Cretan DNA
Genetic origins and closest populations · Greece · Southern Europe
Crete, the largest Greek island, was the home of the Bronze Age Minoan civilisation, and ancient DNA shows that the Minoans carried mostly early farmer ancestry with little or no steppe-related ancestry. In our model, today's Cretans are 53.6% Anatolian Neolithic farmer, 20.9% steppe, 9.4% Iranian Neolithic, 8.3% Natufian and 7.8% Caucasus hunter-gatherer: much less steppe than mainland Greeks of the Peloponnese (33.0%) and about twice their Iranian-related share (4.6%). The island later passed through Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman rule. Its closest modern averages are Cretan Muslims, often called Cretan Turks, most of whom left the island for Turkey in the early 20th century (distances 0.0065 and 0.0080): shared island ancestry outweighs the religious divide. Then come Cretans from Rethymno and Calabrians. The closest ancient group is a Late Modern population from Rethymno itself (0.0132), followed by early medieval people with an East Mediterranean profile and High Medieval people from Chios.
- Largest ancient components in our model: Anatolian Neolithic farmers 53.6%, Steppe herders (Yamnaya) 20.9%, Iranian Neolithic farmers 9.4%
- Closest modern population in our data: Turkish (Crete), distance 0.0065
- Closest ancient group in our data: Greece Late Modern Rethymno Adele, distance 0.0132
Where does Cretan DNA sit on the genetic map of the world? To answer, we take the averaged Global25 (G25) coordinates of the Cretan individuals sampled in Greece, listed in the G25 sheet as "Greek_Crete" and compare them with deep ancestral reference populations, with other modern groups and with ancient genomes. It is one of 335 populations in our atlas.
Ancient make-up of the Cretan average
Modelled as a mix of deep ancestral reference populations, the Cretan average comes out as 53.6% Anatolian Neolithic farmers, 20.9% Steppe herders (Yamnaya) and 9.4% Iranian Neolithic farmers. The Anatolian Neolithic farmers component reflects the Neolithic farmers of Anatolia, who carried agriculture into Europe from about 6500 BC. The Steppe herders (Yamnaya) share (20.9%) reflects the Bronze Age herders of the Pontic-Caspian steppe (Yamnaya and related groups), whose ancestry spread across Europe and into Asia from about 3000 BC.
The model fits well (fit distance 0.020), so these proportions are a reasonable summary. The model draws on West Eurasian ancient genomes, with modern West African and East Asian stand-ins.
Thalassa – Mediterranean Islander Report
Closest modern populations to Cretan
Genetically, the Cretan average sits nearest to Turkish (Crete) at 0.007, Greek (Crete Muslim, Cretan Turk) at 0.008 and Greek (Crete Rethymno) at 0.009. On our scale, a distance of 0.007 counts as very close. Leaving aside the other regional samples listed under the same name in the G25 sheet, the nearest other populations are Turkish (Crete) (0.007), Italian (Calabria, Cosentian) (0.016) and Calabrian (0.017). Even the tenth closest, Ashkenazi Jewish, is only 0.023 away: Cretan belongs to a dense cluster of related populations, so small differences inside that cluster should not be over-interpreted.
| # | Population | Distance | Closeness |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Turkish (Crete) | 0.0065 | Very close |
| 2 | Greek (Crete Muslim, Cretan Turk) | 0.0080 | Very close |
| 3 | Greek (Crete Rethymno) | 0.0086 | Very close |
| 4 | Italian (Calabria, Cosentian) | 0.0155 | Very close |
| 5 | Calabrian | 0.0174 | Very close |
| 6 | Italian (Campania, Campanian) | 0.0179 | Very close |
| 7 | Italian (Campania Naples, Campanian) | 0.0182 | Very close |
| 8 | Southern Italian | 0.0182 | Very close |
| 9 | Apulian | 0.0202 | Very close |
| 10 | Ashkenazi Jewish | 0.0229 | Very close |
Distances are Euclidean distances between averaged G25 coordinates. On our scale, below 0.025 is very close, below 0.050 close, below 0.080 moderate, and beyond that distant.
