The ancestral DNA of the Jewish priesthood has been defined by Israeli geneticists as J1c3d aka the Cohen Modal Haplotype. J1c3d is a subclade of J-M267 of which J-P58 is a subclade. According to Wikipedia: “The J-P58 marker which defines subgroup J1c3 was announced in (Karafet 2008), but had been announced earlier under the name Page08 in (Repping 2006 and called that again in Chiaroni 2009).It is very prevalent in many areas where J-M267 is common, especially in parts of North Africa and throughout the Arabian peninsula. It also makes up approximately 70% of the J-M267 among the Amhara of Ethiopia. Notably, it is not common among the J-M267 of the Caucasus.”
“The major branch—J1a1a1-P58—evolved during the early Holocene?~?9500 years ago somewhere in the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, and southern Mesopotamia. Haplogroup J1-M267 expanded during the Chalcolithic, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. Most probably, the spread of Afro-Asiatic languages, the spread of mobile pastoralism in the arid zones, or both of these events together explain the distribution of haplogroup J1-M267 we see today in the southern regions of West Asia.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7987999/
“A sub-branch of J1a1a1-P58—J1a1a1a1a-Z1853—coalesces?~?7.3 kya (95% HPD?=?5.7–9.0 kya) (Table ?(Table1,1, Supplementary File S1). This branch retains an important phylogeographic mark as the branch to which most of the northern West Asian J1a1a1-P58 lineages belong (Fig. 2, Supplementary Fig. S1). Nevertheless, the J1a1a1a1a-Z1853 branch occurs primarily in the southern regions of West Asia. Most of the ancient members are found in the Levant and Egypt (Supplementary Table S3). Among them is the oldest known aDNA, belonging to haplogroup J1a1a1-P5846 (Supplementary Table S3). Minor branches of the J1a1a1a1a-Z1853 contain samples from Europe as well. These are J1a1a1a1a1b-Z18297, J1a1a1a1a1a2-ZS2524 and J1a1a1a1a1a1b-B2069 (Fig. 2, Supplementary Fig. S1), coalescing?~?4–6 kya (Table ?(Table1,1, Supplementary File S1). Another sub-branch—J1a1a1a1a1a1a2-B877—is specific to the Jewish Cohens (Fig. 2, Supplementary Fig. S1). Its TMRCA of?~?3.2 kya (95% HPD?=?2.4–4.0 kya) overlaps with the previous estimate (Table ?(Table1,1, Supplementary File S1). It exceeds the TMRCA of J1a1a1b1-L817, another Jewish lineage in haplogroup J1-M267. Intriguingly, an ancient member of the J1a1a1a1a1a1a2-B877 branch is found again in Rome, this time in the Imperial period (27 BCE—300 CE), which is characterized by an increase in genome-wide ancestry from the eastern Mediterranean region.”
The findings in the last quotation, that the majority of J1a1a1a1a1a1a2-B877, which is unique to the Jewish lingeage (J1c3d), arose 3.2 kya affirms that the Biblical story that the Cohanim were a priestly group which originated in Edom. The kingdom of Edom flourished between the 13th and the 8th Century BCE, which means Edom was founded at least as early as the 12th Century BCE. Jethro is described as a Kenite/Qynite (meaning metal smith) priest of Midian and it was from him that Moses learned of Yhwh. Moses married Jethro’s daughter after which time he was inducted into the priesthood at the burning bush where he met Yhwh and gained miraculous powers. Jethro, was a priest from the Qynite or copper smithing clan of Midian and he served as a priest in the cult of Yhwism. Jethro’s son-in-law, Moses is described as a copper smith, who fashioned the nehushtan, and his brother, Aaron, is depicted as a goldsmith who forged the golden calf.
Although the origin of the Midianites appears to be in Qurayya, Saudi Arabia where they established an urban center circa the 4th – 3rd Century BCE , the tribal federation expanded into areas from the Sinai in the West to the Gulf of Aqaba in the East. Midianites were also caravan merchants so they were on the incense trade route from Yemen into Egypt, Canaan, Aram and beyond. From the DNA map I previously posted, Midianites originated in Yemen. They most likely settled the area along their trade route into Canaan and Egypt. They developed their own urban culture first in Qurayya and then founded the kingdom of Edom where Moses was indoctrinated into Yahwism and it’s priesthood of which Jethro was a high priest. So, surprise!!, DNA does give credence to the Biblical story of the Midianite origin of the Cohanim.