For the Record

Because I have posted my paternal DNA results, I thought that I might as well add something about my maternal lineage; as on the paternal side, these results are also rather limited. My haplogroup (a set of people with a common ancestor as determined by certain DNA markers) is J and has been dubbed The European Travellers.

Maternal haplogroups are different than paternal groups, and, according to Bryan Sykes in The Seven Daughters of Eve, there are seven European maternal groupings. He has given each of the seven maternal ancestors a name, and chose Jasmine for mine.

I haven't read the book but preliminary searching tells me that we came from the Near East, which is surprising to me, and that 12% of J's still reside there with 11% in Europe with other concentrations in the Causasus and North Africa. I am guessing that I am from the more prevalent J1 group, but there is a smaller J2 group based around the Mediterranean in places such as Greece, Italy/Sardinia and Spain. There are also subdivisions within each group, but this test only tells me that I am a J.



The map shows from where haplogroup J was thought to emerge about 50 000 years BP. As you can see, some of the descendants of Jasmine migrated east, and today, "The European Travelers are found at a rate of about 10% among the Kalash, an ethnic group living in Pakistan."

Following is exactly what my testing site had to report.

"You belong to the European Travelers, haplogroup J, which emerged around 50,000 years ago in the Near East, not long after the first modern humans left Africa. About 10% of today’s European population belongs to the European Travelers, although they did not arrive in Europe until the end of the last major ice age, about 10,000 years ago.

"This timing associates the European Travelers with the Neolithic or late Stone Age peoples, whose emergence is characterized by the rise of advanced farming and herding techniques. Irrigation, pottery and other technologies and cultural hallmarks of advancement came about as a result of this farming lifestyle. Lives were instantly transformed when humans could manage their own food sources and did not have to move with the changing seasons or evolving climate just to survive. Crops were eventually produced in surplus, which led to trade. Your ancient ancestors were probably key players in the realization and implementation of this critical progress"

Wikipedia also credits group J "with the spread of farming and herding in Europe during the Neolithic Era (8,000-10,000 yrs ago). All other West Eurasian-origin groups were previously given to hunting and gathering."

Maternal DNA testing can only be used to eliminate matches with others who have been tested: "We can’t determine whether you are related more recently than 5,000 years ago, but if you have even one difference, you can be certain you are not related." The site does not provide a map of people who have no differences from me, but I have been provided with a list of names whom I can contact if I so wish. However, with a possible 5 000 year variation, I don't think I would be likely to do that. I would be interested in reading Sykes', The Seven Daughters of Eve, however.

Vague DNA Results

Although I haven't done too much about it, I find it interesting to try to figure out where I came from, where we all came from really. It seems that DNA research indicates that we all came out of Africa about 50 000 years ago, maybe longer. I wanted to know more, and for Christmas I was given a DNA testing kit which supposedly would do that. Well, I guess it did tell me more but, disappointingly, not too much more.

It did pin my paternal DNA down to haplogroup R1B, a haplogroup being a set of people with certain genetic markers in common. As you can see in the graphic, they have decided to name this group, The Artisans, although I don't think that tells me very much other than the information that we"first arrived in Europe from west Asia about 35,000-40,000 years ago." The following map indicates the path that we took, but from other reading I think it would be the same for most Europeans. My understanding, still from other reading, is that various peoples dispersed in various directions from that location in west Asia.



Personally, I don't think that such general information from so long ago is very informative, but that's about as good as it gets. I was also told that "early Aurignacian peoples collected flint for tools at random, they later advanced and managed their resources with sophistication, using a single stone core to shape flint tools as needed. Aurignacian decorative beads and jewelry could also be the first sign we have of the uniquely human quality of selfawareness and adornment. Additionally, some anthropologists believe that the Aurignacian culture was the first to paint. The people of this time period left behind fascinating cave paintings in France, Spain and Portugal." Although I know I could find the information, it would be nice if the DNA company would explain this Aurignacian subculture more as they just mention the name in passing, but I am left to do that on my own ... or not.

A subtype of this Rb1 group were the Cro Magnon people who were responsible for the cave paintings mentioned above, but this test wasn't able to determine subgroups. Another bit of information is that 70% of the people of England belong to this haplogroup, which is no surprise to me as I know that my ancestry is quite English. Also, at least some R1b subgroups were part of the Celtic nations, but again that is pretty general and unsurprising information.

That's really about it, and it sure isn't much. I wasn't expecting a lot, but I was hoping for something a little more current than where my ancestors may have been located forty millenia ago. The site does have a link to another site that may or may not tell me more about my haplogroup, but I haven't explored that yet. It also provided me with a map of those who have taken the same test, and it tells me of six people (the orange symbols) with whom I share a common ancestor, but only with the past 21 to 23 generations or 525 to 575 years ago. I also share a common ancestor with all of the green symbols; most that I clicked on were related to me from about 875 years ago (35 generations) to about 1000 years ago (40 generations). There were some results from other countries too, but most were from the USA.



Unfortunately, the only way to find out if something is worth it is to try it, and I don't really think this was even though it is more information than I had before and could possibly prove useful someday. I've presented the type of information here so that others can make up their own minds about such testing. I had my maternal DNA tested as well, and I may also report on that, but it's probably even less helpful than the paternal test.