A European Mitochondrial Haplotype Identified in Ancient Phoenician Remains from Carthage, North Africa

Abstract

While Phoenician culture and trade networks had a significant impact on Western civilizations, we know little about the Phoenicians themselves. In 1994, a Punic burial crypt was discovered on Byrsa Hill, near the entry to the National Museum of Carthage in Tunisia. Inside this crypt were the remains of a young man along with a range of burial goods, all dating to the late 6th century BCE. Here we describe the complete mitochondrial genome recovered from the Young Man of Byrsa and identify that he carried a rare European haplogroup, likely linking his maternal ancestry to Phoenician influenced locations somewhere on the North Mediterranean coast, the islands of the Mediterranean or the Iberian Peninsula. This result not only provides the first direct ancient DNA evidence of a Phoenician individual but the earliest evidence of a European mitochondrial haplogroup, U5b2c1, in North Africa.

Mitochondrial variability in the Mediterranean area: a complex stage for human migrations

“…For example, Figure 8. Phylogeny tree built with K haplogroup complete mtDNA sequences available in MitoTool database (Fan & Yao, 2013) and Mediterranean ancient people (Table 1) Phoenician commercial trade could have contributed to the genetic affinity between Middle-Eastern regions and the Western fringe of Europe and North Africa (Carpenter, 1958;Matisoo-Smith et al, 2016). The partial similarity in North Africans gives another hint: Carthage was located in Tunisia and dominated for a long time (Matisoo-Smith et al, 2016), even though the Berbers genetically and culturally influenced Algerian and Moroccan populations (Brett & Fentress, 1996), supporting their mitochondrial genetic affinity ( Figures 5 and 6).…”

“…In an effort to discern the complete mitochondrial genome of a Phoenician from Carthage, Matisoo-Smith et al 2016identified the U5b2c1 haplogroup; this finding was particularly interesting because no other U5b2c haplotypes have been recorded in North Africa and currently this haplogroup is found in only a few modern populations (Behar et al, 2012;Herrnstadt et al, 2002;Marques et al, 2015). Remarkably, this lineage seems to be linked to Iberian populations, where western hunter-gatherer mtDNA lineages, including U5b2c1, resisted the Eurasian Steppe-derived replacement (Haak et al, 2015;Hervella et al, 2012) and might have moved to North Africa (Matisoo-Smith et al, 2016). Indeed, multiple population movements seem to have occurred in the Africa/Iberian Peninsula region, connected at the narrow Strait of Gibraltar (a 14 km-wide marine barrier).…”

Mitogenomes illuminate the origin and migration patterns of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands

“…Some authors think Phoenicians also had the navigational technology required to reach the Canary Islands [95,96], although this idea has been challenged [97]. The first Phoenician aDNA sample published was a complete mtDNA sequence of a child from Carthage dated to the 6 th century BC [98]. This Carthaginian sample was classified within U5b2c1 haplogroup.…”

Genetics and genomic medicine in Tunisia

“…DNA extracted from a small bone sample was used for the first complete ancient Phoenician mitochondrial genome study. An international team of researchers showed that the mitochondrial genome of this “young man of Byrsa” belongs to the haplogroup U5b2c1, a European derived haplotype absent in North Africa and in Lebanese (Matisoo‐Smith et al., ). Data from other remain throughout the Mediterranean will help us understand the origin of Phoenicians and trace their migrations.…”