Closest ancient populations to Cretan
Among ancient genomes, the closest match to the modern Cretan average is Greece Late Modern Rethymno Adele (Late Modern, c. 1800-1950 AD), at 0.013, followed by Italy Piedmont Early Medieval Lombard Period Collegno (East Med Profile) and Italy Lazio Late Antiquity Rome (East Med Profile). That is a very close match, which suggests strong genetic continuity between those ancient people (or close relatives of theirs) and the modern population. A close ancient match is not proof of direct descent: it means those individuals carried a similar overall mix of ancestry.
| # | Ancient sample or group | Period | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greece Late Modern Rethymno Adele | Late Modern, c. 1800-1950 AD | 0.0132 |
| 2 | Italy Piedmont Early Medieval Lombard Period Collegno (East Med Profile) | Early Medieval, c. 500-1000 AD | 0.0164 |
| 3 | Italy Lazio Late Antiquity Rome (East Med Profile) | Late Antiquity, c. 250-600 AD | 0.0181 |
| 4 | Italy Lazio Roman Empire Rome (East Med Profile) | Roman era, c. 1-400 AD | 0.0187 |
| 5 | Greece High Medieval Chios St. Isidore | High Medieval, c. 1000-1300 AD | 0.0189 |
| 6 | Croatia Late Antiquity Hvar Radosevic (East Med Profile) | Late Antiquity, c. 250-600 AD | 0.0196 |
| 7 | Turkey Anatolia Early Medieval Zeytinliada (Byzantine, East Med Profile) | Byzantine era, c. 330-1450 AD | 0.0200 |
| 8 | Croatia Roman Empire Trogir (East Med Profile) | Roman era, c. 1-400 AD | 0.0202 |
| 9 | Italy Basilicata Early Medieval Venosa (East Med Profile) | Early Medieval, c. 500-1000 AD | 0.0211 |
| 10 | Italy Lazio High Medieval Villa Magna (East Med Profile) | High Medieval, c. 1000-1300 AD | 0.0217 |
Ancient DNA from Greece
Our ancient DNA database holds 372 individuals excavated in present-day Greece, dated from about 7,567 BC to 1941 AD. The most frequent Y-DNA haplogroups among them are J2a (52), G2a (20) and R1b (20), and the most frequent mtDNA haplogroups are H (37), K1 (29) and T2 (24). These are people who lived on the same land in the past, not necessarily ancestors of today's Cretan population.
Most frequent Y-DNA haplogroups
| Haplogroup | Individuals | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| J2a | 52 | G37 Kou01 HGC006-035 |
| G2a | 20 | APO037 APO044 APO029 |
| R1b | 20 | CGG_2_023928_023929 CGG_2_105030 CGG_2_022398 |
| J1a | 11 | NST001 HGC002 HGC005 |
| I2a | 8 | NST004 G23 Sarakina02 |
| T1a | 7 | HGC010 HGC055-065 CGG_2_023831 |
| E1b | 6 | CGG_2_022415 GLI002 XAN016 |
| J2b | 6 | CGG_2_022411 MYG001 MYG006 |
Most frequent mtDNA haplogroups
| Haplogroup | Individuals | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| H | 37 | HGC045 Fr-63 Pta08 |
| K1 | 29 | Theo5 Theo1 Nea3 |
| T2 | 24 | CGG_2_023925 LAZ017 G76a |
| H1 | 22 | I0073 CGG_2_022370 CGG_2_023899 |
| H5 | 12 | G23 I0074 HGC017-023-029 |
| J1 | 12 | Pal7 G31 G62 |
| T1 | 11 | I3708 Minoan9H CGG_2_105030 |
| X2 | 11 | Rev5 XER01 XER05 |
Ancient DNA studies on Greece
- The plague of Athens (430–427 BC): Integration of historical, clinical, and ancient DNA data supports an invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica etiology (2026)
- Urban survival, population dynamics and historical transitions in Thessaloniki (316 BC-AD 1500) (2026)
- Uniparental analysis of Deep Maniot Greeks reveals genetic continuity from the pre-Medieval era (2026)
- Genetic affinities between an ancient Greek colony and its metropolis: the case of Amvrakia in western Greece (2025)
- A finely resolved phylogeny of Y chromosome Hg J illuminates the processes of Phoenician and Greek colonizations in the Mediterranean (2018)
- Genetic origins of the Minoans and Mycenaeans (2017)
- Early farmers from across Europe directly descended from Neolithic Aegeans (2015)
Browse them in our ancient DNA database: 372 from Greece.
