How much European ancestry do Maronites have?

**chinshen** · 07-21-2021, 09:39 PM

Originally Posted by Annie999

My christian Lebanese great grandpa had european facial traits, and also light eyes and hair, so we suspected he might have been european by blood, at least partially. But our own DNA results proved he was unmistakably middle easterner. How do we know? Because my mom inherited 25% of middle eastern blood from him, and that’s about the amount a grandchild would get from a grandpa who was 100% middle easterner.

Light skin, eyes and hair are definitely more common among Europeans and not that common among Middle Eastern populations, but that does not mean they are totally absent in the Middle East.

ME individuals with those traits doesn't necessarily mean they have any recent European ancestry, at least not from the last five to ten thousand years.

**Eline_Shamoun** · 07-21-2021, 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by Annie999

My christian Lebanese great grandpa had european facial traits, and also light eyes and hair, so we suspected he might have been european by blood, at least partially. But our own DNA results proved he was unmistakably middle easterner. How do we know? Because my mom inherited 25% of middle eastern blood from him, and that’s about the amount a grandchild would get from a grandpa who was 100% middle easterner.

That's similar to my case. I have green eyes and brown hair, although my 23andme test says I'm 100% Levantine.

**Eline_Shamoun** · 07-21-2021, 09:59 PM

Maronites are 0% European—in my DNA test, I got 100% Levantine.

**chinshen** · 07-21-2021, 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by Eline_Shamoun

Maronites are 0% European—in my DNA test, I got 100% Levantine.

I got 1.1% Levantine.

**Leto** · 07-22-2021, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by Eline_Shamoun

That's similar to my case. I have green eyes and brown hair, although my 23andme test says I'm 100% Levantine.

Originally Posted by Eline_Shamoun

Maronites are 0% European—in my DNA test, I got 100% Levantine.

Are you on Gedmatch? Post your Euro K13, K15, Dodecad K12b if you can.

**Eline_Shamoun** · 07-24-2021, 01:09 AM

Originally Posted by Leto

Are you on Gedmatch? Post your Euro K13, K15, Dodecad K12b if you can.

I don't know how to use this site. Any tutorials?

**Leto** · 07-24-2021, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by Eline_Shamoun

I don't know how to use this site. Any tutorials?

I'm sure there's one on Gedmatch.com. But it's very simple — download your raw data from 23andme, go to Gedmatch, sign up there, click upload data or something like that and check the necessary options.