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"Norman Sicily stood forth in Europe --and indeed in the whole bigoted medieval world-- as an example
of tolerance and enlightenment, a lesson in the respect that every man should feel for those whose blood
and beliefs happen to differ from his own."
-- John Julius Norwich, The Kingdom in the Sun 1970
"Sicilians are a diverse people, having had contact with a great variety of ethnic stocks and physical types
throughout the centuries."
-- Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 10, page 779 1997
Genes and populations.The most personal of biological sciences,
genetics influence everything about who we are. Our appearance,
talents and health - even our identities - are all shaped to a great
extent by the genes we inherited through our parents. Perhaps for this
reason, the topic often provokes strong emotions and opinions. This
very simplified overview is not intended as a detailed scientific or
sociological treatise, nor is it intended for research purposes. (For
insights into population genetics, works such as those of the
distinguished geneticist Luigi L. Cavalli-Sforza should be consulted;
Matt Ridley's Genome is a good introduction for the layman; Steven
Oppenheimer's Out of Eden and Spencer Wells' The Journey of Man place
pre-historic human migration in perspective.) First, let's define a
few terms. Ethnology generally refers to the social study of peoples
and the comparative differences among them, in view of culture,
history and traditions; ethnography is a methodical identification of
peoples based on ethnology. Genealogy is the historical study of
ancestral lineages, descent and kinship. As a research tool, genealogy
is quite useful in genetic studies, but social concepts such as
consanguinity ("blood" relationships between people descended from the
same ancestor) are not, strictly speaking, biological in nature. In a
place as ethnically diverse as Sicily, ethnology is interesting
(though this is not an "ethnic" website), while genetic knowledge is
obviously important in treating certain diseases. Race is a
traditional social method of identifying people from various regions
based
primarily
on
their
appearance
and
various
physical
characteristics. Anthropology is the study of man generally physically,
socially,
culturally.
In
its
most
general
sense,
anthropology often embraces ethnology, population genetics, genealogy
and many aspects of biology, history, archeology, linguistics and the
arts. (For more information about the origins and ethnology of the
various Sicilian peoples, see the Sicilian Peoples series linked from
"Brothers" in the following section.)
Take your place in history.This all seems rather abstract --even
impersonal-- until you start to trace your own ancestral DNA. That's
the idea behind the 5 year long Genographic Project sponsored by the
National Geographic Society. The project's website offers a good
overview and atlas of population genetics, explaining its impact on
Swabians
Angevins
Aragonese
Albanians
Spanish
Jews
About 72,000 years ago, the effects of a major volcanic eruption
(Toba) with global consequences killed off many humans. By some
estimates, as few as 2,000 humans survived the disaster --in Africa.
They were already making simple jewelry. Art was a reflection of the
modern mind, and early culture. The divergence of humans into
regionalised groups with their own particular genetic characteristics,
often in response to climatic conditions, mutations or disease,
generally took place at some point after this. At least this is
suggested by genetic evidence. According to the best estimates, it was
probably only around 45,000 to 40,000 BC (BCE) that a large group
settled permanently in Europe, though they had already established a
permanent presence in the Middle East and certain eastern and central
Mediterranean coastal areas. By 25,000 BC, if not earlier, groups of
humans could be identified, albeit very generally, by their cultures
and superficial physical characteristics. (Comparative linguistic
studies, though useful, enlighten us about only much more recent
historical periods, written language being a relatively recent
development.)
There is a point where evolutionary genetic conditions become
localized (ethnic) ones. The Ice Man found frozen in the Alps in 1991
lived about 5,300 years ago, and genetic testing indicates his
considerable affinity with the present Alpine population.
Is race an antiquated concept? It's becoming so, and important
(professional) anthropologists increasingly rely on genetics for
determining human migrations and human evolution. Observations made
here concerning genetic differentiation relate only to the last twelve
thousand years or so.
The earliest identifiable (pre-historic) "modern human" inhabitants of
Sicily were present at least 10,000 to 12,000 years ago and many lived
in caves. People are interested in the physical appearance of their
ancestors, whether recent or ancient. For lack of a more descriptive
term, the earliest Sicilians would be identified as "Caucasoid" in
appearance. Generally, they probably had darker hair and eyes than
most of their northern-European counterparts, and probably tanned
easily. Extant visual evidence (sculpture, mosaics, etc.) and
surviving literary accounts indicate that most ancient Mediterranean
peoples, whether Phoenician, Egyptian, Greek, Roman or Sicanian, were
generally a little darker than northern Europeans. Ancient peoples
were, on average, shorter than modern ones, and did not live as long.
