Somewhat off-topic Introduction (Skip it if you only care about T-Z710)

Phoenicians are a topic of great interest in the genetic genealogy community, and rightfully so. The political and military feats of Hannibal, deemed one of the greatest generals of the ancient world, are awe-inspiring.

In the earlier days of J2b-L283 research, some of the oldest branching points were only found in Sardinians. The relative proximity of the Levant to the western Zagros Mountains where 10,000 year old AH2 was found, combined with the fact that other lineages of J2b were found throughout the Middle East naturally led to a theory that J2b-L283 itself may have been Phoenician-mediated.

This was before Bronze Age ancient DNA samples from the Balkans, Moldova and finally, the Kuma-Manych depression north of the Caucasus confirmed an overland migration to Europe linked to the Yamnaya. Something that was always problematic regarding the Phoenician theory for J2b-L283 was that even without ancient samples, the diversity in the western Balkans of Bronze Age lineages could not be plausibly explained by Phoenician migration, because they apparently never went there.

However, just as any links to Phoenicians seemed to be tenuous at best, came the discovery of two Iron Age ancient J2b-L283 samples from a Phoenician trading emporium of Kerkouane. Given that J2b-L283 were plying the Adriatic, Ionian and Tyrhennian Seas since the Late Bronze Age, it made sense that they may have come into contact with the Phoenicians. The possible interactions between ‘indigenous’ / ultimately western Balkans-derived J2b-L283 with Phoenicians is a story yet to be written. If there is interest, I’ll return to that in future post.

I gave a sneak peak here:

Iron Age J2b-L283>Z38240 Samples found in Phoenician city Kerkouane (Tunisia)

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Phoenicians vs Earlier or Later Migration? What to look for

There are several factors that should be considered to make an objective analysis:

• Age of the line (when it began to form and TMRCA)
• Geographic distribution of the line
• Geographic distribution of the line’s next closest relatives
• LBA East Mediterranean trade networks
• Phoenician colonization and trade networks
• Roman-mediated migration trends (recruitment, resettlement)

Despite being fascinated by our ancient ancestors and being an avid reader of the history of the Mediterranean and Near East, I’m a software engineer and not a subject matter expert on the ancient world. So I will focus my analysis on the first three topics. Nevertheless I’ll provide brief insight from my limited understanding of the Bronze Age trade networks, Phoenician colonization, and later vectors of Roman-mediated migration. I hope those with more knowledge may refine or correct some of my assumptions there.

Without Ancient DNA, the Exact Timing of a Migration Cannot be Proven, though it can be limited to an approximate interval

The best indicator of a Phoenician migration from the Levant to Europe would be:

• Iron Age TMRCA
• Distribution exclusively in areas of Phoenician colonization
• Next closest cousins found in Levant

Unfortunately, even if we have a lineage satisfying these three criteria, we cannot out of hand reject the possibility of later migration during the Roman era. This is because it is possible that when Romans recruited soldiers in Egypt, Syria, Isauria, or Armenia, they may have recruited several distantly related men who then co-migrated to Europe. In the event that these lines no longer have living descendants in the Near East or if they have not yet been tested, then we are missing the Roman Age distribution in the Near East that would belie an earlier Iron Age migration to Europe.

The best indicator for a Roman-mediated migration would be:

• Roman Age TMRCA
• Distribution exclusively in areas where Romans sent people or they migrated for own reasons
• Next closest cousins found in Near East

It must also be understood that the TMRCA estimates generally have a several hundred year 95% confidence interval. Given that the founding of Carthage is generally accepted as 814 BCE, the first waves of Phoenician migration to Europe stand a better chance of having TMRCA estimates significantly before the Roman Era. A TMRCA estimate of 2400 ybp is problematic because it appears equally likely to represent a time early in the Roman Era as it does the start of Phoenician colonization.

The Y-DNA Data

We’re going to look at NGS-tested samples who have indicated the location of their most distant known uniparental male line ancestor on the YFull tree.

