Sicily: from fifteen millennia ago to present

Sicily, the biggest island in the Mediterranean, may be best known for its incredible food and splendid panoramas, but there is much more to it. Thanks to its central position in the “Mare Nostrum”, Sicily has always acted as a bridge between Africa and Europe, and between East and West in Western Eurasia. This role is reflected in Sicilians themselves, as shown by the recent paper “Fifteen millennia of human mitogenome evolution in Sicily”, published in Science Advances.

The study reconstructs the maternal history of the island through mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is inherited exclusively along the maternal line. Small mutations accumulate through generations, giving rise to distinct lineages (haplogroups). The authors analyzed 116 ancient mtDNAs spanning from the Late Paleolithic to Medieval times, together with 236 modern Sicilians sampled across the island.

The results reveal that modern Sicilians form a largely homogeneous population dominated by Western Eurasian lineages, but also retain a substantial African component, present since pre-Phoenician times and persisting through historical periods.

Ancient DNA also clarifies population dynamics through time. Paleolithic hunter-gatherers carrying haplogroup U5b gradually declined with the arrival of Neolithic farmers from Anatolia, associated with U8b/K lineages. The two populations coexisted for millennia, indicating a slow and complex transition.

In summary, Sicily’s population history emerges as a continuous process of contacts, exchanges and transformations. As Sicilians like to say: in Sicily, people met, mixed and changed.