Ancestors: Identity and DNA in the Levant

Geneticist Zalloua tackles the complex topic of historical heritage in this enthralling debut study of the ancient Levant. Zalloua points to the recent rise of “genetic ancestry testing kits” as a catalyst for a surge of interest in the DNA component of human history, but laments that too often “origins, ethnicities... identities, and even race are being used interchangeably with genetic ancestry with little or no attention being given to the complexities... that underlie these concepts.” Population genetics should not be confused with “cultural attributes,” Zalloua argues, asserting that it is culture (rituals, languages, and beliefs), not genes, that “constitute the core of someone’s heritage.” What DNA can effectively do instead, Zalloua contends, is challenge modern understandings of identity with “novel and sometimes shocking” glimpses of “human mobility.” He begins his narrative with the earliest waves of human migration out of Africa, tracking Stone Age groups that inhabited regions of the Levant for thousands of years, becoming genetically distinctive before mixing again. He concludes with the Bronze Age, by which time, he demonstrates, the peoples of the Levant had “become so amalgamated, it is very difficult to pick them apart.” Zalloua brings urgency and humanism to the technical work of genetic analysis, arguing that genes offer a portrait of a past defined by constant change, and that 21st-century humans would do well to learn from such fluidity and connection. The result is a singular blend of science and history that makes a powerful argument against present-day sectarianism and nationalism. (May)