The Origins of Red-Haired Mummies in China

 Archaeologists and scientists  have found the oldest and best-preserved mummies in the Tarim Basin area of China. Within a Bronze Age cemetery first discovered by Swedish archaeologists in 1934, some of the oldest mummies every found have had their DNA tested. The findings were a surprise. 

Previously the origins of the earliest settlers in this area were thought to be either  nomadic herders from the steppes of Russia and Kazakhstan, or from modern Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan. But DNA results indicate the most common mtDNA haplogroup was C, suggesting origins in southern Siberia.

“Considering the presence of haplogroups H and K in the Xiaohe people and the geographical distribution of shared sequences, we conclude that the west Eurasian component observed in the Xiaohe people originated from western Europe, and maternal ancestry of the Xiaohe people might have close relationships with western Europeans,”

Continue reading at DNA Reveals These Red-Haired Chinese Mummies Come From Europe And Asia

Credits: Image is a screenshot from Forbes.com

Understanding Your DNA Results: Comparison Charts

DNA is the latest genealogy tool and I've had my DNA tested with 3 different companies now (with one more pending). I used Family Tree DNA, 23andMe.com and DNA-me for testing. Since I'm a woman I can only test my Mt-DNA or my Autosomal. I have to leave the Y-DNA tests to a male relative. 

DNA results are not easy to understand and I don't pretend to understand them very well at all. So what I have done is make a spreadsheet of the summary of my DNA results - the Haplogroup I am in, my genetic origins and my percentages of various ethnicities. 

Each test is likely to show different results depending on the number of markers that were tested and the algorithms used to interpret the test. So I expected to find some differences but that is what makes testing with more than one company worthwhile. In fact it's important if you want to understand your DNA in more depth.

Definitions

You also have to do a lot of reading (aka research) to increase your knowledge of DNA testing, the various tests and what the results mean. What I have gleaned (admititily just the tip of the DNA iceberg!) Is this: 

MtDNA - Maternal DNA is passed from mother to child (of either sex) and does not change over the generations. A female testing her MtDNA is testing her female lineage from herself to her mother to her mother's mother and so on. This is the X chromosome

Y-DNA - Paternal DNA tests the Y chromosome which is passed, unchanged, from father to son. Thus if you wish to test for your surname and you are a woman, you must find a male relative with that surname to take the test. Women do not have the Y chromosome (We are XX while men are XY)

Autosomal: Autosomal DNA recombines with every generation and that means the number of markers you share with a common ancestor is halved with each generation. 

Haplogroups: The Haplogroup your DNA indicates you belong to will show your deep roots, your heritage going back thousands of years.  

This is very basic but it's a start to understanding. There's no sense paying money for DNA tests and then just letting the results sit there because you don't understand what was tested or what the results mean.




My DNA Test Results

Here is the chart I've finished which shows the comparison of the 3 companies whose results are in. My 4th company is still running my DNA samples so I don't have that yet.

Family Tree DNA is the one marked as FT DNA. They do not narrow down my ethnic origins as much as 23andMe.com but you can see that they both agree the majority of my ethnic origins are European of some sort. 

DNA-me is the surprise with their finding of a smidgeon of African origin. And their Haplogroup assignment of JT also throws me a bit. I have more research to do to try to understand how that happened. I am pretty sure they didn't test very many markers and the more markers tested, the  more accurate the results.

You can also see that 23andMe.com has both Standard (75% accuracy) and Speculative (50% accuracy) results so I included them. The East Asian was interesting especially when I compared my test results to my brother's. Since his tests include the full Y chromosome testing there are bound to be some differences. And I love that 23andMe.com tests for your percentage of Neanderthal ancestry in your DNA! 

My Brother's DNA Results

For example even though we know we have Native American heritage on my father's side, it does not show on my results with any company. But it does show on my brother's results through 23andMe (but not Family Tree DNA) and on tests that Professor McDonald ran on my brother's Family Tree DNA raw data. Again this points out the importance of testing with more than one company. 

You can see that testing my brother's DNA confirmed our Native American heritage and the Asian heritage shown for me in both 23andMe and DNA-me testing. The big surprise was the Ashkenazi in his speculative results. It's important though to note that these results are only considered to have 50% accuracy. They may be correct but they are equally likely to be wrong. 

DNA Matches

I've also been studying and reading about how to compare raw data with matches found for me in each of the DNA company's databases. I'm getting better and can now narrow down the ethnicity we share (based on what chromosomes we match on). This obviously helps with figuring out who our common ancestor might be, but I have much more to learn. When I have that a bit more figured out I will post here. 

Meantime if there are any readers who understand what I've posted today better than I do (or better than my explanation) please do leave a comment so we can all learn from each other's knowledge.  

23andMe DNA Test Kits Arrive

My 23andMe DNA kits arrived yesterday. I ordered three - one for my brother (for Y-DNA), one for me (for mtDNA) and one for my husband (for Y-DNA)

We've already had our DNA tested at Family Tree DNA but we wanted to try another company and see what kind of results we get. 23andMe focuses on genetic health issues and that's intriguing. But I'm also interested in their

Previously I have written about my brother's Y-DNA results from Family Tree DNA
at Family Finder Test Results in for my Brother's DNA! His Predicted Haplogroup is I-M223.  Quoting from the website, this Haplogroup
"...has its roots in northern France. Today it is found most frequently within Viking / Scandinavian populations in Northwest Europe and extends at low frequencies into Central and Eastern Europe."
 
It's been really interesting reading up on this and finding out more about our McGinnis paternal line ethnic origins, especially since my brother's Y-DNA showed a mutation that scientists know exactly where and when it occurred! Turns out it was around the time Hadrian's Wall was built between England and Scotland and his gene mutation is known to have come from a group of Basque at this time.

I also had an exciting update on our results for Native American heritage, which you can read about at Update on DNA Testing for Native American Heritage

My mtDNA results from FT arrived and I wrote about those at mtDNA Test Results Arrived!
My Haplogroup is J2a1a1a2  but I still don't completely understand my full results.

I'm hoping 23andMe will provide more interesting details. 

Follow along with me as I get ready to provide the test sample and mail it back to 23andMe

Jumping on the DNA Genealogy Research Bandwagon!

After following the growing enthusiasm for DNA Genealogy Research for a year now, I decided to take the plunge. Because I wanted to follow my father's McGinnis lineage, I needed a male McGinnis relative for a Y-DNA test.


Males inherit a Y-chromosome from a father, who in turn received his Y chromosome from his father and so on. Males also inherit an X chromosone, but females only inherit the X chromosone and thus can only test their maternal DNA, called mtDNA. This follows their mother, her mother, her mother and so on back through her maternal ancestors.

My brother was pursuaded to swab his cheeks for a DNA sample, and I ordered my 33 marker Paternal Lineage DNA test kit.

More about the test results to come!