We also have the HRAS mapping tool that I developed that helps visualize distribution and even computes a theoretical approximate origin and migration path. Note that HRAS does not factor specific known historical migrations into account nor make use of terrain features. So rather than ‘the final answer’, the computed origin/path feature should be regarded as a data discovery tool that haplogroup researchers and subject matter experts might use to fuse with other evidence that is more difficult to quantify and incorporate into an algorithm.

T-Z710 Likely Diversified During Ubaid and Uruk Period of Mesopotamia starting 6400 ybp

This line has a single ancient sample dating to the Iron Age on the FTDNA Time Tree called Abel Beth Maacah 2201 (I2201) from Metula, Israel dating to 1014-836 and ascribed to the Gallilean cultural group.

Given that the modern distribution and diversity peaks between Iraq, Syria and the Persian Gulf, I think it most likely that this line originated in Mesopotamia. The timing of the diversification corresponds to a known population explosion during the Ubaid Period and subsequent Uruk expansion throughout the Near East.

By the way, another lineage I have examined and also link to the Uruk expansion is J2b-M205. I made the video below two years ago and while there are are now substantially more samples from Iraq, Armenia and Eastern Anatolia found positive for J2b-M205, we still lack ancient samples from Mesopotamia to confirm the theory.

Why am I examining lineages of T-Z710 for potential Phoenician migration to Europe or Africa if it originated in southern Mesopotamia and not in Levant?

One of my clients asked me to examine a particular lineage of T-Z710 to determine whether a Phoenician migration was the best explanation.

While it did most likely originate in Mesopotamia, populations did move to the Levant during the Uruk expansion and there was extensive trade and forced population transfers, especially with the Assyrians. There is also hard proof that at least one man in this particular line migrated to the Levant, the Iron Age sample I2201 of the Gallilean cultural group.

Next we’ll examine particular lineages of T-Z710 with descendants found in Europe.

T-Y4981

There is a basal sample tracing his male line to Denmark. Being a single sample from an outlying location his proximal male line ancestry to Denmark should be confirmed by Y-DNA testing before coming to any conclusions regarding his possible ancient ancestors’ migration. With a TMRCA with men of the Near East / Caucasus of 3300 ybp, direct Phoenician migration would be a possibility for this particular sample only if they actually went to the North Sea, but indirect migration or later migrations such as Roman-mediated or Jewish cannot be ruled out.

T-Y4981>Y4958>BY83409

This line with a Syrian and Italian has TMRCA 2200 ybp so may be less likely to have been a Phoenician migration to Italy vs Roman-mediated, but cannot be completely ruled out.

T-Y4981>Y4958>Y5676>Y5674

The TMRCA of a Spaniard and men from the Persian Gulf is 1950 ybp making Roman or later migration the most likely.

T-BY53481

This 2700-year-old line consists of two men, one from Pesaro e Urbino, Italy and the other from Relizane, Algeria. While this part of Italy is on the Adriatic, far from any Phoenician colonies or trade networks, Hannibal’s forces did march across Italy from north to south. So it is possible that their MRCA was living in Carthage.

Interestingly the next closest relatives of these men are two Dungan speakers (a Hui subgroup) from Shandong and Hebei. Since Hui are a predominantly Muslim subgroup of Chinese, the ancestor of these two men may have been a direct descendant of one of the lines of men who introduced Islam to the Hui or at least the Dungan subgroup of Hui.

T-Y549079

This line consisting of a Syrian from Idlib and an Italian from Reggio Calabria has a TMRCA of 3700 ybp. The sample from Italy could descend from Carthaginians because they were invited by the Mamertines to provide protection to Messana against the Syracusans in 265 BC. However, a later migration cannot be ruled out.

T-CTS6280

None of the exclusively Iberian (T-Y32895) or Sardinian (T-YP5441) subclades of likely Bronze Age Near East origin T-CTS6280 have an old enough TMRCA to more clearly demonstrate that the migration to Europe was in the Iron Age. So while later migrations cannot be ruled out, these lines may have been Phoenicians, especially because we know Carthaginians colonized parts of Iberia and Sardinia.

The sample from Croatia is an outlier and might descend from Armenians who had been resettled in the Balkans by the Romans, as just one possibility.

