It is therefore intriguing (ironic) that, having rejected the widely accepted Middle Eastern & biblical origins of #Ashkenazi #Jews, Elhaik claims to be able to determine precisely the biblical and #IronAge origins of #Levites, once again based on a novel methodology (here using autosomal #dna

I will be interested to see the reaction in scientific publications

#genetics
6/n

The author of the article is Eran Elhaik who, a decade ago, revived the #Khazar thesis of #Ashkenazi origins

The missing link of Jewish European ancestry: contrasting the Rhineland & the Khazarian hypotheses https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23241444/

Scholars rejected it:
Phylogenetic applications of whole Y-chromosome sequences and the Near Eastern origin of Ashkenazi #Levites https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3928

Scholars Blast New Study Tracing Ashkenazi Jews to Khazars of Ancient Turkey https://forward.com/news/breakingnews/339910/scholars-blast-new-study-tracing-ashkenazi-jews-to-khazars-of-ancient-turke/

5/n

Ancient #DNA Analysis Reconstructs Legacy of the #Biblical #Levites https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/levites-dna-0018037

The absence of mention of #DNA haplogroups is even stranger in this piece, as

1) It notes limits of early work on the so-called Cohen Modal Haplotype, which involves Y-DNA

2) Whereas #Ashkenazic & #Sephardic Cohanim share similar #genetic traits, over half of Ashkenazic Levites display an unusual haplotype (formerly R1a1a, now called R1a-Y2619). So haplotypes are central to this genetic quest

2/n