Peoples from across Europe were drawn (or coerced) to Rome, but it was
the Middle Ages that brought Vandals, Vikings and Visigoths to the
sunny "Med" in large numbers, literally changing the face of the
Mediterranean population. (Even today, when there are more blondes in
Sicily than in ancient times, Sicilian women joke about the obsession
of the local men with foreign blondes, and a black-haired, dark-eyed
Sicilian girl is referred to as a "mora," or Moor, while a redhead is
a "normanna" or Norman --terms in wide use since the Middle Ages.)
Until the fall of the Roman Empire, there were no known large-scale
"non-Mediterranean" incursions into Sicily by sub-Saharan or eastAsian peoples (the Huns come to mind), nor do there appear to have
been any substantial "Nordic" (northern European) colonisations until
the arrival of the Longobards and Normans. Rather, the Sicels and
Elymians were Mediterranean peoples arriving from regions such as the
Italian peninsula or the eastern Mediterranean at some point after
1500 BC, while the Sicanians were probably descended from the earliest
inhabitants of Sicily. There are few archeological differences among
the three civilizations and their Iron Age cultures, though the very
few known linguistic distinctions, inferred from Greek-era records and
a few stone inscriptions using Phoenician characters, link them in
some way to particular regions. (In theory, contact with certain
civilizations, rather than colonization per se, may partly explain
this; by analogy, many Indians and Chinese speak English but are not
descended from the English, and many non-Italic peoples in the Roman
Empire spoke Latin, just as many Romans spoke Greek.) The earliest
Sicilians assimilated, and then amalgamated, with the Phoenicians and
Greeks within a few brief centuries. By 300 BC, they had ceased to
exist as distinct ethnic populations, having become Hellenized.
We are on more solid ground in describing the civilizations of the
Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs and Normans of
Sicily through extensive literary, archeological, linguistic and
artistic
evidence.
Their
migrations
and
activities
are
wellchronicled. Historians occasionally debate the merits of certain
particularly detailed events, but not the most fundamental historical
facts
(migration,
colonization,
amalgamation)
which
complement
knowledge drawn from genetic data.
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Genetic Heritage and History
It's important to remember that gene markers are placed into their
proper chronology based on generations rather than years, and an
average historical generation is presumed to span 25 years. If
recorded and purely anthropological (i.e. non-genetic) knowledge of
human migrations is rather recent, in Sicily there are certain native
animal species that (based on genetic studies) are European in origin
while others are African. This involves not only birds that could fly
to Sicily but mammals such as wild cats and foxes. Genes are part of
the human essence, but genetic testing only deals with particular gene
markers in certain sample individuals; it is the science of statistics
that allows us to generalize based on such studies. Various genetic
traits (even superficial physical ones like red hair and green eyes)
were introduced into the population by individuals from various
places. This is a generality; it is probable that there were redhaired Sicilians in Greek times but equally probable that there were
far more following the influx of the "Celtic-Nordic" Normans
generations), but it is not only these markers which made one a Roman,
Viking or Mongol; that's really a social matter.
Sicilian Haplogroups
Haplogroups reflect the most ancient genetic influences, dating to at
least 8,000 years ago. These can be traced easily along the main
Typical 12-marker Sicilian genetic profile.patrilineal line (your
father's father et al.) or Y-chromosome. While this is a tiny fragment
of one's genetic heritage, it is easy to isolate.
Haplogroup M173, associated with the descendants of the first waves of
humans into Europe (often seen as a branch of the Cro-Magnon
haplogroup M343, or R1b), is widespread in Sicily and indeed across
Europe, where many English (including some 70% of Englishmen in
southern England) and French share it. Today it is most prevalent
(90%) among the Spanish and Irish. M173 originated about 30,000 years
ago. In effect, some 80% of western Europeans living today are in this
haplogroup. Though the neolithic Proto-Sicanians were probably part of
this haplogroup, many Sicilians more likely inherited it from
ancestors descended from subsequent foreign conquerors arriving from
the North and West --Sicels, Romans, Visigoths, Vandals, Normans,
Lombards, Swabians (Germans), Angevins (French) and Spaniards among
them -- but possibly from some Greeks as well. (These observations are
only intended as generalities.)
