“Ancient DNA Opens a Window on the Archipelago of the Ashkenazi World”

Population genetics professors David Reich (Harvard) and Shai Karm (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) published Wednesday, Nov. 30, in the journal. cellAnalysis of skeletons found in a medieval Jewish cemetery in Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany. It brings new results about the origin of the Ashkenazi Jewish community and testifies to the contribution of ancient DNA in tracing the history of populations.

Your research examines the past of the Ashkenazi community. The word is familiar, but who are we talking about?

Shay Karm We are talking about a group that today consists of about 10 million individuals who live mainly in Israel and the United States, but also in Europe and South America. One hundred and fifty years ago, this population was exclusively European. But the immigration and extermination of 6 million Jews by the Nazis greatly reduced its importance. According to the work of historians, it is a relatively recent population, since the 10th century.^e A century in the Rhineland.

Since when was genetics interested in this and what did it bring?

David Reich It started in the 1980s. It has long been known that Ashkenazi Jews suffer more than others from some rare hereditary pathologies. Researchers have identified the genes behind most of these diseases. The contribution was first medical. It enabled embryonic detection of these pathologies and finally their virtual elimination. Historically, this overrepresentation has proven that this population arose or was passed on to the herbivore, in other words, by a reduced group of individuals, otherwise these deleterious mutations would have disappeared over time. It was also noted that certain mutations were shared with other Jewish populations, and thus it was possible to determine that the exchange between the communities was not only cultural.

Do these advances come from ancient DNA research?

CS No, almost exclusively ongoing DNA analysis. First, because ancient DNA technology is relatively new. A significant development for our research is about ten years old. Then he focused for the first time on more universal subjects, the origin of sapiens, crosses with Neanderthals, etc. Finally, access to Jewish human remains is particularly difficult due to religious laws that require the dead not to be disturbed.

DR This is true in many cults and especially in minorities. We face the same limitations in the United States Native Americans. For Jews, we still have a chance, which is that different rabbis may have different points of view.