Editing Samaritans (section)

=== 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}}