Shutterstock
The mysterious origin of Ashkenazi Jews was disbanded by scientists through ancient DNA
Eran Elhaik
TALK
Where did the Jews come from? This question has been studied by anthropologists, historians and theologians for millennia.
According to mythology, the Judeans descended from 3 patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who are buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs (Machela Cave) in Hebron – Palestinian city and World Heritage Site located in the South West Bank, 19 miles south of Jerusalem.
Adam and Eve and 4 Matriarchines, Sarah, Rebecca and Lea, are buried next to them. The cave has never been discovered, but at its highest stands a comparatively modern building (from the mediate of the first century), which Herod the large built – most likely in honor of his ancestors.
For a more technological look at the debate on judaic origin, a fresh DNA analysis of Ashkenazi Jews – a judaic cultural group – has shown that their maternal line is European. It was besides found that their DNA has only 3% of ancient origin, which links them to the east Mediterranean (also known as the mediate East) – Israel, Lebanon, parts of Syria and Western Jordan. It was from this part of the world, according to the Old Testament, that Jews came. But 3% is simply a minimum and akin to what contemporary Europeans as a full share with Neanderthals. Given that genetic connections are so low, the most fresh ancestors of Ashkenazi Jews must come from another place.
Not 1 but many tribes
To realize why this is the case, we request to go back in time and see where these another ancestors came from. It begins in Persia (today Iran) in the 6th century. It's right there. Most Jews in the planet lived At the time.
Tolerance of the Persians encouraged Jews to accept Persian names, words, traditions and spiritual practices and to climb the social ladder, acquiring a monopoly on trade. They besides converted another people surviving on the Black Sea for their judaic faith. It helped. Expand their global network contacts.
Among these converts were the Alans (nomads, nomads, paternal peoples), Greeks and Slavs inhabiting the confederate coasts of the Black Sea. After conversion They translated the Old Testament into Greek, they built synagogues and continued to grow the judaic trade network.
These Jews accepted the name Ashkenaz, and the DNA of Ashkenazi Jews can be traced to "Ancient Ashkenaz" – the intersection of trade routes in east Turkey.
Rise in Ashina's popularity
We now know that at a time erstwhile these Jews took the name Ashkenaz, they besides acquired unique Asian mutations on the Y chromosome. And here comes another crucial group of people from our past – they are called Gok-Turks.
W 6th century These nomadic peoples were ruled by a Siberian Turkish tribe called Ashina. They were forced by Tang's Chinese Empire – which then ruled in China – to migrate westward, towards the Black Sea.
Thanks to their organizational and military skills, Ashina united many tribes in the area – and a fresh empire called "Chazar" Chazar was born. By offering freedom of religion and imposing taxes on trade, these people rapidly gained power.
Asian DNA mutation group, occurring in Ashkenazi Jews, most likely comes from elites Ashina and another Chazarian clans who have gone from shamanism to Judaism. This means that the Ashina clans and the Chazars core were absorbed by Ashkenazi Jews.
It was at this time that the judaic elite accepted many Slavic customs. Based on my earlier research, I propose that Yiddish was developed as a secret language supporting trade.
Next Chapter
What happened then was that the judaic empire began to fall apart. In the 10th century, Jews on the Black Sea migrated to Ukraine and Italy. Yiddish became lingua of these Ashkenazi Jews and assimilated German words while maintaining grammar Slavic. And erstwhile planet trade came to the hands of the Italians, the Dutch and the English, Jews were moved aside.
It all shows that thanks modern technologyGenetic – which allows scientists follow the past modern people – you can discover a fresh appreciation of judaic origin.
This meant a better knowing of the journeys that these people defeated to scope Europe. This besides allowed more cognition of the crucial function played by the Ashina and Chazar clans – from which any actual judaic patriarchs actually came.
https://theconversation.com/ashkenazic-jews-mysterious-origins-unravelled-by-scientists-thanks-to-ancient-dna-97962
