000887,-0.004902,-0.014882,-0.00025,0.002102,-0.008258,0.006989,0.003353 Erfurt_ME_o:I13867,0.093335,0.13405,-0.002263,-0.049096,0.014772,-0.018686,-0.00658,-0.006231,0.011249,0.016948,0.008119,-0.001649,0.006987,0.000275,-0.003936,0.001193,0.001565,-0.000887,-0.004777,0.001626,-0.00574,-0.000742,0.007641,0.007953,0.000958 Erfurt_EU:I13862,0.110408,0.122879,0.00264,-0.010982,0.010771,-0.005578,0.00235,0.002769,0.00859,0.009294,0.00682,-0.003147,-0.003419,0.010046,-0.011943,-0.008486,-0.004955,0.00038,-0.00088,-0.006003,-0.007986,-0.000866,0.008751,-0.002651,-0.003233 Erfurt_EU:I13866,0.106994,0.118817,0.006034,-0.014212,0.016311,-0.010319,-0.00282,0.004615,0.001636,0.014943,-0.006333,-0.000899,0.003717,0.00523,-0.012758,-0.003713,0.008996,0.003927,-0.003142,0.003877,-0.007362,-0.001607,0.001109,0.006386,-0.002754 Erfurt_EU:I13868,0.105855,0.127957,0.012822,-0.018088,0.024312,-0.002231,-0.00188,0.000231,0.01268,0.007289,0.002111,0.007194,0.005649,0.010184,-0.001357,-0.004375,0.009388,-0.000507,-0.004022,0.008254,-0.001497,-0.004328,0.0053,-0.003856,0.000599 Erfurt_EU:I14738,0.112685,0.126941,0.012822,-0.013889,0.01508,-0.002789,-0.00188,0.002077,0.001227,0.008201,-0.006333,-0.002847,0.006541,0.007294,-0.00475,0.001061,0.006128,-0.000127,0.000126,-0.004252,0.002121,0.004081,0.006779,0.004217,-0.005987 ENG_Norwich_MA:SB604A_AD_1170,0.08992,0.144205,-0.021496,-0.049419,0.010156,-0.011992,-0.00376,-0.000462,0.02127,0.025878,-0.000812,-0.002098,0.004608,-0.002752,0.000543,-0.003845,-0.011865,0.001267,0.001131,-0.006253,-0.002121,-0.00507,-0.006409,-0.004097,-0.002395 ENG_Norwich_MA:SB605_AD_1170,0.087644,0.148267,-0.015462,-0.05168,0.015387,-0.02259,-0.00329,0.004615,0.010226,0.019499,0.002761,0.000300,0.000297,-0.000826,-0.008415,0.001061,0.006258,-0.003167,0.001383,0.001501,-0.006988,-0.000371,-0.001849,0.000843,0.00467 ENG_Norwich_MA:SB606_AD_1170,0.095611,0.132019,-0.00528,-0.047804,0.023081,-0.02761,-0.011986,0.013615,0.005727,0.019499,0.001299,0.006894,-0.01219,0.001789,-0.002172,0.005038,0.005607,0.007475,0.007542,-0.005002,0.000499,0.000742,0.001479,-0.00012,0.002874 ENG_Norwich_MA:SB671_AD_1170,0.091058,0.135065,-0.009428,-0.052003,0.028621,-0.025937,-0.002115,0.003231,0.003068,0.01877,-0.002761,-0.001349,0.005946,0.000826,0.004207,-0.000398,0.012517,0.008108,0.004651,-0.004127,0.001872,0.001113,-0.002588,-0.007712,0.002395 ENG_Norwich_MA:SB676_AD_1170,0.086506,0.148267,-0.018856,-0.061693,0.005847,-0.017291,-0.00658,-0.006231,0.017794,0.015126,0.002436,0.001199,0.002676,0.000413,-0.000679,-0.011138,-0.011343,-0.001267,0.001257,-0.004502,0.001872,0.001113,-0.008011,0.000361,-0.005628 ENG_Norwich_MA:SB696_AD_1170,0.079676,0.149283,-0.014331,-0.050065,0.018773,-0.020638,-0.00376,0.012461,0.019839,0.022051,0.012179,0.001049,0.007582,-0.010184,-0.008279,0.00053,0.000261,-0.009882,-0.005405,-0.00025,-0.004866,-0.001237,0.002835,0.011929,-0.005868 