Friday, September 24, 2010

Nabeul (Tunisia)

A former Roman colony, Nabeul's name is an Arabised form of the Greek Neapolis 'new city. It is located in Cap Bon, a peninsula in far northeastern Tunisia. Ruins of Punic town Kerkouane are located here. The Punics (from Latin pūnicus meaning in Phoenician) were a group of western Semitic-speaking peoples originating from CarthageNorth Africa who traced their origins to a group of Phoenician and Cypriot settlers, but also to North African Berbers. Punics were probably a mix of Berbers and Phoenicians in terms of culture and ancestry.




Addendum : Y-DNA in the Western Mediterranean



  • Sample :


Full scale


  • Brief anthropological analysis :

- Type 1 : Dark complexion (black eyes, black hair, tanned skin, ...), leptomorphic, arched convex nose (droopy tip), close-set eyes, full lips, deeply drawn lines around the oral cavity
~ Dinaromorphic Mediterranean





This phenotype is what might be dubbed "Arabid" by most authors : it's very common in North Africa. Other classically North African Mediterranean types are to be found as well : larger face, large jaw, arched nose (droopy tip), ...





- Type 2 : Dark complexion (black eyes, black hair, ...), brachymorphic, coarse features, large face, massive and low-rooted nose that can get convex, full lips, somehow wide-set eyes
~ Alpinoid




Berberid features (little and low-rooted puffy nose, wide forehead, bulbous temples, ...) are not as obvious as in Kabyle lands.


  • Final morphotypes :
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1 comment:

  1. Much more 'Arabid' or generically 'Moorish' looking than previous coastal-urban samples from further West. However there is a big fraction of European-looking individuals or mixed-looks also, specially some with Iberian looks.

    In this sense, I must say that while North African Y-DNA is mostly different from European and Iberian, at least 25% of North African a8nd specifically Tunisian) mtDNA (H1, H3, H4 and H7, probably V too) is not just akin to SW European one (Iberian but also French, specially H7, which is rare in Iberia) but actually a descendant based on diversity (Cherni 2008, see also Ennafaa 2009 for mtDNA H frequencies in North Africa).

    Particularly striking as Iberian-looking (even I'd dare say 'Vascoid' at least as a possibility) are B1, B7, C5. A1, C7 and D5 also look very much generically Euro, while D8 is like a Moorish version of Antonio Banderas (mixed Euro-TransMed looks). Other such mixed looks are found in A7, A8 and C6 for instance. C4 I'd have classified as "Moorish" on first look but then he also reminds me of criminal Iruña-Veleia archaeologist Luis Núñez who is Aragonese, I believe.

    B4 is the only one displaying Tropical African looks clearly apparent - but maybe he represents best a North African archaic type such as the ones we have discussed before with "pseudo-Khoisanid" looks in South Morocco.

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