Project Members whose mother's family came from Calabria:

mtdna reSULTS

Some Interesting Finds:  

1) I traced back two people's mother's ancestors back to about 1750, both from the village of Martone, and noticed the paper trail indicated they did NOT share a common maternal grandmother at all back to this time.   However, when I got each of their mtDNA test results back, to my surprise, they matched exactly!    This means that sometime BEFORE 1750, they shared the same maternal grandmother's line, from one of the "founding females" that settled in Martone.  (I am referring to "E. Loccisano" and "C. Loccisano" in the chart above, who are not known to be related on their mother's lines, though both mother's families were from the village of Martone).

2) Latest Scientific find:  European Jewish people (Ashkenazi Jews) seem to descend from very few females, according to this study by Dr. Doron Behar, which shows that almost half of European Jewish  people descend from only 4 women!  The results of this study are explained rather well by this BBC Article.   This means, if you go back to when the European Jewish community started, maybe 1000 years ago, very few females --mostly converts from local European communities---gave rise to all present day Jewish people.   Who are the "founding mothers" that gave rise to the present-day people in the villages of Martone, Gioiosa Ionica, and Grotteria (or more generally, Calabria)?   If you are from one of these villages, please consider ordering an mtDNA test.

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