In Sicily one of the most interesting haplogroups to geneticists is
the much more recent M172 (also called J2), probably introduced about
8,000 BC with the introducton of agriculture to a native people
sometimes referred to as the "Proto-Sicanians." At least 21% of
Sicilians carry the marker for this haplotype (probably about 19%
throughout Europe), and no more than 10% of people in regions such as
Spain, but it is very frequent in the Middle East, Ethiopia and
particularly the Caucasus region of west-central Asia (where it
reaches 90%), and is present among some central-Europeans and northAfricans.
It has been plausibly suggested that M172 may be associated with the
arrival of neolithic farmers from the Fertile Crescent who were the
probable predecessors of the Indo-European society which later emerged
in western Asia, a "hypothetical" society whose culture and language
greatly influenced prehistoric peoples from India to Ireland. The
language of Sicily's Sicanians does not seem to have had Indo-European
roots, though the issue is far from conclusive. However, the
comparatively sophisticated farmers from the East must have had an
influence in prehistoric Sicily as elsewhere in the Mediterranean and
western Europe (only the Basques' ancestors may have been largely
untouched by the earliest Proto-Indo-European influences). Later, it
is unlikely that the Indo-Europeans actually supplanted entire
populations; they probably represent an influx of a few migratory
waves of settlers whose language and culture greatly influenced those
of peoples already present. Lines bearing haplotype M172 could have
arrived in Sicily with various waves of colonisers from the South and
East
--Elymians
(probably
from
Anatolia),
Phoenicians
(and
Carthaginians), Greeks, Byzantines and Arabs among them --but possibly
from some Romans and (in the late 1400s) Albanians as well. (These
observations,
like
those
about
M173,
are
only
intended
as
generalities.)
Several early observations (they are hardly "conclusions") emerge from
research conducted thus far. The notion that certain parts of Sicily
still genetically reflect the influence of specific ancient peoples
(Phoenicians, Greeks) has been largely disproven, yet certain small,
relatively-isolated towns seem to be marked by a predominance of one
medieval group or another (Arab, Norman). Leaving aside specialized
studies, if we consider the major Y haplogroups, Sicily's populationgenetic distribution is somewhat similar (though by no means
identical) to mainland Italy's. If only approximately the proportions
are: J Group (J1, J2, etc.) 35%, R Group (primarily R1b) 25%, I Group
15%, K Group 10%, H Group 10%, Others (E, T, G, etc.) 5%. Along female
lines, Sicilians' descent from the "Seven Daughters of Eve" seems to
be distributed fairly equally, but much more data must be collected in
this area. These factors (and scholarly studies) all point to the
island's multi-peopling as the main cause of its genetic diversity.
As they are based on several sources, the percentages indicated here
may vary somewhat from what you find reported elsewhere. Haplogroup
E1b1b, for example, is sometimes reported at a slightly higher
frequency. Such variations are geographical, based to some degree on
who populated a specific locality Greeks, Normans, Arabs...
Without the influx of significant "foreign" genetic influences
(admixture) over time, a small, localised population might become
"inbred" in a matter of centuries. If this were the case in Sicily,
today's Sicilians would be genetically identical to the ProtoSicanians of 6000 years ago. Instead, they reflect a fair degree of
genetic diversity.
Ethno-Regional Origins
Attempts to ascertain Sicilian "ethnic" origins should be undertaken
with caution because haplogroups do not correspond precisely to
medieval or modern conceptions of nationality. At best, they are
approximate. For example, J2 is identified with Greeks but also with
some Germans.
Speaking very broadly, the most frequent Y haplogroups of the world's
most conquered island may be correlated most probably (albeit
imprecisely) to the following peoples:
Estimated percentage of haplogroup presence
in Sicily circa 1400. J1 - Arabs, Berbers, Carthaginians, Jews,
J2 - Greeks, Romans, Jews, Spaniards,
R1b - Germans, Normans, Longobards, Aragonese, Spaniards, Romans,
I1 & I2b - Vikings and Normans,
I & I2a - Elymians,
E1b1b - Arabs and Berbers,
G
N
K
H
T
To make effective use of our map requires at least 37 "recent" Ychromosome markers rather than the 12 ancient ones revealed by basic
haplogroup tests, and SNP or subclade identification.
