A new look at the DNA of the Ashkenazi Jewish population has thrown light on its still mysterious origins.

Until now, it had been widely assumed by geneticists that the Ashkenazi communities of Northern and Central Europe were founded by men who came from the Middle East, perhaps as traders, and by the women from each local population whom they took as wives and converted to Judaism.

But the new study, published online this week in The American Journal of Human Genetics, suggests that the men and their wives migrated to Europe together.