Who were the Parthian Iran (BC 250 – 200 AD)?

Parthian Iran is one of the 34 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 Parthian Iran 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 Parthian Iran 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 Parthian Iran?

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 Parthian Iran where it improves the fit.

Can I model Parthian Iran 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.

Ancestry populations · Classical Antiquity

Parthian Iran

The people of the Iranian plateau under the Arsacid (Parthian) kings, known from the Liar Sang Bon cemetery in Gilan on the southern Caspian shore (c. One of the 34 curated source populations in the Classical Antiquity era of the Ancestrify qpAdm ancient-DNA analysis.

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Who they were

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

Period: BC 250 – 200 AD
Era in the analysis: Classical Antiquity
Role in the model: Source (left) population — a reference qpAdm tests against

In your report
The people of the Iranian plateau under the Arsacid (Parthian) kings, known from the Liar Sang Bon cemetery in Gilan on the southern Caspian shore (c. 200 BC to 100 AD). Their genomes are the only Classical era reference for Iran itself: a Zagros farmer and Caucasus hunter gatherer base, a substantial Anatolian farmer layer, a steppe contribution from the Bronze Age and a small ancestral South Asian share, the profile that present-day Persians, Kurds, Lurs, Gilaks, Mazanderanis and Azeris still carry. Parthian ancestry is the core of the Sasanian and early Islamic population of Iran and of the Persianate world beyond it. This is the source an Iranian, Kurdish or Caucasus genome is tested against for its Classical era Iranian share.

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 34 curated source populations, and Parthian Iran 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 Parthian Iran (BC 250 – 200 AD)?
Parthian Iran is one of the 34 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 Parthian Iran 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 Parthian Iran 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 Parthian Iran?
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 Parthian Iran where it improves the fit.
Can I model Parthian Iran 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.

More populations from the Classical Antiquity era

Browse the full directory of source populations, or continue with another population from the same era: