The original Sicilians were Irish-like, not Cypriot-like according to new "World Ancestry" site!

[Sikeliot]

I would find it hard to believe this is accurate but this is what it says:

http://admixturemap.paintmychromosomes.com/

Go to "East Sicily" under Target Population.

Assuming it is correct it tells you within 95% confidence which types of genes entered at different times.

What it calls "Event 2" occurred approximately 654 BCE, meaning just prior to ancient Greek settlement really took off, and before the Carthaginians really gained a strong presence in the region.

Now looking at the admixture you see Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Norwegian, etc. and then some Eastern European groups appear, suggesting that at 654 BCE, the population of eastern Sicily was largely Northern European-like.

"Mediterranean Analysis" shows a population shift in 1110 CE, during the Arab rule. It is during this time that the region gets MOST of its Near Eastern and Mediterranean character including genes shared with Turks, Armenians, and Saudis as well as a large (12%) influx from a Cypriot-like people.

Now select "Event 1", which would have occurred at or slightly before 1474 CE which would have been during Ottoman rule of the Near East. Now you see Greek, Cypriot, Jordanian, and a host of inputs from a bunch of Near Eastern and North African countries coming through once again, suggesting that the population became progressively more Near Eastern, probably during the Byzantine era and the Arab conquests as people from all over the Near East came to settle there. You also see an influx from Northern Italy corresponding with Lombards. This shift was probably due to the fact that Levantine Christians and Greeks living in Turkey had begun migrating west.

This is the exact opposite to what one would expect. People normally say that the population would have been more Near Eastern, and gotten progressively more European with the inputs of Normans, Goths, etc. Apparently not!

[StonyArabia]

That site has a lot of issues I would not see it as accurate, concerning many groups.

[Hanibalas Lekteris]

As I said, take the whole thing with a bit of skepticism in mind.
This is a fun tool, but it will never be able to tell us what actually happened.

We need aDNA to make such pronouncements.

[Sikeliot]

This is VERY surprising to me if it is true. It basically means that Sicilians get their strong Near Eastern character from a series of migrations to the island within the last 2000 years probably under Byzantine and Arab rule.

I think this may be accurate though because it places for Morocco, the influx of Spanish genes at 1502 which IS right when it would have happened, in 1492.

[Tooting Carmen]

This looks very questionable to me. This is only one study and is far from conclusive.

[Sikeliot]

This looks very questionable to me. This is only one study and is far from conclusive.

It seemed to correctly place when Morocco got their Spanish-like genes though, but I agree. This is very inconsistent with what I have traditionally believed and is inconsistent with the documented history.

And if it is true it gives validation to all the people who say we "used to be blue eyed blondes until the Moors came".

[Hanibalas Lekteris]

This is VERY surprising to me if it is true. It basically means that Sicilians get their strong Near Eastern character from a series of migrations to the island within the last 2000 years probably under Byzantine and Arab rule.

I think this may be accurate though because it places for Morocco, the influx of Spanish genes at 1502 which IS right when it would have happened, in 1492.

We need the smoking gun to be sure of anything in Population Genetics, no matter how legitimate the methods are: We are still looking at modern-day populations.

[wvwvw]

Greeks were the real ancestors of Mayas

[alfieb]

According to that study, the largest component in Western Sicilian DNA is French-like, while the largest component in Eastern Sicilian DNA is Northern Italian-like.

But it all goes to shit when it says that Western Sicilians are more Greek than Eastern Sicilians are.

As a Western Sicilian who has been rather open about thinking that Eastern Sicilians are more attractive as a whole, I wholly repudiate their claim. Wishful thinking!