New Finds in Ancient DNA
You may have seen one of the recent news articles [Ancient DNA Analysis Reveals Large Scale Migrations Into Bronze Age Britain] about newly DNA sequenced ancient skeletons in Britain. My friend Roberta Estes is just out with a new Blog Post DNA from 459 Ancient British Isles Burials Reveals Relationships – Does Yours Match? and it made it easy to do a deeper dive into some of our SHELDON DNA groups. So now we have some older matches than those with the “Headless Gladiator” skeletons of York which matched Group B. Group C matches a skeleton from 4200-5000 years ago. Alas, there were no YDNA Haplogroup E included in the newest release, so no matches for Group A or for Group F1 which is Haplogroup J. However we do get early hits on several of our other Groups. [Please click here for an explanation of our current DNA Groups.]
Our DNA project represents the following YDNA Haplogroups E, G, I, J, and R. The earlier in the alphabet the earlier in time a Haplogroup was formed. In Great Britain, the most common YDNA Haplogroup is R followed by I. This new study has individuals of Haplogroups R, I and G. But we need more definition as Haplogroup R breaks into R1b and then subdivisions under that and some of our groups have no Big Y tests or further Haplogroup definition. This leaves us with the following groups that had enough information to match up with ancient skeletons. The big winner is Group D with 25 matching samples from across England. Followed by Group C which is represented by 5 samples I have listed the oldest. This is the famous Amesbury Archer which had a recent article that is a great read Family Ties: Deciphering the Amesbury Archer and his companion.
Stonehenge
Stonehenge near Amesbury ©Kelly Wheaton
New Sheldon Matches
Group B: R-Z156 Sample I11149 (Male) Location: England, Cambridgeshire, Teversham (Marshall’s) Evaluation Age: 733-397 BCE
Group C: There are 5 samples for R-151 Selected Sample: I14200 (Male) Location: England, Wiltshire, Amesbury Down Age: 2470-2239 BCE Widespread
Group D: R-DF13 25 samples! see article. Widespread. Too many to choose from.
Group E: I-M253 Sample: I16453 (Male) Location: England, Cornwall, St. Mawes, Tregear Vean Age: 800-1 BCE
More Information
So as increasing analysis of ancient remains becomes available we make strides in connecting our recent histories with our ancient ones! If you need more information on understanding YDNA please see:
The hunt continues…if you have not done a YDNA Big Y test you may want to consider upgrading to one if you are interested in connecting with your ancient ancestors!
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