Ashkenazi_Germany,0.097319,0.142377,-0.014406,-0.049936,0.010925,-0.018769,-0.001974,-0.001754,0.009858,0.018843,0.003962,-0.001124,0.002512,-0.00267,-0.005049,0.003089,0.002203,-0.001698,-0.000779,-0.001126,-0.003344,-0.002696,0.000875,0.001386,0.000814 Ashkenazi_France,0.095611,0.143697,-0.015132,-0.051357,0.009309,-0.019487,-0.002526,-0.002048,0.008564,0.019545,0.003776,-0.000937,0.002509,-0.002305,-0.003647,0.003182,0.000896,-0.002265,-0.002137,-0.005393,-0.000889,-0.00289,0.00037,0.002591,0.001602 Ashkenazi_Austria,0.095611,0.137096,-0.011502,-0.047481,0.010925,-0.014781,-0.00235,-0.002884,0.009715,0.014214,0.002923,-0.001649,-0.000595,0.001101,-0.00475,0.001525,-0.008605,0.000063,-0.001446,-0.002814,-0.002184,-0.003091,-0.001417,0.001205,-0.000898 Ashkenazi_Poland,0.100117,0.136843,-0.007338,-0.043000,0.009797,-0.015409,-0.000881,-0.000894,0.008198,0.014275,0.001164,-0.000593,0.00288,0.000166,-0.004145,-0.001674,-0.003765,0.000032,-0.000807,-0.004064,-0.002678,-0.002272,0.001689,0.002169,0.001527 Ashkenazi_Lithuania,0.099854,0.132757,-0.009222,-0.040375,0.009484,-0.014147,-0.000556,-0.001175,0.006061,0.013701,0.00155,-0.001853,0.002568,0.000625,-0.004442,0.003459,0.0016,0.000161,0.000446,-0.003172,-0.003256,-0.00335,0.002924,0.002443,-0.001056 Ashkenazi_Romania,0.102441,0.137096,-0.006222,-0.042798,0.010002,-0.015478,-0.00376,-0.000808,0.006238,0.015034,0.004141,0.002473,-0.000446,-0.000413,-0.001968,-0.001326,-0.003651,0.000697,-0.000817,-0.008316,-0.003806,-0.003277,0.001725,0.006868,0.000359 Ashkenazi_Russia,0.101189,0.131511,-0.006449,-0.038276,0.010371,-0.014335,-0.001951,-0.000185,0.006545,0.01405,0.00112,0.000300,0.002141,0.00033,-0.005035,-0.000265,-0.001213,-0.00057,-0.002137,-0.003126,-0.003569,-0.002955,0.000629,0.004579,-0.001221 Ashkenazi_Ukraine,0.099424,0.135116,-0.005506,-0.040117,0.012048,-0.014265,-0.001093,0.000115,0.007772,0.012939,0.000804,0.000112,0.002416,0.000523,-0.00283,-0.00183,-0.004322,-0.000019,0.001276,-0.004677,-0.003126,-0.002591,0.00077,0.002103,0.001006 Ashkenazi_Belarussia,0.101915,0.133972,-0.007340,-0.039580,0.010771,-0.014459,-0.001012,-0.001030,0.005727,0.014621,0.002448,-0.000369,0.002310,-0.001461,-0.002944,0.002795,0.001815,-0.000341,0.001489,-0.001260,-0.003859,-0.000770,0.002740,0.001566,-0.000295 Italian_Jew,0.094928,0.145627,-0.018667,-0.056493,0.011294,-0.024542,-0.003995,-0.002792,0.012885,0.019135,0.004514,0.000210,0.002156,-0.002876,-0.00661,-0.001233,-0.0012,-0.001052,-0.001119,-0.003589,-0.003906,-0.001546,-0.000123,0.002362,0.002874 Romaniote_Jew,0.092034,0.14406,-0.025806,-0.064554,0.005012,-0.023068,-0.005842,-0.004318,0.009145,0.018536,0.005614,0.001113,0.001996,-0.000197,-0.006825,-0.001572,0.000726,-0.002498,-0.000736,-0.000500,-0.000873,0.000389,0.000370,0.001084,0.001334 