Ancient DNA

Today we are going to talk in detail about how to relate to your ancient DNA results. Sometimes it can be difficult to determine exactly what the results mean and how they relate to your modern DNA make up. I will give a few examples using typical terminology.

Using my DNA I will give an idea of the break down and how to gain further insight to which ancient groups you relate to.

on “My True Ancestry” they use a simple concept, take your DNA mathematical numbers and apply them to a database of old archeological DNA samples. After you upload you access to several diagnostic tools like Deep Dive (actual relatives), Sample matches and haplogroup diagnostic breakdowns of your sample matches and deep dive.

My DNA breaks down this way: YDNA Haplogroups:

Samples matching with Indo-European/Steppe/Ural related Haplogroups (Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic/Bronze Age, Iron age through modern) 76.27%

Hunter derived samples indigenous to Europe (Paleo/Meso/Neo) 21.89%

Farmer matching samples (Neolithic) 1.75%

Lets take an even deeper look: If you take a look at my DNA thumbprint you see the entire timeline of matching samples and their exact distance (Small numbers are better) so take a Neolithic mixed Hunter/Farmer sample from England (4700 years ago). Compared to other users I match this sample at 98% but on the timeline the distance is 53. Take a pure Mesolithic Hunter sample from England (9000 years ago) my distance 19 and a compared user match of 90%. More than halfway closer in genetic distance. Now we take a sample from Neolithic Sweden (4900 years) who is Hunter/Corded ware mixed (Indigenous and Indo European) from the battle axe culture. Distance 4. 98% user match. This gives us an idea of what ancestry became dominant at the Bronze age, especially in people Ancestral to Germanic culture. It is a Corded Ware/Hunter break down with I1 hunter lineages, female hunter, Indo-European, Neolithic Caucasus lineages (U,H,K,T etc) and male Indo European/Scythian Kurgan lineages (R1A/R1B).

lets have a look at Some Bronze Age/Iron Age Indo-European samples:

Czechia Bell Beaker: Distance 4. Match 100%

England Bell Beaker: Distance 4. Match 100%

Bohemia Corded Ware: Distance 5. Match 100%

Corded Ware Alps: Distance 5. Match 100%

Scythian Ukraine Steppe: Distance 6. Match 100% (Early Iron Age/600BC)

Corded Ware Bohemia: Distance 5. Match Data Unknown.

Danish Viking Sample: Distance 3. Match comparison 100%.

My Top Samples per era:

Neolithic/Chalcolithic : Corded/Bell Czechia and Battle Axe Sweden.

Early Bronze Age: Bell Beaker England and CWC Bohemia

Late Bronze Age: Britain and Hungary (BEAKER/CWC/Schythian)

Iron Age: Scythian Ukraine and Iron France (Germano Celtic tribes DNA).

Roman Age: British Celt and Alemannic German.

Dark Ages: Scandinavian derived Lombard and Anglo Saxon.

Medieval Period: All 10 top samples are Denmark, Sweden and Greenland.

Top Early Modern: Gotland, Latvia, Iceland.

Top all time Matching Sample in distance: Danish Viking Distance 3. Match comparison 100%.

Number of Deep dive (Actual relatives) Samples per region:

45 Scandinavia.

31 Britain.

37 Germany, Central Europe/Eastern Europe.

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MY general matching samples per region:

Viking Denmark: 16

Viking Sweden: 20

Norway/Iceland/Greenland, Faroe: 15

Anglo Saxon and Viking England: 11

Scandinavian/Nordic total matching samples: 61

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Germania minor and major (Germany, France, Netherlands, Switzerland): 44

Czechia/Poland and Urals/European Steppe regions: 71

Western to Eastern Europe total matching samples: 115

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British Isles: 51

Total matching British Isles Samples: 51

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All Sample numbers above include all matching samples from all eras based on Geographic location*

Closest Matching Groups to my DNA by distance 15000BCE-3600BCE:

Funnelbeaker Czechia.

Western Hunter Gatherer.

Hunter Farmer Mix: Britain.

Most closely related Ancient groups to my DNA by distance 3600BCE-600BCE:

Czechia: Bell Beaker.

Czechia: Corded Ware Culture.

Swedish: Battle Axe Culture.

Alps: Corded Ware Culture.

