A team around Ron Pinhasi at the University of Vienna carried out a detailed analysis of ancient DNA of individuals from the Bronze Age Southern Levant known as "Canaanites", to provide insights on the historical and demographic events that shaped the populations of that time and area. The scientists aimed at answering three basic questions: How genetically homogenous were the people from the Bronze Age Southern Levant, what were their plausible origins with respect to earlier peoples, and how much change in ancestry has there been in the region since the Bronze Age? [more]

Publication in "Cell": Agranat-Tamir et al., The Genomic History oft he Bronze Age Southern Levant, Cell, May 28, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.024