Turkish_Jew,0.091912,0.145221,-0.020113,-0.058517,0.006847,-0.021149,-0.004025,-0.003634,0.010201,0.018945,0.004188,0.000531,0.001876,-0.000803,-0.004914,-0.001597,-0.000755,-0.000454,-0.003588,-0.003408,-0.002511,-0.004003,0.004144,0.001074,0.001622 Bulgarian_Jew,0.088213,0.14319,-0.025079,-0.058302,0.003693,-0.023148,-0.00423,-0.004038,0.013499,0.023326,0.004872,0.002023,0.000074,0.001583,-0.004614,-0.009149,-0.009062,-0.000253,-0.004714,-0.010192,-0.005054,-0.001855,-0.00228,-0.004157,0.002515 Moroccan_Jew,0.075882,0.14583,-0.020063,-0.061004,0.011448,-0.023538,-0.008617,-0.002723,0.018284,0.022707,0.005456,-0.002258,0.005382,-0.003202,0.002479,-0.003934,-0.003555,-0.004865,-0.012235,-0.002518,-0.003119,-0.008944,0.007921,-0.003976,0.001772 Algerian_Jew,0.074696,0.145728,-0.021213,-0.061007,0.011117,-0.026216,-0.005728,-0.002884,0.015927,0.02082,0.004993,-0.001649,0.007247,-0.004456,-0.005361,-0.000845,-0.002086,-0.001536,-0.005782,-0.00272,-0.003572,-0.001577,0.001048,0.000437,-0.001197 Tunisian_Jew,0.071822,0.145525,-0.028737,-0.07148,0.004339,-0.02563,-0.007144,-0.000808,0.021148,0.020702,0.006106,-0.002398,0.007953,-0.000826,-0.001466,-0.000172,-0.000795,-0.001584,-0.006536,-0.001388,-0.003244,-0.008124,0.003389,0.000060,0.002167 Libyan_Jew,0.065707,0.144482,-0.029861,-0.069534,0.004476,-0.026748,-0.007862,-0.004384,0.021159,0.020046,0.005329,-0.001948,0.00769,-0.003691,-0.001456,0.004858,0.002963,-0.002131,-0.005256,0.000466,-0.002394,-0.006756,0.004975,-0.000526,0.001742 Belmonte_Jew,0.08992,0.152329,0.00792,-0.038437,0.029544,-0.015339,0.001175,0.003923,0.020861,0.029522,-0.000487,0.000599,0.002081,-0.014313,0.000814,0.009149,0.001825,-0.002787,-0.002137,0.001751,-0.006239,-0.004822,0.002342,-0.00482,0.000359 Syrian_Jew,0.087075,0.142682,-0.035826,-0.066538,-0.005847,-0.022032,-0.004348,-0.002423,0.000614,0.008383,0.006414,0.00045,0.0055,-0.000206,-0.000136,0.000796,-0.003977,-0.002534,-0.003771,-0.004815,0.001248,-0.003277,0.00302,-0.001807,0.002335 Iraqi_Jew,0.090299,0.13845,-0.066667,-0.075259,-0.024757,-0.021723,-0.001332,-0.008333,-0.011363,-0.001215,0.004565,-0.005578,0.011563,0.005306,-0.007932,0.008957,-0.005056,0.000085,0.002682,-0.010436,0.000735,-0.002583,-0.00267,-0.002504,0.001716 Iranian_Jew,0.092424,0.131003,-0.064236,-0.062792,-0.031904,-0.015525,0.001426,-0.004492,-0.012162,-0.002406,0.006203,-0.003967,0.01215,0.001716,-0.001882,0.007699,-0.0105,0.002973,0.005925,-0.011889,0.000283,-0.001327,-0.003985,-0.003004,0.001685 Kurdish_Jew,0.092424,0.134456,-0.065694,-0.073644,-0.030406,-0.022702,0.002867,-0.007292,-0.012517,-0.002442,0.004937,-0.007373,0.012279,0.003358,-0.00437,0.009759,-0.002503,0.001444,0.003344,-0.005077,0.001697,0.001781,-0.002342,-0.000434,0.002347 