Academic Journal

Uncovering a Medieval Pogrom: Genetic History of a Jewish Community in Catalonia (Spain).

Λεπτομέρειες βιβλιογραφικής εγγραφής
Τίτλος: Uncovering a Medieval Pogrom: Genetic History of a Jewish Community in Catalonia (Spain).
Συγγραφείς: Pallarés-Viña L; Grup de Recerca en Antropologia Biològica (GREAB), Unitat d'Antropologia Biològica, Departament of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain., Cuesta-Aguirre DR; Grup de Recerca en Antropologia Biològica (GREAB), Unitat d'Antropologia Biològica, Departament of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain., Campoy-Caballero MR; Grup de Recerca en Antropologia Biològica (GREAB), Unitat d'Antropologia Biològica, Departament of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain., Armentano N; Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya, 08038 Barcelona, Spain., Colet A; Museu Comarcal de l'Urgell-Tàrrega, 25300 Tàrrega, Spain., Malgosa A; Grup de Recerca en Antropologia Biològica (GREAB), Unitat d'Antropologia Biològica, Departament of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain., Santos C; Grup de Recerca en Antropologia Biològica (GREAB), Unitat d'Antropologia Biològica, Departament of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
Πηγή: Genes [Genes (Basel)] 2026 Mar 23; Vol. 17 (3). Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Mar 23.
Τύπος έκδοσης: Journal Article; Historical Article
Γλώσσα: English
Στοιχεία περιοδικού: Publisher: MDPI Country of Publication: Switzerland NLM ID: 101551097 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2073-4425 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20734425 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Genes (Basel) Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s): Original Publication: Basel : MDPI
Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): Jews*/genetics , Jews*/history , Genetics, Population*, DNA, Ancient/analysis ; Humans ; Spain ; History, Medieval
Περίληψη: Background/Objectives. The Black Death pandemic, combined with the antisemitic climate of 14th-century Europe, led to widespread violence against Jewish communities, including numerous pogroms such as the one in 1348 in Tàrrega (Catalonia, Spain). In the Roquetes necropolis of Tàrrega, six communal graves containing at least sixty-nine individuals, with signs of violence, were dated to the mid-14th century. Based on the hypothesis that Iberian medieval Jewish communities preserve genetic similarities to other ancient and modern Jewish communities, our study aims to provide genomic information on medieval Iberian communities, which to date have been unknown. Methods. We analyzed DNA from sixteen individuals from the Roquetes necropolis using Twist ancient DNA enrichment capture. Several paleogenomic analyses based on nuclear DNA and uniparental markers were conducted to determine their genetic relatedness and population origin. Results. PCA and ADMIXTURE analyses revealed genetic affinities with ancient and modern Jewish populations. Uniparental markers, which exhibited high diversity, aligned with typical patterns within the Jewish community. The qpAdm modeling suggested that the genetic composition of the Roquetes population can be explained by a mixture of Canaan individuals (0.69) and the Iberian non-Jewish non-Islamic medieval population (0.31). No close genetic kinship was detected, but RHO analyses indicated a certain level of background endogamy. Conclusions. This is the first study to report genomic data for medieval Iberian Jews. Our findings reveal genomic affinities of the Roquetes individuals with ancient and modern Jewish populations and corroborate the previous attribution of the burials to victims of the 1348 Tàrrega pogrom.
Grant Information: CU-2024-1001-2 Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia
Contributed Indexing: Keywords: Iberian Peninsula; Jewish populations; admixture analysis; ancient DNA (aDNA); medieval period; molecular anthropology; population genomics
Substance Nomenclature: 0 (DNA, Ancient)
Entry Date(s): Date Created: 20260328 Date Completed: 20260714 Latest Revision: 20260714
Update Code: 20260714
PubMed Central ID: PMC13026783
DOI: 10.3390/genes17030358
PMID: 41898892
Βάση Δεδομένων: MEDLINE
Περιγραφή
ISSN:2073-4425
DOI:10.3390/genes17030358