Editing Samaritans (section)

== Genetic studies ==
{{further|Genetic history of the Middle East}}
{{see also|Genetic studies on Jews|Israelites#Genetics}}

=== Samaritan lineages ===
Demographic investigations of the Samaritan community were carried out in the 1960s. Detailed pedigrees of the last 13 generations show that the Samaritans comprise four lineages:<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Oefner |first1=Peter J. |last2=Hõlzl |first2=Georg |last3=Shen |first3=Peidong |last4=Shpirer |first4=Isaac |last5=Gefel |first5=Dov |date=2013 |title=Genetics and the history of the Samaritans: Ychromosomal microsatellites and genetic affinity between Samaritans and Cohanim |url=https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=humbiol_preprints |journal=Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints |via=DigitalCommons@WayneState}}</ref>
* The priestly [[Kohen|Cohen]] lineage from the tribe of Levi.
* The Tsedakah lineage, claiming descent from the tribe of Manasseh
* The Joshua-Marhiv lineage, claiming descent from the tribe of Ephraim
* The Danafi lineage, claiming descent from the tribe of Ephraim

=== Y-DNA and mtDNA comparisons ===
Recently several genetic studies on the Samaritan population were made using haplogroup comparisons as well as wide-genome genetic studies. Of the 12 Samaritan males used in the analysis, 10 (83%) had Y chromosomes belonging to [[Haplogroup J (Y-DNA)|haplogroup J]], which includes three of the four Samaritan families. The Joshua-Marhiv family belongs to [[Haplogroup J-M267]] (formerly "J1"), while the Danafi and Tsedakah families belong to [[haplogroup J-M172]] (formerly "J2"), and can be further distinguished by the M67 SNP—the derived allele of which has been found in the Danafi family—and the PF5169 SNP found in the Tsedakah family.{{sfn|Family Tree DNA}} However the biggest and most important Samaritan family, the Cohen family (Tradition: Tribe of Levi), was found to belong to [[Haplogroup E (Y-DNA)|haplogroup E]].{{sfn|Shen|Lavi|Kivisild|Chou|2004}}

A 2004 article on the genetic ancestry of the Samaritans by Shen ''et al.'' concluded from a sample comparing Samaritans to several [[Jews|Jewish]] populations, all currently living in Israel—representing the [[Beta Israel]], [[Ashkenazi Jews]], [[Iraqi Jews]], [[Libyan Jews]], [[Moroccan Jews]], and [[Yemenite Jews]], as well as Israeli [[Druze]] and [[Palestinians]]—that "the principal components analysis suggested a common ancestry of Samaritan and Jewish patrilineages. Most of the former may be traced back to a common ancestor in what is today identified as the paternally inherited Israelite high priesthood (Cohanim) with a common ancestor projected to the time of the Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel." The mitochondrial lineages of Samaritans were closest to Iraqi Jewish and Palestinian mtDNA sequences.{{sfn|Shen|Lavi|Kivisild|Chou|2004}}

=== Autosomal DNA ===
[[Autosomal DNA|Autosomally]], the Samaritans cluster with other Levantine populations. The Samaritans also resemble other Levantine groups in terms of their admixture, but they do not have much of the sub-Saharan African admixture found in small amounts in their Arab neighbours.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fernandes |first1=Verónica |last2=Triska |first2=Petr |last3=Pereira |first3=Joana B. |last4=Alshamali |first4=Farida |last5=Rito |first5=Teresa |last6=Machado |first6=Alison |last7=Fajkošová |first7=Zuzana |last8=Cavadas |first8=Bruno |last9=Černý |first9=Viktor |last10=Soares |first10=Pedro |last11=Richards |first11=Martin B. |last12=Pereira |first12=Luísa |date=2015-03-04 |editor-last=Chaubey |editor-first=Gyaneshwer |title=Genetic Stratigraphy of Key Demographic Events in Arabia |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=e0118625 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0118625 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=4349752 |pmid=25738654|bibcode=2015PLoSO..1018625F }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Behar |first1=Doron M. |last2=Yunusbayev |first2=Bayazit |last3=Metspalu |first3=Mait |last4=Metspalu |first4=Ene |last5=Rosset |first5=Saharon |last6=Parik |first6=Jüri |last7=Rootsi |first7=Siiri |last8=Chaubey |first8=Gyaneshwer |last9=Kutuev |first9=Ildus |last10=Yudkovsky |first10=Guennady |last11=Khusnutdinova |first11=Elza K. |last12=Balanovsky |first12=Oleg |last13=Semino |first13=Ornella |last14=Pereira |first14=Luisa |last15=Comas |first15=David |date=2010 |title=The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09103 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=466 |issue=7303 |pages=238–242 |doi=10.1038/nature09103 |pmid=20531471 |bibcode=2010Natur.466..238B |issn=0028-0836}}</ref> They also show significant [[genetic drift]] that distinguishes them from others.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pakstis |first1=Andrew J. |last2=Speed |first2=William C. |last3=Soundararajan |first3=Usha |last4=Rajeevan |first4=Haseena |last5=Kidd |first5=Judith R. |last6=Li |first6=Hui |last7=Kidd |first7=Kenneth K. |date=2019-12-11 |title=Population relationships based on 170 ancestry SNPs from the combined Kidd and Seldin panels |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=18874 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-55175-x |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=6906462 |pmid=31827153|bibcode=2019NatSR...918874P }}</ref>