How much Arab influence is there in Sicilians?

**Sunphq** · 05-01-2013, 09:13 AM

In all seriousness it's actually quite hard to measure. Even the Y-DNA haplogroups which could be "Saracen", might not be. They need to compare the STR markers of Sicilians with Tunisians who share the same haplogroup.

There's definitely an ancient genetic connection with Sicilians and North Africans, and it's probably on the maternal side, rather. The presence of the mtdna U6.

**glass** · 05-01-2013, 09:30 AM

sicilians are italianized mix between arabs and negroes

**alfieb** · 05-01-2013, 09:52 AM

Right. And Russians are a Bulgarized mix between Tatars and Finns. :icon_yawn:

**~~Sikeliot~~** · 05-11-2013, 03:55 AM

The truth is that the Saracen invasion of Sicily likely did not contribute much to the genes. It was mostly a military conquest.

However, Sicilians do have a fair amount of ancestry that traces back to ancient times and also the Neolithic, but it is not "Arab" but rather ancient Levantine (from Phoenicians, Carthaginians) and from the original Neolithic farmers. Approximately 25% of Sicilians are haplogroup J2, and then another 18% or so are E1b1b, a smaller amount (7% or so) are G2 which is from the Caucasus, etc. On the paternal side Sicilians are mostly "Neolithic".

So, how much Arab ancestry is there as in, Arabian? Not much. If you think Sicilians look Arab it is because many of today's "Arabs" (Lebanese, northern Iraqis, etc.) are Arabized people who look not much different than the Neolithic farmers who have contributed approximately half of the Sicilian gene pool. The other half is of course Italic, Norman, Greek, etc.

However there may be an ancient connection to North Africa. Almost all Sicilians in DNA tests have small (2-5%) North African affinity, which is stabilized and likely ancient.

If one thing is clear it's that today's Sicilians are probably more 'European' genetically than the population would have been 2000 years ago, due to the influence of Normans, mainland Italians etc.