Affinities between contemporary and skeletal Jewish and non‐Jewish groups based on tooth morphology

Abstract

Samples from five Jewish and six non-Jewish populations were compared in terms of the frequencies of 19 dental morphological variables. All but one of the samples came from Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East. Nine were from contemporary populations, and two were skeletal. Of the skeletal groups, one was Jewish, excavated on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, and dated at around 3,000 years old; and the other non-Jewish, excavated on the east coast of Australia, and dated at between 1,000 and 200 years old. Assessment of affinity between the different groups was based on smallest space analysis and cluster analysis. The results demonstrated relative proximity of the Jewish groups (with one exception), despite the fact that they came from a wide geographical area. In particular, the sample from Mount Zion showed greater affinity with three of the four living Jewish populations than with most non-Jewish groups. The skeletal Australian sample formed a cluster of its own, distinct from all the other groups. For six of the groups, the relationships based on tooth morphology showed good correspondence with known relationships based on single locus polymorphisms. The similarity of the Jewish groups to each other in terms of both tooth morphology and single locus polymorphisms was of special interest, since differences in other morphological and anthropometric characteristics, thought to be the result of selection, are known to exist between the Jewish populations.

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