Ötzi the Iceman is the iconic G2a guy. He lived somewhere around 3400 to 3100 BCE in what is now Northern Italy. His mummified body was discovered in 1991, partially trapped in ice. DNA testing eventually showed he belonged to yDNA haplogroup G-L91, a “cousin” branch to the Swiss Hauris, who are G-L42. Information about Ötzi continues to accumulate. We know more about him than ever...
Origin of the Swiss Nation
An interesting video from Masaman about the origins of Switzerland.
Origin of the Swiss Nation: Europe’s most Diverse Country
Y-DNA from an autosomal test
According to Chris Morley, it’s sometimes possible to get Y-DNA results from an autosomal test: “Some autosomal genetic genealogy tests (such as 23andMe, AncestryDNA and MyHeritage – but not Family Finder) also contain a few hundred Y-DNA markers. The Y-DNA data from these tests is of lower quality, but may still suffice for a very, very general Y-DNA haplogroup classification...
Updated L497 Chart
This chart from the FTDNA L497 group shows the part of the Haplogroup G2 tree from L497 down to L42/L43. A handy guide.
Story of Haplogroup G2a
We’re constantly writing and rewriting the human DNA story. I’m a member of yDNA Haplogroup G2a-L497. When I first started my yDNA journey in 2000, the testing companies were still using STRs only. When they started using SNPs, it wasn’t clear whether I would end up in haplogroup G or haplogroup I. Frankly, I was hoping for I because it was “Scandinavian”. In the...
Updated L43 Chart
As more men take the Big Y the phylogenetic charts get more and more detailed. Somehow no one close to the Hauris ever tests but enough men around us test that we get more and more structure to the surrounding tree. Here’s our updated L43/L42 chart for February 2019. Here you can see the Hauris have moved back to being a node under Y11074. We have so very many shared SNPs with people on the...
Y11076 Ancestral Locations
I think the Hauris will end up being a subgroup of Y11076 after all, or at least a very, very close sister group. The experts think I’m nuts about this but if you look the number of private SNPs we share with Y11076 is staggering. There have been problems with the chipset used by FTDNA. It doesn’t pick up Y11076 very well. For me it was a “no read”. I had to go to YSEQ for...
An updated G tree
Here’s a new tree from the G-L497 group at FTDNA. It shows the position of our L497 branch on the human family tree. With increased testing we’re getting closer and closer to understanding where the different branches originated.
Visit the FTDNA forum to get a better copy.
Re-writing the Rhaetians
Thanks to a link posted in one of the Haplogroup G groups on Facebook we have a new way of looking at the history of the Rhaetians. I say “new” with tongue in cheek. Back in 1830 Henry Malden (1800-1876) looked at the connection between the Rhaetians and Etruscans. Malden was Professor of Greek at University College London. He concluded that the Etruscans (probably) came out of the...
G2a Jews
It’s Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and I’m thinking about Jews in Haplogroup G2a3b1 (P303). I’m specifically thinking about the theory that G2a3b1 might have entered Europe, at least in part, with the Jewish Diaspora. Ray Banks, the Project Administrator for Family Tree DNA’s Haplogroup G Project has been flirting with this theory for some time...