Who were the Carthaginian (800 – 150 BC)?

Carthaginian is one of the 27 curated source populations in the Classical Antiquity era of the Ancestrify qpAdm analysis: a group of published ancient genomes from one archaeological context, pooled as a single reference the model can test your genome against.

Does Carthaginian in my result mean they were my ancestors?

No. A source population is a reference the model tests against, never a statement about who your ancestors were. A coefficient on this source means the ancestry those burials represent helps explain your genome to within statistical noise — similar ancestry composition, not descent from those individuals. Ancestrify never claims a population is your ancestor.

What does a Carthaginian percentage in a qpAdm model mean?

qpAdm estimates the mixture proportions that best explain your genome as a combination of the chosen sources, given a fixed set of outgroup (right) populations, and reports a p-value for whether the model is statistically acceptable together with a standard error for every proportion. The percentage is that estimated share, with its uncertainty published beside it.

How do I get a qpAdm model that uses Carthaginian?

Order the Ancestrify qpAdm analysis (€29.99, one-time) and upload the raw file you already have from a consumer test. Your genome is merged into the AADR reference panel and modelled across both eras; each era's model is built from that era's source populations, so a model for the Classical Antiquity era draws on Carthaginian where it improves the fit.

Can I model Carthaginian ancestry for free first?

Yes. The Ancestrify Lab runs Global25 admixture calculators, a nearest-populations distance tool and an AdmixTools 2 workbench in your browser with no account, and several calculators cover the Classical Antiquity era. Those are G25 fits, not formal qpAdm models — the paid analysis is the one with a p-value.

Carthaginian — ancient DNA source population (qpAdm)

Who they were

Artistic interpretation of the Carthaginian (AI-generated artwork, not documentary evidence)

Period: 800 – 150 BC
Era in the analysis: Classical Antiquity
Region: Carthage, Sicily, Sardinia and Ibiza
Role in the model: Source (left) population — a reference qpAdm tests against

Carthage, founded by Tyrian settlers on the Tunisian coast, grew into the dominant power of the western Mediterranean and planted Punic communities from Sardinia and Sicily to Ibiza and southern Iberia. Ancient genomes from these colonies show a population that was not simply transplanted Levantine: it drew heavily on North African and Aegean- or Sicilian-related ancestry, with Levantine ancestry a surprisingly modest part of the whole, and it varied strongly from one settlement to the next (Fernandes et al. 2020; Moots et al. 2023).

The Punic world's ancestry survives most visibly in Sardinia, Sicily, Ibiza and the Tunisian coast, where it forms a layer beneath the later Roman, Vandal, Byzantine and Arab contributions. In the model it lies between the Phoenician source, representing the Levantine homeland, and the North African and Nuragic Sardinian sources with which the colonies mixed.

In Ancestrify's qpAdm service, Carthaginian is a source in the "Classical Antiquity" era. The report shows its weight with a standard error and a Z-score, so you can see not only how much of the model it carries but how confidently that share is separated from zero, and a model that cannot support it is rejected rather than published. Because it is itself a blend of several ancestries also present as sources, the model may express a Punic signal through this source or through its components; the standard errors show how confidently it chose.

Y haplogroups J2, E-M81, E-M78 and G2a, and mtDNA H, U6 and K, are among the lineages reported from Punic burials. A haplogroup alone is never evidence of a share.

In your report
Represents the population of Carthage and associated Punic settlements across the central and western Mediterranean (~6th–2nd centuries BCE), recently revealed as one of antiquity's most genetically cosmopolitan civilizations. A 2025 study of 210 ancient genomes from 14 Punic sites shows that despite maintaining Phoenician cultural and religious traditions, Punic communities derived most of their ancestry from local Mediterranean populations resembling ancient Sicilians and Aegeans. Levantine Phoenician genetic contribution was negligible, representing the first known case of complete mismatch between cultural continuity and genetic ancestry. Secondary ancestry from North African populations grew as Carthage's political influence expanded, though it remained a minority component even within Carthage itself. Punic sites across the Mediterranean showed consistently high genetic diversity, reflecting a shared network of demographic processes spanning the Phoenician-Punic world.

Artwork is an AI-generated artistic interpretation informed by the archaeological record — not documentary evidence.

Where this population sits in the model

The Ancestrify qpAdm analysis models your genome once per era. The Classical Antiquity era has 27 curated source populations, and Carthaginian is one of them: every candidate model for that era is a combination of these sources, tested against a fixed set of outgroup populations, and only a model that passes the statistical fit check is published — with a p-value, and a standard error on every proportion.

A reference, not a verdict: every population on this page is a source the model tests your genome against — a well-sampled point in ancient genetic space that a mixture of ancestries can be expressed in terms of. A weight on it means your genome is well described as partly resembling those people; it is never a statement that they, specifically, were your ancestors, and a population that fits well is not the only one that could.

Read how the method works on the qpAdm analysis page, or the definitions in the glossary.

Model it yourself for free

The Ancestrify Lab runs in your browser, with no account. Paste a Global25 row into an admixture calculator that covers the Classical Antiquity era, rank the closest ancient populations in the distance tool, or run f4, qpWave and qpAdm on the public panel in the AdmixTools 2 workbench. These are Global25 fits and exploratory statistics, not the formal qpAdm model of the paid analysis.

Questions

Who were the Carthaginian (800 – 150 BC)?
Carthaginian is one of the 27 curated source populations in the Classical Antiquity era of the Ancestrify qpAdm analysis: a group of published ancient genomes from one archaeological context, pooled as a single reference the model can test your genome against.
Does Carthaginian in my result mean they were my ancestors?
No. A source population is a reference the model tests against, never a statement about who your ancestors were. A coefficient on this source means the ancestry those burials represent helps explain your genome to within statistical noise — similar ancestry composition, not descent from those individuals. Ancestrify never claims a population is your ancestor.
What does a Carthaginian percentage in a qpAdm model mean?
qpAdm estimates the mixture proportions that best explain your genome as a combination of the chosen sources, given a fixed set of outgroup (right) populations, and reports a p-value for whether the model is statistically acceptable together with a standard error for every proportion. The percentage is that estimated share, with its uncertainty published beside it.
How do I get a qpAdm model that uses Carthaginian?
Order the Ancestrify qpAdm analysis (€29.99, one-time) and upload the raw file you already have from a consumer test. Your genome is merged into the AADR reference panel and modelled across both eras; each era's model is built from that era's source populations, so a model for the Classical Antiquity era draws on Carthaginian where it improves the fit.
Can I model Carthaginian ancestry for free first?
Yes. The Ancestrify Lab runs Global25 admixture calculators, a nearest-populations distance tool and an AdmixTools 2 workbench in your browser with no account, and several calculators cover the Classical Antiquity era. Those are G25 fits, not formal qpAdm models — the paid analysis is the one with a p-value.