DNA Legacy of Ancient Seafarers

By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News 

The Phoenicians took their alphabet with them on their travels

Scientists have used DNA to re-trace the migrations of a sea-faring civilisation which dominated the Mediterranean thousands of years ago. 

The Phoenicians were an enterprising maritime people from the territory of modern-day Lebanon. 

They established a trading empire throughout the Mediterranean Sea in the first millennium BC. 

A new study by an international team has now revealed the genetic legacy they imparted to modern populations. 

The researchers estimate that as many as one in 17 men from the Mediterranean may have Phoenician ancestry. 

When we started, we knew nothing about the genetics of the Phoenicians Chris Tyler-Smith Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute They employed a new analytical technique to detect the subtle genetic imprint of historical migrations in present-day people. The study included DNA data from more than 6,000 men from around the Mediterranean. 

From their base in present-day Lebanon, the Phoenicians spread out across the sea, founding colonies and trading posts as far afield as Spain and North Africa, where their most powerful city - Carthage - was located. 

Carthage spawned the audacious military commander Hannibal, who marched an army over the Alps to challenge the Roman Republic on its own territory. 

The Phoenicians have been described as the world's first "global capitalists". They controlled trade throughout the Mediterranean basin for nearly 1,000 years until finally being conquered by the Romans. 

Over subsequent centuries, much of what was known about these enigmatic people was lost or destroyed.    Read More