Something more is needed than mitochondria, though. For about 900 years after the destruction of the Temple, the Gaonim kept up a lively correspondence with the Jews of the diaspora, dealing with a lot of marital issues. Their correspondence has survived and been printed, and are an important primary source of information of Jewish life in early-Mideival Europe and the Middle East. I’d like to see the mitochondria and hypotheses built thereon corroborated with some Gaonic correspondence frequently dealing with issues of conversion, which is a complicated, exacting process in Judaism.
It might well be that the shiksaik mitochondria of a few converts became wide spread due to the carriers’ underlying hotness, as per my previous post.
I love the way you put that. I have read that back in the day, for Jewish merchants engaged in long journeys, months at a time, spreading hotness amongst the local populations was not condoned, but understood. Not so for the hotness of the wife left at home.