The Malta DNA-Genealogy Project

Group Administrator: - Email: maltadna@gmail.com

Project Background

Founded in June, 2008, this project has been established to study the genetic heritage of Malta (including the Maltese Islands of both Malta and Gozo)which were first settled in 5200 BC by stone age farmers, who's people built the oldest free-standing structures and oldest religious structures in the world in 3500 BC--and has been the center of Mediterranean trade and civilization ever since. DNA testing, both yDNA for paternal lines and mtDNA for maternal lines, can provide a picture of the deep and recent ethnic background of Maltese and their descendants. This can include Greek, Italian and Sicilian, Arab, Sephardic Jewish, Norman, Spanish backgrounds, among others--perhaps even Phoenician. An added bonus, as more join and the database grows, is the possibility of finding common ancestors in the more recent period. This would allow family researchers to connect with distant cousins more quickly and collaborate more effectively in their research in the records.

Source: Population Structure in the Mediterranean Basin: A Y Chromosome Perspective, 2005, Capelli, et al.

Haplogroup	Number
E* (xE3a,E3b) [now E*(xE1b1a,E1b1b)]	1
E3a [E1b1a]	1
E3b [E1b1b]	8
F* (xI,J,K)	7
I* (xI1b2)	12
J* (xJ2)	8
J2	17
K* (xP,N3)	2
P* (xR1)	1
R1* (xR1a1)	30
R1a1	3
Total	90

You can find the full study here.