Georgian_Jew,0.098685,0.1308,-0.058982,-0.060918,-0.028159,-0.014223,0.000588,-0.004961,-0.020207,-0.004793,0.002988,-0.002443,0.006021,-0.000427,-0.00342,0.007345,0.001904,-0.001723,0.00181,-0.001451,0.002396,0.003017,-0.000789,-0.002338,0.003832 Mountain_Jew_Azerbaijan,0.095611,0.132019,-0.063356,-0.064439,-0.035237,-0.014363,0.001528,-0.003346,-0.018203,-0.005376,0.005196,-0.004571,0.006392,0.006262,-0.003936,0.010209,-0.013038,0.0019,0.001446,-0.003377,-0.002496,-0.000556,-0.00265,0.003374,0.000659 Mountain_Jew_Chechnya,0.087644,0.136081,-0.054305,-0.054587,-0.027697,-0.017849,-0.00047,-0.003923,-0.016975,-0.003827,0.007307,-0.006294,0.010704,0.00289,-0.000407,0.009546,-0.007823,0.005574,0.004274,-0.006503,-0.000499,-0.004575,0.002835,-0.001205,0.012095 Mountain_Jew_Dagestan,0.094726,0.131624,-0.057867,-0.06207,-0.03045,-0.017524,0.001802,-0.007602,-0.01793,-0.004363,0.006505,-0.003597,0.008556,0.000833,-0.001516,0.00565,-0.005469,0.002604,0.005545,-0.006288,-0.000367,0.001793,-0.002602,-0.000054,0.000852 Bukharian_Jew,0.093019,0.110975,-0.057595,-0.044359,-0.032468,-0.009885,0.001606,-0.004231,-0.0181,-0.005396,0.00046,-0.005095,0.008697,-0.001269,0.001282,0.010438,-0.002579,0.001872,0.002472,-0.006309,-0.001068,0.000371,-0.003225,-0.00249,0.003207 Yemenite_Jew,0.050651,0.144916,-0.063469,-0.113761,-0.012002,-0.046714,-0.012785,-0.008561,0.04884,-0.007144,0.012212,-0.026646,0.053726,0.004927,0.003746,0.015738,-0.024512,0.005524,0.005744,0.022836,0.01264,0.015457,-0.00742,0.004266,-0.006023 Ethiopian_Jew,-0.232578,0.104769,-0.033501,-0.082419,0.001129,-0.039881,-0.0132,-0.000538,0.108091,-0.068855,-0.002409,-0.012689,0.01779,-0.000344,0.02253,-0.011867,0.009561,0.001351,0.00507,0.002272,0.006572,0.011046,-0.004149,0.003093,-0.001377 Cochin_Jew_A,0.068294,0.042144,-0.086172,-0.003392,-0.030006,0.00753,0.000235,0.002884,0.019941,0.012392,0.002598,-0.000824,0.008697,0.004886,-0.00509,0.002851,0.005085,0.002407,-0.002891,-0.004315,-0.002059,-0.004761,0.007333,0.003796,0.00012 Cochin_Jew_B,0.050082,-0.036221,-0.139095,0.070953,-0.063294,0.044204,-0.002076,0.007807,0.030099,0.018467,-0.000866,0.000874,0.003295,0.002982,-0.001968,-0.002342,-0.004151,0.000528,-0.001215,-0.004127,0.003223,-0.004802,0.002732,-0.000582,-0.002116
13. Conclusion
The Jewish diasporas form one of the cleanest natural experiments in human population genetics. A single ancestral population, the Iron Age Levantines of the late Second Temple period, dispersed across three continents over two millennia. Some communities preserved the founder profile almost intact through endogamy and isolation (Mizrahim, Druze-like preservation; Italkim, geographic continuity). Others added detectable but minoritarian layers (Sephardim with their Maghrebian residue; Eastern Ashkenazim with their Slavic and minor East Asian trace). A few absorbed so much of their host population that the original Levantine signal almost vanished (Beta Israel, Cochin_Jew_B).
