2016/05/25 by Elizabeth Matisoo‐Smith, Anna L. Gosling, James Boocock +7 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Arts and Humanities · #Forensic and Genetic Research #Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies #Phoenician #Haplogroup #Peninsula #Mitochondrial DNA #Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup #Geography #Mediterranean climate #Haplotype #Ancient history #Range (aeronautics) #Biology #Archaeology #History #Genetics #Genotype #Gene
paper · pdf · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155046
openalex publication_date 2016/05/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
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.