T-Y31474

T-Y31474 is interesting because while it has a Late Bronze Age TMRCA, it is not found in any living people from the Levant. The closest is one anonymous sample from a scientific study from Turkey.

Two samples appear to possibly represent Phoenician migration to Europe.

The TMRCA of T-Y110311 is 3200 ybp, so the sample from Libya could descend from someone of this line who took part in the Phoenician colonization of Libya, though the migration could have been later.

I saw on FTDNA’s Time Tree that the sample from Sardinia is related to men from Poland and Belarus from a TMRCA who lived about 800 years ago. Based on the geography and context I would assume that their MRCA was Jewish but I don’t know anything more about the samples. So it makes sense to me that the MRCA of T-Y110311 may have been from a population that contributed to both Jewish and Phoenician populations.

Ireland is an outlier for this haplogroup so it would have been useful if the sample that formed a 900-year-old subclade with it had paid for the YFull analysis and marked their male line origin.

T-FT4925

T-FT4925 could ultimately descend from a Phoenician colonist in the Iberian Peninsula or a man who migrated to the area later, but prior to 200 CE plus or minus a few hundred years. Unless it was two related men who migrated there after that.

T-Y7794

This is a 3100 ybp TMRCA subclade that includes an Assyrian Neo-Aramaic language speaker from Hakkâri, the most southeastern province of Turkey. This could be indicative of an ancient Assyrian origin.

Basal sample YF075426 from Mexico – no relative within 3100 years, so it could be Phoenician or some later migration, by way of Iberia.

T-Y7794>FGC30201 basal sample ERS1444426 from UK – no relative within 3100 years, so it could be indirectly Phoenician (i.e. by way of Iberia) or some later migration. His next closest relatives include men from Lebanon and Iraq and a European Jewish line.

T-Y7794>Y11596 basal sample YF010013 from Cuba – no relative within 3100 years, so it could be Phoenician or some later migration, by way of Iberia.

T-CTS9882

Some of the men in this 4100-year-old TMRCA line may have been living among Canaanites by the Late Bronze Age but some may have been living in northern Mesopotamia and elsewhere. The ancient sample QED-2 from Lebanon only dates to 1712 years ago.

T-CTS9882>CTS6901 basal sample HG01133 from Colombia has no relatives within 3300 years so could have been a Phoenician or later migration, by way of Iberia.

T-CTS99882>CTS6901>Z18735>Y273415 basal sample YF087270 from Tennessee appears to ultimately descend from men either living in Armenia since 3300 ybp or who had migrated there later. I won’t speculate on his ancestral migration because there are too many ways to get to Tennessee, but his TMRCA does match the beginning of Phoenician colonization of the Mediterranean.

T-Y178113

The T-FT264142 sample from Chile may descend from Phoenicians by way of Iberia because his next closest relative is 2800 years distantly related. But the migration could have been later.

The Moroccan subclade T-FT64181 likely represents a migration to Morocco from the Near East sometime after 200 CE. Otherwise there would need to have been a back migration from whatever other place to Yemen for YF009579 which is closer to the ancient origin.

T-Y29990

This line is confusing because there are more samples from Europe than the Near East, yet the samples from the Near East still suggest that the MRCA of every subclade (except the exclusively Greek one) was living in the Near East.

For any of the subclades older than T-Y86494 to not have originated in the Near East would necessitate a migration from whatever other location back through the Near East to the UAE for YF002393.

This subclade has the only samples of T-Z710 on the YFull tree from Czechia and Albania. Until these samples find closer relatives, it will be difficult to preclude any type of migration though a good possibility is Roman-mediated. Romans moved a lot of Armenians to the Balkans during the Early Medieval period. It doesn’t make sense to scratch our heads too much on single outlier samples unless they form an outlier subclade with an age old enough to be interesting (i.e. precludes later migrations).

T-Y6412

There are too many possibilities to speculate on the deeper origin of this 350-year-old English subclade T-Y6412. Likely a missing WGS sample who didn’t pay for his analysis is the reason for the 1450 ybp TMRCA subclade T-Y6409.

These posts are the opinion of Hunter Provyn, a haplogroup researcher in J-M241 and J-M102.