What the Global25 PCA and the World Ancient Calculator by Joshua show, however, is that the Levantine root is detectable in every Jewish community where local conversion was not the dominant mode of community formation. Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Italkim, Mizrahim, Caucasian, Bukharian, and Yemenite Jewish populations all carry between 19 and 65 percent direct Israelite or Phoenician ancestry from samples that date to the Bronze and Iron Ages. This is not a methodological artifact. It is the genetic record of one of the longest continuous diasporas in human history, written into the autosomal DNA of millions of people across half the globe.
The historical reality, in other words, looks remarkably like what most Jewish communities have always said about themselves: a people who left the Levant, who maintained their identity through endogamy and religion for two millennia, who adopted the languages and partially the genes of their hosts, and who, in the end, can still be recognised as members of the same extended family at the DNA level. Paleogenetics confirms the longest oral tradition in the world.
References
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- Waldman, S., Backenroth, D., Harney, E., et al. (2022). Genome-wide data from medieval German Jews show that the Ashkenazi founder event pre-dated the 14th century. Cell, 185(25), 4703-4716.e16. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.11.002 Erfurt Ashkenazi
- Behar, D. M., Yunusbayev, B., Metspalu, M., et al. (2010). The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people. Nature, 466(7303), 238-242. DOI: 10.1038/nature09103 Diaspora Worldwide
- Atzmon, G., Hao, L., Pe'er, I., et al. (2010). Abraham's children in the genome era: major Jewish diaspora populations comprise distinct genetic clusters with shared Middle Eastern ancestry. American Journal of Human Genetics, 86(6), 850-859. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.04.015 Jewish populations
- Behar, D. M., Metspalu, M., Baran, Y., et al. (2013). No evidence from genome-wide data of a Khazar origin for the Ashkenazi Jews. Human Biology, 85(6), 859-900. DOI: 10.3378/027.085.0604 Khazar hypothesis
- Carmi, S., Hui, K. Y., Kochav, E., et al. (2014). Sequencing an Ashkenazi reference panel supports population-targeted personal genomics and illuminates Jewish and European origins. Nature Communications, 5, 4835. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5835 Founder event
- Xue, J., Lencz, T., Darvasi, A., et al. (2017). The time and place of European admixture in Ashkenazi Jewish history. PLoS Genetics, 13(4), e1006644. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006644 Italian admixture
- Hodgson, J. A., Mulligan, C. J., Al-Meeri, A., et al. (2014). Early back-to-Africa migration into the Horn of Africa. PLoS Genetics, 10(6), e1004393. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004393 Beta Israel
- Shlush, L. I., Behar, D. M., Yudkovsky, G., et al. (2008). The Druze: a population genetic refugium of the Near East. PLoS ONE, 3(5), e2105. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002105 Druze Levant
- Ringbauer, H., Salman-Minkov, A., Regev, D., et al. (2025). Punic people were genetically diverse with almost no Levantine ancestors. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08643-3 Phoenicians Mediterranean
- Parker, S. (2026). A Falsification Test of Ashkenazi Modeling: Autosomal Evidence from Italkim Jews. ashkenaziresearch.org, May 10, 2026. Republished on ExploreYourDNA. Italkim Falsification
- Calculator 194: World Ancient Calculator by Joshua. ExploreYourDNA. exploreyourdna.com/calculator/194 G25 Calculator