There were a few things I liked about it over the other company Family Tree DNA. And now there are things I dislike about it once are results are here!.
One thing that I liked about 23 and me was their website. I know this is not an indication on how accurate our results will be, but I did appreciate the flash cartoons explaining how the DNA can tell a story of our ancient ancestry. (Part of the reason why I named my blog Modern Ancestry was because this is such a new technology telling such an old story). There are also several "movies" about pre-history and human evolution that really help understand what your results mean.
We had my Dad tested because testing is limited for females. Males will give the entire picture of the history of your DNA because males have an X and a Y chromosomes. 23 and me also tests mitochondrial DNA to determine more information from the maternal side. I liked the amount of DNA that was tested as well, which was far superior to most DNA companies who only look at a small sample to make generalizations. Another feature is their Relative Finder which tells you the likelihood of being related to other people who have been tested. It also gives a percentage break down of your ancestry in the following categories: European, African, and Asian.
Now for the results!
First our ancestry break down was no surprise: 100% European.
The Maternal line results which we've always been told is 100% Norwegian was assigned a Haploggroup. The Haplogroup is a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor with a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutation. That probably doesn't make sense to most, so here is an explaination.
https://www.23andme.com/gen101/snps/#
Maternal Line Haplogroup: H3c
Basic info about this group
Haplogroup: H3, a subgroup of H
Age: greater than 15,000 years
Region: Europe
Populations: Spanish (Galician), Basques
Highlight: H3 was involved in the resettlement of northern Europe after the Ice Age.
Haplogroup H, the parent of H3, originated in the Near East and then expanded throughout Europe toward the end of the Ice Age. H3 likely branched off the rest of H in Iberia and expanded across most of western Europe after the glaciers receded. Today, H3 is distributed across much of Europe and is rare elsewhere.
Age: greater than 15,000 years
Region: Europe
Populations: Spanish (Galician), Basques
Highlight: H3 was involved in the resettlement of northern Europe after the Ice Age.
Haplogroup H, the parent of H3, originated in the Near East and then expanded throughout Europe toward the end of the Ice Age. H3 likely branched off the rest of H in Iberia and expanded across most of western Europe after the glaciers receded. Today, H3 is distributed across much of Europe and is rare elsewhere.
IntroductionHaplogroup H dominates in western Europe, where about half the population carries one of its many forms. Although its origins are unclear, the haplogroup rose to prominence during the Ice Age, when much of Europe was blanketed by glaciers and its population squeezed into a handful of ice-free refuges in Iberia, Italy, the Balkans and the Caucasus.
Several branches of haplogroup H arose during that time, and after the glaciers receded most of them played a prominent role in the repopulation of the continent. With the subsequent spread of agriculture and the rise of organized military campaigns, the haplogroup achieved an even wider distribution. It is now found throughout Europe and at lower levels in Asia, reaching as far south as Arabia and eastward to the western fringes of Siberia.
The Origin of H3The H3 haplogroup arose during the Ice Age in northern Iberia, one of the only hospitable regions of Europe at a time when most of the continent was covered either by barren tundra or a mile-thick layer of ice. After Europe's climate started to warm about 11,000 years ago, people rapidly migrated northward into the formerly frozen landscape.
Haplogroup H3 followed two paths, one up the Atlantic seaboard to present-day France and the British Isles and another along the Mediterranean into Italy and Sardinia, then across the Alps into what is now Hungary.
Archaeologists have been able to track those migrations through the expansion of the Magdalenian culture, which left behind weapons specialized for the hunting of reindeer, bison and other big game and created magnificent cave paintings like the famous ones in Altamira, Spain and Lascaux, France.
H3 TodayHaplogroup H3 is now found throughout western Europe thanks to the dramatic northward migrations at the end of the Ice Age and more gradual diffusion since then. It is most common in and around northern Spain, reaching levels of 14% among the Basques and 8% among the Galicians of extreme northwestern Iberia. Outside Iberia, H3 is present in many parts of western Europe, though at much lower levels. For example, H3 is present in Sweden in more than 4% of the general population.
Outside of Europe, however, H3 is extremely rare. It reaches levels of about 2% among the Berbers of Morocco, due to the migration of Spanish women across the Gibraltar Strait since the Ice Age. A few individuals with H3 mitochondrial DNA have also been found in the Caucasus region of southwest Asia.
So as you can see this matches up well to what we do know about our ancestry. It's likely most of our ancestors were from the Scandanavian area. And what we have found is that most lines can be traced backed to the 1500's in Norway.
Stay tuned for Paternal Ancestory results next entry!
Several branches of haplogroup H arose during that time, and after the glaciers receded most of them played a prominent role in the repopulation of the continent. With the subsequent spread of agriculture and the rise of organized military campaigns, the haplogroup achieved an even wider distribution. It is now found throughout Europe and at lower levels in Asia, reaching as far south as Arabia and eastward to the western fringes of Siberia.
The Origin of H3The H3 haplogroup arose during the Ice Age in northern Iberia, one of the only hospitable regions of Europe at a time when most of the continent was covered either by barren tundra or a mile-thick layer of ice. After Europe's climate started to warm about 11,000 years ago, people rapidly migrated northward into the formerly frozen landscape.
Haplogroup H3 followed two paths, one up the Atlantic seaboard to present-day France and the British Isles and another along the Mediterranean into Italy and Sardinia, then across the Alps into what is now Hungary.
Archaeologists have been able to track those migrations through the expansion of the Magdalenian culture, which left behind weapons specialized for the hunting of reindeer, bison and other big game and created magnificent cave paintings like the famous ones in Altamira, Spain and Lascaux, France.
H3 TodayHaplogroup H3 is now found throughout western Europe thanks to the dramatic northward migrations at the end of the Ice Age and more gradual diffusion since then. It is most common in and around northern Spain, reaching levels of 14% among the Basques and 8% among the Galicians of extreme northwestern Iberia. Outside Iberia, H3 is present in many parts of western Europe, though at much lower levels. For example, H3 is present in Sweden in more than 4% of the general population.
Outside of Europe, however, H3 is extremely rare. It reaches levels of about 2% among the Berbers of Morocco, due to the migration of Spanish women across the Gibraltar Strait since the Ice Age. A few individuals with H3 mitochondrial DNA have also been found in the Caucasus region of southwest Asia.
So as you can see this matches up well to what we do know about our ancestry. It's likely most of our ancestors were from the Scandanavian area. And what we have found is that most lines can be traced backed to the 1500's in Norway.
Stay tuned for Paternal Ancestory results next entry!
1 comments:
Is there a typical DNA profile of Norwegians and how do we match up?
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