North-African marker in Andalusia

We find the following percentages for the typcial north-african (Berber) paternal marker, the Y-DNA haplogroup E-M81, obtained from different sources :

Southern Spaniards  n=1/62    1.6%    Scozzari 2001.
Huelva, Andalusia   n=5/167   2.99%  Ambrosio 2010.
Huelva, Andalusia   n=1/22      4.5%   Flores et al.2004
Seville, Andalusia  n=7/155     4.5%    Flores et al.2004
Cadiz, Andalusia    n=0/28      0.0%    Flores et al.2004
Cordoba, Andalusia  n=2/27   7.4%    Flores et al.2004
Malaga, Andalusia   n=3/26    11.5%   Flores et al.2004
Andalusia East      n=2/95       2.1%    Adams et al.
Andalusia West      n=10/73   13.7%   Adams et al.
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Total South Spain :  31/655 = 4.73%

It is a similar result to percentages found in  French  (3/73 = 4.1% , Scozzari et al. 2001) or in regions of France ( 5.6% in Auvergne (5/89) and Île-de-France 5/91 = 5.5% ). This suggests that the presence of Islamic rule, which was longer in the South of Spain than anywhere else in Iberia, had very limited or no impact in the genetic pool of the population. We can conclude that the moorish population in Andalusia was extremely minoritary, the place were Islamic rule was stronger and longer. We can't also rule out the possibily that the presence of this marker, or part of it, could have entered in much earlier times (Neolithic or earlier), which would make the presence of moors in Al-Andalus even more insignificant. So, in other words, we can safely say the Islamic rule was just that, a military and religious rule, with no impact on the demographics and genetics of the authoctonous populations.


Ambrosio et al. 


The distribution of E-M81 haplogroup, a Berber marker, was found at a frequency of 3% in our sample. The distribution of M81 frequencies in Iberia seems to be not concordant with the regions where Islamic rule was most intense and long-lasting. The study also showed that most of M78 derived allele (6.6%) led to the V13* subhaplogroup. We also found the most basal and rare paragroup M78* and others with V12 and V65 mutations. The lineage defined by M34 mutation, which is quite frequent in Jews, was detected as well. Conclusions: The haplogroup E among Western Andalusians revealed a complex admixture of genetic markers from the Mediterranean space, with interesting signatures of populations from the Middle East and the Balkan Peninsula and a surprisingly low influence by Berber populations compared to other areas of the Iberian Peninsula.