Levantine hunter-gatherers before farming
Natufian communities lived during the final millennia before the full establishment of Neolithic agriculture in the region.
Ancient DNA affinity · Epipaleolithic Levant
Natufian ancestry calculator from raw DNA
Compare your raw DNA with Natufian-related ancestry from the ancient southern Levant using a transparent f4 shared-drift test.
Free comparisonUpload not retainedTransparent f4 method
Timelinec. 13,000–9,600 BCE
15,000 BCE10,000 BCE5,000 BCEPresent
Increasingly settled communities
Natufian sites are important to research on sedentism, intensive plant use and the transition toward village life.
A distinctive ancient Levantine profile
Natufians were differentiated from contemporary and later populations in Anatolia and Iran.
Free ancient-DNA comparison
Compare your DNA with Natufian.
The fixed ancient and modern references are precomputed. The request processes only the markers observed in your uploaded autosomal DNA file.
- 01UploadSelect a supported raw DNA export.
- 02CompareRun the fixed f4 reference panel.
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Understanding Natufian ancestry.
The Natufians were hunter-gatherers of the Levant during the late Epipaleolithic, before the full spread of farming. They lived roughly 13,000–9,600 BCE in areas including the southern Levant and are important for understanding the transition toward settled village life and agriculture.
Why it matters
Ancient Near Eastern populations were not genetically interchangeable. Natufians, early Levantine farmers, Anatolian farmers and Iranian farmers were differentiated, then mixed in different ways over later periods. A Natufian affinity result therefore means similarity to this reference profile, not a direct claim of recent Levantine ancestry.
Who were the Natufians?
The Natufians were Epipalaeolithic hunter-gatherers of the Levant. Their archaeological record includes increasingly settled communities before agriculture became the dominant subsistence system of the Neolithic.
How do Natufians relate to early Levantine farmers?
Natufians provide an important source of ancestry for understanding later Levantine populations, but early farmers were not unchanged Natufians. Population structure and mixture continued across the Neolithic and later periods.
Why Natufian affinity is not modern Levantine ancestry
Modern Levantine populations reflect thousands of years of additional movement and mixture. This calculator isolates a relative comparison with an ancient pooled Natufian reference and keeps Palestinian as a separate modern comparator.
Common questions
Natufian ancestry FAQ.
Who were the Natufians?
The Natufians were Epipalaeolithic hunter-gatherers of the Levant who lived before the full establishment of Neolithic farming.
Is Natufian ancestry the same as modern Palestinian or Levantine ancestry?
No. Natufian is an ancient reference profile. Modern Levantine populations formed through many later demographic events and are treated separately in this calculator.
Were Natufians farmers?
They lived before fully developed Neolithic agriculture, although their increasingly settled lifeways are central to research on the transition toward farming.
Does Natufian affinity prove a recent Middle Eastern ancestor?
No. It measures deep relative shared drift and cannot identify a recent ancestor or modern ethnicity.
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