Compare yourself with Cretan
Paste your G25 coordinates (scaled, one line, with or without a name in front) and we compute your genetic distance to the Cretan average and to its closest neighbours, right in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or stored.
| # | Population | Your distance | Closeness |
|---|
This list only covers Cretan and its neighbours. To find out which of our reports actually fits your DNA, run the free Report Finder: it runs the same fit test that every report uses before an order.
No G25 coordinates yet? Get a free simulated G25 from your raw DNA file, or order G25 coordinates.
About these numbers
Keep in mind that a population average is a statistical summary of a limited number of sampled individuals. Real people inside any group vary, some carry more of one ancestry and some less, and no genetic profile decides who is or is not Cretan. Use these numbers as a map of deep ancestry, not as a label.
Method: averaged G25 coordinates, Euclidean distances to other modern and ancient averages, and a non-negative least-squares model against deep ancestral reference populations (data generated 2026-10-01). Read the full method.
Go deeper than the average
This page describes the Cretan average. Your own DNA has its own story: Thalassa – Mediterranean Islander Report (15€) models your genome against the ancient sources and modern communities of the region, era by era, in a personal PDF report.
A report built for people of Mediterranean-island ancestry: ancient regional core (Minoan, Mycenaean, Nuragic Sardinian, Phoenician, Sicani, Daunian) versus non-regional outside admixture, across 9 communities (Sicilian, Sardinian, Maltese...
More populations from Southern Europe
Frequently asked questions
What is the ancient genetic make-up of Cretan?
Modelled with deep ancestral reference populations, the Cretan average is about 53.6% Anatolian Neolithic farmers, 20.9% Steppe herders (Yamnaya) and 9.4% Iranian Neolithic farmers. These proportions are model estimates for a group average, not exact values for any one person.
Which populations are genetically closest to Cretan?
Leaving aside other regional samples listed under the same name in the G25 sheet (such as Greek (Crete Muslim, Cretan Turk)), the closest modern populations to the Cretan average are Turkish (Crete), Italian (Calabria, Cosentian) and Calabrian. The closest ancient matches are Greece Late Modern Rethymno Adele, Italy Piedmont Early Medieval Lombard Period Collegno (East Med Profile) and Italy Lazio Late Antiquity Rome (East Med Profile).
Can a DNA test tell me if I am Cretan?
No DNA test can confirm an ethnicity or a nationality. What DNA can show is how similar your genome is to the sampled Cretan average and to its neighbours. If you have G25 coordinates, paste them in the comparison box on this page to check that for free.
Which ExploreYourDNA report suits Cretan ancestry?
For the Cretan average, the regional report to choose is Thalassa – Mediterranean Islander Report, which our fit test rates as an excellent match. Your own DNA may differ from the average, so the free Report Finder checks every report against your file before you buy.
Where does the data on this page come from?
From the averaged Global25 (G25) coordinates of the sampled individuals: genetic distances to other modern and ancient population averages, and a non-negative least-squares model against deep ancestral reference populations. The full method is described at https://www.exploreyourdna.com/populations#method.