Ancient Mycenaeans and Minoans genetically related

A serious hint in that direction was described by Maitland Edey in his book “The Lost World of the Aegean” in the mid-1970’s and thanks to a recent study we are most fortunate to obtain a confirmation of his theory through modern DNA analysis.

[Minoan woman dancing, in a fresco from 1600-1450 BC. 

Credit: Wikipedia/Photo by Wolfgang Sauber is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0]

Over the centuries many theories have been elaborated and we are now able to establish that both Minoan and Mycenaean populations originated in Anatolia and moved west prior to the Bronze Age. The Minoans settled in Crete as early as five thousand years ago while the Mycenaeans reached mainland Greece a thousand years later. 

DNA samples were taken from the teeth of 19 remains that were positively identified as Minoans from Crete, Mycenaeans from mainland Greece and from people who lived in southwestern Anatolia. Thorough analysis and study show that the Minoans and the Mycenaeans are genetically very similar, although not identical and in the end, today’s Greeks are descendants of these Anatolian populations.

Researchers were even able to establish that the Minoans, Mycenaeans and modern Greeks are related to the ancient people living in the Caucasus, Iran and Armenia. The Mycenaeans have an additional though minor component in their genes linking them to Eastern Europe and northern Eurasia, whereas the Minoans are missing this genetic part.

Greeks on the mainland are somehow related to the ancient North Eurasians and the people from the Eastern European steppe before and after the time of the Minoans and the Mycenaeans. What’s more, modern Europeans also partially belong to the ancient North Eurasians.

All this means, that the Mycenaeans do not descend from a foreign population in the Aegean and that today’s Greeks do indeed descend from the Mycenaeans. The peoples of the Greek mainland possess all the ingredients of mixed ancient North Eurasians and Eastern Europe genes both before and after the appearance of the Minoans and the Mycenaeans. This may explain the relation of Greek speakers with their linguistic relatives elsewhere in Europe and Asia. We are all one big family!