r/JewishDNA

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13026783/

The Black Death pandemic, combined with the antisemitic climate of 14th-century Europe, led to widespread violence against Jewish communities, including pogroms such as the one in 1348 in Tàrrega (Catalonia, Spain). In the Roquetes necropolis of Tàrrega, six communal graves containing at least sixty-nine individuals, with signs of violence, were dated to the mid-14th century.

It was determined that this was a non-familial mass burial event: no first- or second-degree genetic kinship was found among analyzed individuals, and a significant fraction of the broader burial assemblage exhibits perimortem cranial trauma, indicating significant physical violence they endured prior to death.

The Roquetes individuals show high mitochondrial diversity (haplogroups H, J, K, L, M, R, U), contrasting with the narrow mtDNA spectra documented in medieval Ashkenazi communities at Erfurt (Germany), where strong founder effects and drift operated [20], and at Norwich, where elevated levels of consanguinity could also have influenced the genetic drift [21].

Among the four male victims, the study detected J2 (J2a2a1~*), E (E-CTS9507; E-Y231455), and G (G-PH1944/FT19393) haplogroups. These lineages have deep Neolithic–Bronze Age roots in the Eastern Mediterranean/Levant and adjacent regions and are frequent in Jewish diaspora groups [19,66,77,78]. The recurrence of E1b1b-lineages in medieval Jewish cemeteries (Erfurt, Norwich) and the presence of J and G among present-day Jewish groups further underscore continuity from Levantine–Mediterranean ancestry sources [20,21,78,79,80].

qpAdm identifies two-way models that fit the Roquetes population as a mixture of Canaan (labeled as Israel Middle/Late Bronze Age) and non-Jewish non-Islamic medieval Iberian populations (p = 0.158), with point estimates around ~0.69 for Levantine ancestry and ~0.31 for Iberian medieval ancestry. Among one-way models, only the Erfurt subgroup with Middle Eastern affinity is marginally plausible (p = 0.098), consistent with a Levantine-centered core plus Iberian admixture. Together, these results indicate that the Roquetes victims preserved a distinctively Jewish genetic signature while incorporating local Iberian ancestry.

Hello , I have a question since I am bit confused with my results. As I am pusrto ricans, I was thought in school we only have Spanish, Indigenous Taino and Western/ Central African ancestries. Since the moment I had my results in my dna both in AncestryDna and 23and me. 23 and me does not give me jewish but some northern adrican ancestry. While Ancestrydna give me like 3% Ashkenazi Jew and 2% Sephardic Jews. The problem is I don't have my full family tree set yet. So I cannot confirm or deny anything. But I would some explanation of this or help me clear it up a bit. You can dms me if you want and discuss it better.

TLDR: Qpadm was used to model the Jew_Iranian.HO sample from the Human Origins dataset. Around 70 runs total were completed. These are the best of those runs. The statistically strongest models were achieved with the two way models you see below. Note that the Bahrain genetic samples used in the models are genetically closest to ancient Mesopotamian samples. The runs with Levantine components were not as strongly supported as the two way models below.

Two way models (statistically the strongest):

Model: Jew_Iranian.HO
Sources: Bahrain_LTyLos_Sasanian 84.1%, Turkey_Central_Kalehoyuk_AssyrianColonyPeriod 15.9%
p = 0.786
chisq = 7.99
Status: PASS
Analysis: It has a very high p-value, good chisq, and both components are supported. It is also simple because it is only a 2-way model. The Bahrain/Tylos source captures the main ancestry, while the Kalehoyuk Assyrian Colony source adds a meaningful secondary Anatolian/Northern Mesopotamian-like component.

Model: Jew_Iranian.HO
Sources: Bahrain_LTyLos_Sasanian 85.7%, Turkey_BlackSea_Samsun_Ancient_A 14.3%
p = 0.786
chisq = 7.99
Status: PASS
Analysis: This is statistically a good 2-way model. The Turkey_BlackSea_Samsun source is a little less directly interpretable for Jew_Iranian than the Assyrian Colony Period source. Still, it is a strong model.

