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Avotaynu Plans A Sephardi Y-DNA Study at the Seattle IAJGS Conference

Filed Under Collaboration, DNA Studies, Mediterranean, Türkiye, Ελλάδα By Adam Brown on August 5, 2016

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The Avotaynu DNA Project managed by Adam Brown, Raquel Levy-Toledano and Michael Waas of the non-profit Avotaynu Research Partnership LLC has entered its second phase and now seeks male participants for a study of Eastern Sephardi paternal yDNA lineages, specifically men whose family directly descends through Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Rhodes and related areas. Eligible participants must be direct paternal line descendants of members of the eastern Mediterranean.

Adam Brown, a representative of the study team will be in Seattle at the conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies at the Seattle Sheraton from Friday 8/5 through Friday 8/12 and will be happy to meet with any individual or group which wishes to participate either at the Sheraton or at another location in Seattle of your choosing.  Please contact Adam at AdamBrown@AvotaynuDNA.org for more information or to make an appointment.

The project aims to shed light on the origins of the Sephardim and to establish a strong dataset of DNA results, grounded in archival research, in order to stimulate further intensive studies. At least 50 men will be tested. Participants must supply a paternal genealogy with as much information as possible. DNA testing kits will be provided at no cost. Individual privacy will be protected and the results of the study will be published.

A detailed study protocol can be found here: http://adam.learnpress.esy.es/a-genetic-study-of-eastern-sephardic-jewish-men/

Relevance: A DNA study may offer insight into the early international distribution of the Sephardi community as well as the genetic origins of its parent Iberian Jewish community. Alongside genealogical research adhering to the Genealogical Proof Standard, historical research and other academic disciplines, this can then serve as an anchor for a more extensive study of former Iberian Jewish populations. Given the relatively limited number of generations – corresponding autosomal markers in this cohort may serve in the future as a bi-parental marker reference for population admixture.

 

Related posts:

  1. The Avotaynu DNA Project Advances to Its Second Phase
  2. Guiding Principles of the Avotaynu DNA Project
  3. Avotaynu DNA Seeks Sephardi & Mizrahi Study Participants!
  4. The Avotaynu DNA Global Census of the Jewish People – March 2020 Update

About Adam Brown

Adam Brown is the founder and director of the Avotaynu DNA Project, an academic multi-disciplinary study of the origins and migrations of the Jewish people with over 12,000 participants.

Adam is a lawyer is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago Law School, and serves on numerous government, scientific research, and academic non-profit boards and commissions.

He has spoken widely on the subject of Jewish history and migrations at conferences, in publications, and online. He was the Co-Chair of the 2017 Conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) in Orlando.

Adam worked two seasons at a remote field camp deep in the interior of Antarctica. He returned to the region during 2016 as part of a multi-national scientific expedition that traveled 5,800 miles by sea to and from ice-covered yet volcanic Heard Island, a rarely visited pristine habitat in the stormy Southern Indian Ocean halfway between Australia and South Africa.

Adam lives seasonally in Englewood NJ and on Martha's Vineyard Island.

Comments

  1. Joseph Chadajo says

    August 26, 2016 at 10:09 pm

    I recently sent in my DNA sample to ancestry.com for analysis.
    My father and his father came from Thessaloniki, Greece; I do not know how far back.
    Before that Spain and before that my guess is Aleppo, Syria.
    Would you be interested in having my DNA in your study?
    Thank you,
    Joe

  2. Susan nee Eden ( Edelstein) says

    August 27, 2016 at 5:47 am

    Hello there,

    I have recently sent in my DNA sample. Although my mother’s side (Plapinger) is Askanasic and hails from Europe, i am really excited to find out about the Edelstein background of my father. All i know is the little i was told, as my father and his father were far from close. He would not speak about him. His father died when my father was 13, so i am looking forward to find out about my DNA. At some point i will have to research the Cohen side of my family. My great-ggrandfather was ha Cohen and his wife for whom i am named was ha Cohen too. Another name i have to research is Bernstein. That is my the other side of Dad’s family.

  3. Lee Amon says

    May 29, 2017 at 12:38 pm

    Joseph

    My family (all 4 of my grandparents) is also from Thessaloniki

    If the names Amon, Bourla, Hazan, or Bueno connect with you, please contact me at

    leeamon (at) pacbell (dot) net

  4. Lee Amon says

    May 29, 2017 at 12:44 pm

    I have a sample at 23 and me. My grandparents (all 4) came from Thessaloniki in the early 1900s (around the time of WWI) – They referred to it as Salonika – as it was part of Turkey (Ottoman?) at the time they left

    I know that my father’s grandfather also lived in Salonika – I am currently 60 and my father would be 93 if he were alive – (born in 1924) – I assume his grandfather would have been born in the 1870s-1880s

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