Results
Cohanim Study: "Y Chromsomes of Jewish Priests"-
NATURE MAGAZINE-Vol. 385 2-January-1997.
There is a 1,000 year genetic distance between the Ashkenazie (German) Jewish markers and the Sephardim (Spanish) Jewish markers, which results in slight mutations (differences) noted. The "Sephardim" of Today, and the ones used in the 1999 survey of Cohanim, are not the same as the Cohanim who came to 'Sepharad' in 587 BCE, our direct ancestors, and many of these then came to the Americas in the 1500's. Eighty percent of my Autosomal DNA matches those of the "Chuetas" of Majorca, Spain. The Spanish Inquisition in 1496 identified 15 Sephardic Converso Mayorcan Families, recently converted to Christianity, and forbade them to marry any of the 'Old Christians' of Mayorca. In June of 1997 a comparative analysis of the genetics of the Majorcan Jews, commonly refered to as 'the Chuetas,' was published; and it was with these results that 80% my Autosomal DNA (50% from each parent) was matched.
The majority of the New Mexican participants resulted in the R1b1 Haplotype indicating their genetic roots in Spain. The percentage of Sephardic Cohanim is greater than the norm of 3% of Jewish Males worldwide. Families such as the Lucero's and Delgado's continually married women from Sephardic families, and by tradition assumed the Sephardic culture through the 'Mother of the Family.' The third largest Haplotype demonstrated in this project is Haplotype 'I' or the 'Viking' descendants found most profoundly in the Chavez family of New Mexico. Another line of the Chavez are Sephardic, and were considered as the same lineage as their 'Viking' counterparts; DNA has shown that they do not share a Recent Common ancestor.