Republication from phys.org/

A general view of the Tel Megiddo site. Credit: Megiddo Expedition

The people who lived in the area known as the Southern Levant—which is now recognized as Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Lebanon, and parts of Syria—during the Bronze Age (circa 3500-1150 BCE) are referred to in ancient biblical texts as the Canaanites. Now, researchers reporting in the journal Cell on May 28 have new insight into the Canaanites’ history based on a new genome-wide analysis of ancient DNA collected from 73 individuals.

“Populations in the Southern Levant during the Bronze Age were not static,” says Liran Carmel of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “Rather, we observe evidence for the movement of people over long periods of time from the northeast of the Ancient Near East, including modern Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, into the Southern Levant region.

“The Canaanites, albeit living in different city-states, were culturally and genetically similar,” he adds. “In addition, this region has witnessed many later movements, with people coming from the northeast, from the south, and from the northwest.”

Carmel and colleagues came to these conclusions based on an analysis of 73 new ancient DNA samples representing mainly Middle-to-Late Bronze Age individuals from five across the Southern Levant. To these new data, the researchers added previously reported data from 20 individuals from four sites to generate a dataset of 93 individuals. The genomic analysis showed that the Canaanites do represent a clear group.

continue reading