Answers to Quora Questions by Yair Davidiy
How do most Ashkenazi Jews feel knowing that their ancestry traces back to Italy?
(27 February, 2018, 12 Adar, 5778)
It is not that simple. The question is hypothetical and concerns one of several possibilities. In simple terms according to some studies about 60% of Ashkenazi mt(female transmitted)DNA is similar to that of the Etruscans in Tuscany, Italy. It is similar but not identical and has been suggested to be more compatible with earlier forms of Etruscan DNA. The Etruscans came from Lydia in Western Turkey as their traditions relate and DNA studies tend to confirm. The Ashkenazis could have gotten this mtDNA from Italian women in Tuscany who converted, or from Lydian women in the Middle East, or from a source that was common to Lydia and the Jews at some stage or other. These possibilities are all worth looking into. MtDNA is influenced by the environment and in the end may be found to be entirely an outcome of environment. What will we say then?