Click on a name to
read a cultural description....
Popular Perceptions (and misperceptions)
"Racialist" descriptions of perceived "racial" characteristics of socalled
sub-races
(Pontids,
Dinarics,
Mediterranids,
Armenids,
Saharids, Arabids, and so forth) are still Click
on an image to read about the influence of Frederick II or Mussolini
on Sicilian
history.entertained in certain quarters. Viewed in terms of the human
genome, race (as the term is commonly used and understood) is a
relatively insignificant (or at best superficial) and arbitrary
consideration, and we are already seeing more reliance on purely
genetic identification. Genetic diversity is a reality. While race, as
the term is traditionally used, is fast becoming an outmoded concept,
specific gene markers (based on relatively "recent" mutations) are
naturally linked to persons sharing common origins (i.e. the same gene
pools) coinciding with Asian, African, European or other "racial"
groups or sub-groups. The legitimate scientific basis of regional
(racial) distinctions (but not racialism) is genetic differentiation
over thousands of generations.
Genetic studies have proven beyond doubt that, ultimately, we are all
descended from the same people. Implications of "recent" migrations
and cultural factors involving the human race, particularly over the
last 8,000 years, may be discussed (even debated) for decades to come.
Outside academic and scientific circles, much of the debate finds
fertile ground among those seeking to prove that their ancestors were
"black" or "white" rather than humans living in a certain region or
identified with a certain culture. While it might be overzealous to
define all such people as racists, it is clear that their views, based
on interpretations (and misinterpretations) regarding gene markers and
mutations originating in the last 8,000 years (and the "historical"
period of the last 6000) rather than those of the last 80,000 years,
are outdated.
Prevalent stereotypes (and ignorant authors outside Italy) sometimes
paint a superficial physical picture of Sicilians which bears little
similarity to reality. While individuals having extremely light blonde
hair represent only a small part of the Sicilian population, many
Sicilians have blue or green eyes and light complexions (and red
hair). In Sicily the range of complexions, from cream to olive, is
striking, and combinations are interesting --blue-eyed dark brunettes
ethnically
or
genetically
marriage,
resulting
in
a
diverse
"mixed"
civilization
of
Carthage
(in
in
most
living
Elymi - also Elami or Elimiian; one of the three most ancient Sicilian
peoples, inhabiting parts of far western and northwestern Sicily,
sharing some regions with the Sicans. Probably a west Asian people
from what is now Turkey, arriving via Africa around 1200 BC.
ethnic - relating to a population or group having common cultural or
national traditions.
various
peoples
and
of
heredity
consisting
of
DNA
forming
part
of
regions
of the
of
Phoenicia
who
settled
division
of
humans
having
distinct
distinct population (as a subspecies)
Africa,
ancient
physical
within a
Sicels - also Sikels or Siculi; one of the three most ancient Sicilian
peoples, inhabiting central and eastern Sicily from around 1100 BC.
Probably an Italic people.
Sicilian - of or pertaining to Sicily; the people of Sicily; the
language of Sicily.
Sicilianism - any of several regionalist movements and fields of study
which focus on Sicily and Sicilian ethnology (including the Sicilian
language and literature), as well as Sicilian history and culture,
usually in the wider context of Mediterranean and Italian society.
Sicilianist studies and social movements were ruthlessly suppressed
from 1860 until 1943, when the Allied liberation of Sicily spawned an
independence movement resulting in Sicilian semi-autonomy politically.
sickle-cell anemia - also sickle-cell disease; hereditary form of
anemia in which a mutated form of hemoglobin distorts red blood cells
into a crescent shape at low oxygen levels.
Siculo- - descriptive of the quality of being Sicilian, of Sicilian
origin, or being in Sicily (i.e. the Siculo-Normans of Palermo as
opposed to Anglo-Normans of London)
Swabian - relating to the German region of Swabia. Sicily's
Hohenstaufen dynasty was Swabian and brought a Germanic influence to
Sicilian society.
thalassemia - British thalassaemia; hereditary hemolytic disease
caused by faulty hemoglobin synthesis, prevalent in Mediterranean,
African and Asian countries.