What is the currently accepted explanation for the Sicilian/Ashkenazi genetic similarity?

[Taiga Lake]

Jews are Middle Eastern and Sicilians have Middle Eastern genes (mostly from the Muslim invasions).

[Styrian Mujo]

Southern Italians have plenty of Jewish ancestry.

[Longbowman]

Jews are Middle Eastern and Sicilians have Middle Eastern genes (mostly from the Muslim invasions).

Not wholly and probably not even majorly.

Jews don't plot with other Jewish groups.

[Sikeliot]

I misclicked, but Dawson is right - North Italians with some Levantine is probably the most accurate.

This would place them in Sicily then. Because Sicilians come up half Levantine half North Italian on calculators.

[dawson]

This would place them in Sicily then. Because Sicilians come up half Levantine half North Italian on calculators.

Do you like feeding trolls with your silly threads? Check out reliable sources before starting something.

[Sikeliot]

Do you like feeding trolls with your silly threads? Check out reliable sources before starting something.

Credible sources back me up actually.

[Hamlet]

Longbowman what do you think about the idea that AJs and SJs are ultimately from different ancestors - maternally we know AJs are from 4 Italian women - three of haplogroup K and one of haplogroup N1b. Incidentally, K has been associated with higher brain pH levels, which supposedly strengthens/increases neural connectivity - thereby increasing intelligence. Don't know how credible that is. Paternally, AJs are Levantine, as are SJs, so the current theory is that the group split when some male Jews married some non-Jews et viola - Ashkenazi was born. However, AJs and SJs vary dramatically in terms of cephalic index - with Sephardim having low and Ashkenazim having high cephalic indexes respectively. Moreover, facial features seem rather different, with Ashkenazi Jews having more hooked noses with a noticeably thicker bottom lip (as with mine) whilst Sephardi Jews have straighter noses with far thinner lips. Could it be, that Sephardi Jews are true Hebrews (with admixture however), whilst Ashkenazi Jews are Jews who - on the way, during, and on the way back from the exile in Babylonia - mixed an awful lot with some kind of group, potentially Armenoids. However, some guys found skulls of the Hebrews and of very old AJs, and both were brachycephalic. Maybe the AJs are the true Hebrews, and SJs are merely Arabs. Whatever the case, in my opinion, it is clear the AJs and SJs are not from the same parent race - due to general appearance but also a stark contrast in cephalic index. If I had to guess, I would say that AJs are more related to Kurds and Druze (and Greco-Romans, who shared Northern Middle-Eastern DNA (Syria, Armenia, Eastern Turkey etc.)) due to the sharing of Haplogroup K, and that SJs are more related to true Middle-Easterners due to the similar appearances. I'm likely wrong. However, one of the four haplogroups of AJs was N1b, which is of Turkic origin. Could this haplogroup be of Khazarian origin? I have no clue - I just want to know what you think, Longbowman (I am anticipating that you correct me A LOT; you know a lot more about this than me). Thanks!

[Hamlet]

And dawson - I have long been an admirer of the Northern Italian type - in my opinion the best type of European you can get* (for sure in IQ, but also the North Italians are VERY creative). At my school there are a couple of Italians (Northern) and they always come up with the best ideas, but Ashkenazi Jews would still beat them in an IQ test

*IMO best type of European is the one you get in central central europe - i.e. bavaria, austria, northern italy and switzerland. they also produce the best scientists inventors etc. of all the europeans. no offence sikeliot lol

[Sikeliot]

Sicilians are just as smart as Jews but they don't use that gift as wisely.

[Hamlet]

hmm. i don't know about that. sicily averages an IQ of 90, whilst AJs average around 115 (more like 112 but whatever). however, i guess you could have pride in being clustered closely with what we think the greco-romans were (as well as some of the modern greeks and cypriots), as the romans and mainly the greeks are like the wet dream of europe