astonishing. The Phoenician DNA marker was found in as many as 6 per cent of people now living in these areas – proving they are descended from Phoenician settlers. The legacy of the Phoenicians is very much alive in the modern world. The issue of Phoenician identity has been a controversial one in Lebanon in recent times. Some have seen it as a divisive issue – that the claim of Phoenician ancestry by some Lebanese is a denial of the country’s Arab and Muslim heritage. However, Dr Zalloua sees his research as a unifying force, not a divisive one. His studies have found that the Phoenician genetic marker is present in both Christian and Muslim populations of Lebanon. There are also many Lebanese, like Dr Zalloua himself, who do not have this marker of Phoenician ancestry, which is most common along the coastal The Phoenician genetic marker areas of the country. Having been a crossroads for travel and invasion throughout its long history, the Dr Pierre Zalloua, a geneticist from the Lebanese American University, undertook a study in search of Phoenician ancestry in the DNA code. He analysed blood samples from people living in cities that were once Phoenician ports, such as Byblos, Tyre and Sidon. Many of these samples were taken from Lebanese fisherman, who, like their Phoenician ancestors, still make their living from the sea. Dr Zalloua succeeded in finding a distinctive genetic marker, the “J2 haplogroup,” that proved Phoenician ancestry. This was compared to samples taken from people living in lands colonised by the Phoenicians across the whole Mediterranean – from Malta, Sardinia, Gibraltar, Spain, North Africa and the Aegean Islands. The results were population is a mix o