Friday, March 25, 2011

DNA ancestry

I so want to do one of those new DNA test that can find your ancestral origins. I think they are so amazing! They are crazy expensive though. There are some that are less expensive, but really only give you general outline. My father in law did the one through ancestry.com and even though it wasn't as informative as we expected it to be, it is still pretty freakin' cool!
Vic's family is Spanish Basque on his dad's side and German/Swiss from his mom. His haplogroup came back and is R1b which they refer to as The Artisans.
Here is a paragraph from his results that explains who they are:

You belong to haplogroup R1b, The Artisans, who first arrived in Europe from west Asia about 35,000- 40,000 years ago at the dawning of the Aurignacian culture. This cultural was remarkable for its subtle yet significant technological progress, like the shift from random flint collection to the use of 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 self-awareness and adornment. Additionally, some anthropologists believe that the Aurignacian culture was the first to paint. Either way, the people of this time period left behind fascinating cave paintings in France, Spain and Portugal.

The best part is at the end and it talks about his sub-group:

R1b1c4 and R1b1c6 are very specific Artisan subsections found primarily in Basque populations, but also in Catalan, Spanish, French, British and German populations.
A unique modern day population, the Basque people self-identify as a discrete ethnic group in north-central Spain and southwestern France. Early Basque culture was basically democratic and their pre-Christian religion was formed around a superior female goddess, Mari. A rich mythology of Basque creatures and characters includes imps, giants, dragons, soothsayers and other nature-based deities.

Love it!
I mean, how great is it to get a confirmation of where your people originated --

What I really want to do next, is to have Mike's maternal line tested. We have no idea where is mom's family is from because she was adopted.
At some point Robyn had tried to find her biological family. Her adoption was done though the church and the story is, that the Sister's destroyed all the records from her adoption. She had a really close relationship to her mother, so I don't know that she had a lot of motivation to search any further. She also told me that when she was born they didn't give her to her parents right away. The Sister's kept her for the first few weeks -- so her mother wouldn't "be disturbed" by a newborn! This was something her mother was not pleased with, but had to follow the rules to be able to get her baby.

Since we have Vic's haplogroup, if we test Mike, it would be easy to tell what Robyn's was. Right? I am not sure if it would work that way -- being as there are paternal tests and maternal tests, and one is more detailed that the other.
I just think it would be fun to do!

2 comments:

Auntie Chrissy said...

Hi Carol,thanks for the info.WOW, what a trip, i would go absolutely
crazy trying to figure this stuff out. It really is amazing. Keep me informed,
i like what i'm seeing. lol,christine,xoxoxo

Cyndi Hendrickson said...

This is definitely interesting! I can tell you're into ancestry right now because I keep getting emails that my family tree has been updated :-) I really want to work on mine. No time! Ahhhh!

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