Lebanese ancestors are the Canaanites
The ancient Canaanites , who according to the Bible were commanded to be exterminated, but later disobeyed God - did not die out, but lived on to become modern-day Lebanese , according to the first study to analyse their DNA . Key points DNA reveals that modern Lebanese are direct descendants of ancient Canaanites Despite tumultuous history, there has been substantial genetic continuity in the Near East across the past 3,000 to 4,000 years European additions to Lebanese ancestry occurred around 3,750-2,170 years ago Study also provides clues about ancient Phoenicians The Bronze Age Canaanites lived between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago in the region now encompassed by Israel , Lebanon , Syria and Jordan. Despite being the first group known to use an alphabet, and appearing many times in the Bible, the Canaanites left few written records. "What is exciting was that we can see the genetic continuity between the Bronze Age population and the present-day populations,"