Únětice Culture (Possibly ancestor to or influenced Slavic/Baltic/Germanic)

Bell Beaker: Germany.

Bell Beaker: Britain.

Schythian: Ukraine,Hungary, Moldova, Pontic Steppes.

Fatyanovo Russia (Proto Baltic)

Most closely matching groups to my DNA by distance 600BCE-110AD:

Schythian Kurgan Culture: Hungary, Ukraine.

British and Gaulish Celtic Tribes.

Most closely matching groups to my DNA by distance 110AD-600AD:

Germany and Eastern Europe Tribes: Goth, Saxon, Lombard, Rugii, Frank, Alemannic.

Celtic Britain.

Most closely matching groups to my DNA by distance 600AD-1200AD

Top Match: Viking Age Denmark-Viking Age Sweden.

Viking Age Greenland.

Viking Age Iceland.

Anglo Saxon England.

Most closely matching groups to my DNA by distance 1200AD-1700AD:

Denmark.

Sweden.

Most closely matching groups to my DNA by distance 1700AD-2019AD:

Denmark.

Sweden.

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The above info was gleaned from MYTRUEANCESTRY.com Diagnostics.

Gedmatch info/breakdown:

MY DNA VS. Using oracle population search with Poland as substring MDLP Project K11 modern. Corded Ware Proto Unetice culture:

Top 3 results:

Alberstedt_LN (Corded Ware/Bell Beaker transitional burial site) Germany.

Halberstadt_LBA (Urnfield and Lusation (Urnfield burial tradition) possibly related to Early Baltic or Slavic cultures) Germany/Poland.

Bell Beaker Germany.

The above cultures are associated with the Yamnaya-Corded Ware horizon and its evolution into the Single Grave cultures like Urnfield, Lusation, Tumulus, Unetice etc where it is seen that the various Indo European burial customs take hold.

MY DNA VS puntDNAL puntDNAL K12 Ancient Bell BeakerCzech RISE 569:

Top 3 results:

1 Unetice_EBA_I0117 (Bronze Age) Indo European.
2 Bell_Beaker_Germany_I1549 (Chalcolithic) Indo European.
3 Halberstadt_LBA_I0099 (Lusation/Early Urnfield) Indo European.

My DNA top 4 results (modern) from Gedmatch Eurogenes K13:

Sweden

Norway

Northern Germany

Denmark

Now for how we decipher the information above:

My DNA is basically at this point almost all Yamnaya derived, I have almost no Neolithic farmer male Ancestry (G2A) but measurable Neolthic Female lineages, and considerable Indo European (Yamnaya) Female and male lineages. My first male Ancestor’s bifurcated Haplogroup originated in either the meeting of the Hunter Farmer or mixed Hunter/Farmer and the Corded Ware. It is I1a which ultimately derived from the oldest haplogroup in Northern Europe (I branch) but its mutation is dated almost exactly at the arrival of the Corded Ware. This Haplo group expanded and became dominant in the Nordic Bronze Age where in Scandinavia the Hunter lineages persisted but took on PIE women from the western steppes. My highest haplogroup lineage based on samples is R (R1B-R1A) Followed by I (I2-I1). Later in Northern Europe R lineages became competition for I lineages but never fully won out in Scandinavia. My First male Ancestor is Battle Axe Sweden or in more Ancient terms essentially Paleo European. (I has existed in Europe since Humans have existed in Europe). My Female MTDNA is Neolithic British and matches a specific North Atlantic mutation. It is a branch of H likely resulting from the meeting of Farmers and Hunters in Britain. Its parent origin is something like 27000 years ago in the North Caucasus overlooking the Steppes. My highest MTDNA Haplogroups are H in several variations (Indo and Farmer lineages) T and U5 (Paleo/Meso Hunter Females from Finland/North Eastern Europe). One Way to Look at it is my Haplo Lineage is Indigenous European (First two groups to settle) and My Autosomal (Actual genetic make up) is Indo European. So seeing all the Above Autosomal results in Ancient times you See places like Czechia and Poland or Germany rank fairly high and Also Britain but other than one very old Scandinavian Battle Axe Sample its all central European. My modern results however are Scandinavian?? well the answer to this can be discovered in the diagnostic tools on MYTRUEANCESTRY.COM. When you Take all of the above samples into detailed view they match more the modern population of current Nordic countries. These central Corded Ware groups migrated out of north central Europe into Denmark and Scandinavia around 3500BCE and then subsequent populations like the Bell Beaker who were likely a subset of the Danish Single Grave Culture expanded again into Scandinavia reinforcing the Yamnaya or Western Steppe Herder DNA in Scandinavia and creating the Nordic Bronze age which shared genetic and tradition similarities with Britain and Central Europe. It then evolved into a unique culture we see expressed in the weapons, art, horns and shields. Although in places like Sweden the I lineages remained dominant the Autosomal became largely PIE derived. This should be side barred with the knowledge that Germanic people have higher Hunter ancestry than other parts of Europe. This is likely what caused Germanic culture to be different to say Celtic culture (which is still very close) to but took new and different expressions. Mythological elements may refer to elder indigenous Hunter Gods/Goddesses and small archaic remnants of language as well. As described in David Anthony’s Horse/Wheel and Language such contact between Yamnaya folk and the remaining hunter/farmer people could not have resulted in 0 borrowing or loan words. The PIE people were notoriously resistant to borrowing words and anywhere they went they almost uniformly replace the original inhabitants through absorption. It is likely some of the Animistic and Shamanic ideas were from the Hunters and some seasonal ideas maybe inherited from the farmers as well as a glut of technology from the farmers who represented the most advanced civilization in Europe (Think Vinca and other cultures). The farmers also likely introduced the longhouse to Northern Europe as opposed to the hunters huts and other dwelling types.

