From MaltaMedia.com: Study reveals a DNA link between Phoenicians and Maltese.
Posted on September 19, 2004 12:55 PM. Filed under: history & archaeology.Y chromosome lineages seen today's Maltese population could have come in with the Phoenicians of 1200 B.C., according to National Geographic emerging explorer Spencer Wells and Pierre Zalloua of the American University of Beirut. "Perhaps the population on Malta wasn't as dense. Perhaps when the Phoenicians settled, they killed off the existing population, and their own descendants became today's Maltese. Maybe the islands never had that many people, and shiploads of Phoenicians literally moved in and swamped the local population," stated Wells.
"We don't know for sure, but the results are consistent with a settlement of people from the Levant within the past 2,000 years, and that points to the Phoenicians," he adds. The data comes through research Wells and Zalloua are conducting on the impact of ancient empires on the modern gene pool. [continue]