About Ashkenazi Research

Founder: Steven Parker

I am an independent researcher focused on the population genetics of Ashkenazi Jews, with a particular emphasis on uncovering their deep Mediterranean roots. My work combines genetic data with historical context to clarify the origins of Ashkenazi populations. I believe this area of population genetics is often more narrative-driven than rigorously scientific, making independent, careful analysis essential.

My Mission

Ashkenazi Research exists to provide evidence-based insights into Ashkenazi ancestry. By analyzing genome-wide data, uniparental markers, and historical records, we aim to highlight the Southern Italian and central Mediterranean origins of Ashkenazi Jews, which are often overlooked or misrepresented online.

Challenges in the Field

• Apricity: a site once popular with population genetics enthusiasts, has been overrun with extremist content, making it difficult to navigate serious discussions.
• Wikipedia: Ashkenazi pages rely heavily on outdated Y-DNA studies—many over 20 years old, using tiny datasets, and often lacking Southern Italian comparators—creating a distorted narrative of Ashkenazi origins.
• Other forums, blogs, and popular platforms sometimes promote biased narratives, including exaggerated Levantine ancestry or the Khazar hypothesis, while avoiding honest discussion of the genetic links between Ashkenazim, Southern Italians, and Greeks.

My Approach

I prioritize data over ideology, using:

• Genome-wide autosomal PCA and FST analyses
• qpAdm admixture modeling with independent validation
• Inclusion of Southern Italian, Sicilian, Maltese, and Aegean comparators

My findings consistently show Ashkenazi Jews are closest genetically to Southern Italians and Mediterranean Greeks, reinforcing historical continuity in the central Mediterranean rather than an intermediate Europe–Levant position.

Read My Work

My study is publicly available at: Preprints.org