A geographical look at my DNA:

My Paternal Haplogroup and the common ancient maternal group associated with I Haplogroup: I1A and U5:

My Maternal Haplogroup: H.

The exact origin of H and all of its subclades in unknown and its age is estimated at 27,000 years. My specific subclade is found almost exclusively in Germanic and Celtic Europe but its age is unknown. The H subclades were associated both the Neolithic expansion from the Caucasus and Balkans (Farming) but some clades also may have already existed in Mesolithic Europe. The arrival of the Indo Europeans with R1A and R1B YDNA brought additional H clades into Europe. I do not know if my lineage began in Britain or Scandinavia in the Mesolithic, Neolithic or Bronze age but as far as living people with the clade it is found in Ireland, Scotland, England, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. It is most associated with Ireland and Western Scandinavia. The H lineage is extremely diverse and European MTDNA is far less homogeneous than the YDNA. All this being said my mothers great grandmother was reportedly from Ireland but had an Anglo Saxon name. I imagine the Subclade arose between the Neolithic Stone builders and the chalcolithic Beaker Kurgan builders in Ireland or Britain and might have been spread around in the Viking age. The total origin of H could be between the Balkans and the Caucasus 27,000-33,000 years ago.

The Final Breakdown:

The Above information is how I have interpreted my Ancient DNA using two different diagnostic sites, but yielded similar results. If you are using these sites you can glean a great deal of information but you must compare data side by side. Once you have seen a wide variety of data you can create an aggregate to answer your questions about Ancient DNA.

Tribal associations:

Goths

Danes

Vendel Swedes

Suevi

Anglo Saxon and Saxons

My aggregate: (Autosomal Closeness)

Primary Ancient DNA: Corded Ware-Battle Axe Culture.

Secondary Ancient DNA: Hunter Gatherer. (SHG, EHG,WHG)

HAPLOGROUP:

YDNA Scandinavia 12,000 to 4000 years ago> I1A. (Parent I (M-170) Paleolithic Europe 33,000 to 55,000 years ago). Most likely date of expansion is Nordic Bronze Age. It is theorized to have existed in Scandinavia as a minority subclade from the Mesolithic until the bronze age. My Subclade in modern era is associated with the movement of Vendel culture people into Western Europe and the Anglo Saxon tribes who existed in Scandinavia before migration.

MTDNA: Britain 2100 to 8200 years ago > H (Subclade) (Parent H Paleolithic Caucasus 27,000 to 33,000 years ago.) Given its distribution with Germanic and Celtic PIE culture it hypothetically could have been carried by the the Bell Beaker Single Grave Builders who represented a genetic majority in Early Bronze Age Europe and were the primary formative DNA of modern Britain and Ireland.

Thanks for having a look!

Hroð-