Jerusalem Post
To better pinpoint the genetics, the researchers conducted further analysis comparing their DNA sequences to that of 37 modern groups from the Middle East, Arabian Peninsula and the Caucasus.
Two young people buried in an Umayyad Dynasty Era grave site in Syria share some DNA with a subgroup of modern-day Bedouin from the Negev Desert in Israel and to a lesser degree with Yemenite Jews, according to a recently published study. Until recently important bioarcheological data was more difficult to retrieve due to the poor preservation of organic materials in harsh environments. Use of new technologies more capable of analyzing degraded material allowed researchers to analyze the DNA remains of the two individuals who had been found at a burial site at Tell Qarassa in modern day Syria, believing them originally to be from the Neolithic period. The results of their research were recently published in the peer reviewed Communications Biology journal section of Nature. The study included researchers from Spain, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, the USA, the UK, France and Australia.