Model: Jew_Iranian.HO
Sources: Bahrain_LTyLos_Sasanian 85.4%, Turkey_Central_Kalehoyuk_OldHittitePeriod 14.6%
p = 0.672
chisq = 9.36
Status: PASS
Analysis: This passes comfortably, and the secondary Turkey/Kalehoyuk Old Hittite component is meaningful. It is usable, but not the best of the batch.

Three way models: Statistically weaker than the two way models. The smaller components (Levant, Armenia, Georgia) are not strongly supported.

Model: Jew_Iranian.HO
Sources: Bahrain_EMTylos_SeleucidCharacene 65.2%, Georgia_Nazarlebi_LBA_lc 12.3%, Lebanon_IA2 22.5%
p = 0.723
chisq = 5.32
Status: PASS
Analysis: The p-value is high and the chisq is low, so the statistical fit is strong. The main caution is that the smaller Georgia and Lebanon components are not strongly supported, so the exact 12.3% and 22.5% values should be treated cautiously.

Model: Jew_Iranian.HO
Sources: Bahrain_EMTylos_SeleucidCharacene 57.2%, Armenia_Dzori_Gekh_LBA 23.9%, Lebanon_EjJaouze_Phoenician 18.9%
p = 0.702
chisq = 8.13
Status: PASS
Analysis: This is a good 3-way model and gives a more detailed breakdown: Bahrain/Characene-like, Armenian/Caucasus-like, and Phoenician/Levantine-like. The fit is good, but the Lebanon_EjJaouze component is not as strongly supported as the main Bahrain component, so the exact percentage should be treated cautiously.

Model: Jew_Iranian.HO
Sources: Bahrain_EMTylos_SeleucidCharacene 71.9%, Georgia_Nazarlebi_LBA_lc 14.7%, Israel_Ashkelon_IA2 13.4%
p = 0.777
chisq = 7.27
Status: PASS
Analysis: This has one of the highest p-values in the batch, so the raw fit is strong. However, the Georgia and Ashkelon components are weaker than the main Bahrain component, especially the Ashkelon component.

In qpAdm, the p-value indicates whether the model is rejected or not; generally, p > 0.05 is considered a passing model, while a higher p-value means the model is a more comfortable fit.

The chisq value measures how much mismatch there is between the proposed model and the genetic data, so lower chisq is generally better when comparing similar models using the same Right/outgroup set. The weights are the estimated ancestry proportions assigned to each source population.

The SE, or standard error, shows how uncertain each weight is; smaller SE means the percentage is more stable, while large SE means the exact percentage should be treated cautiously.

The Z-score is roughly the weight divided by its SE, and it shows how strongly that source is supported in the model; higher Z-scores, especially around 2 or above, suggest the component is more meaningful, while very low Z-scores can mean the source is weak, unstable, or not really required.

These qpAdm results should still be read as proxy models rather than literal ancestry percentages, because ancient samples are being used to represent broader ancestry streams rather than exact direct ancestors.

Edit: The images for these runs are best viewed within the Reddit app on a smartphone. The resolution is poor on desktop view using laptop or Chrome/ Firefox.

Khazar 8-10 century

5/8 Ashkenazi Jewish, 1/8 Krymchak, 3/16 Russian, 1/16 Estonian (lol at the level of detail). Been in a bit of a rabbit-hole trying to create a model for Krymchak Jews these past few months, since I grew up with parts of the culture in my household.

I used both my Raw DNA file and my G25 coordinates for the AncestralGenome results.

I’ve seen comments here arguing that the Italian and Germanic used in typical models are inflated in place of a southern French-like population, so I replaced them with Roman Gaul along with Greece to account for Greco-Anatolian admixture absorbed in antiquity.

Does this seem accurate for someone of mixed Ashkenazi and North African Sephardic ancestry?

I’m 5/8 Ashkenazi, 1/8 Krymchak, and 1/4 Russian. To my understanding, I have some Mesopotamian Jewish and Romaniote ancestry, although it is probably very small since it is within the Krymchak component. The mixed calculator wasn’t too great, especially since it prefers to assign me Illyrian over Italian, probably because I’m east-shifted, but I’ll try again later.