Adam's Haplogroup
Adam Brouwer’s Haplogroup: E-V13
The origins of the Adam Brouwer family ancestors and their Deep Time Journey determined via their Haplogroup.
The Haplogroup (as distinct from haplotype) of Adam Brouwer Berkhoven and his descendants isE1b1b1a2 (before 2008 E1b1b1 was called E3b and E1b1b1a2 was E3b1a2-V13) which, since about 2007, is also simply referred to as E-V13, a shorthand for the haplogroup’s defining SNP mutation.
A must visit for anyone in this haplogroup is the E3b project at http://www.haplozone.net/e3b/projectwhere you can find informative links. Additionally, there is an excellent source of information and multiple links to understand your E-V13 haplogroup starting at Haplogroup E1b1b1a (Y-DNA)
Overview: My purpose here is to stimulate your interest and provoke or encourage you to explore your haplogroup in more depth. In the following I will briefly describe the deep time prehistory, reaching back nearly 20,000 years to the distant ancestors of all males now sharing the same haplogroup as Adam Brouwer. Population genetics combined with archeology traces the migrations of the populations whose founding ancestor, the first male marked with a Y-chromosome mutation called M78, lived some 18,000 years ago in Northeastern Africa, and whose descendants, subsequently migrating through what is now Turkey, led to the origination of the E-V13 haplogroup about 11,000 years ago in western Asia, somewhere in the Balkan peninsula; From there expanding into Europe no earlier than 5,000 years ago (ref 1). E-V13 (aka E1b1b1a2) is found to be at its highest frequency worldwide in the geographic region closely corresponding to the ancient Roman province of Moesia Superior, a region that today encompasses Kosovo, southern Serbia, northern Macedonia and extreme northwestern Bulgaria (ref 2). As will be discussed later, I conjecture that Adam Brouwer, born ca. 1620 in Cologne, Germany, may have descended from a Roman soldier of Balkan origins who came with the influx of thousands of soldiers during the invasion of Britain by the Roman military in 43 CE and its subsequent occupation. These Balkan men, carrying the Y-DNA marker E-V13, came in the 1st through the 4th centuries CE as part of auxiliary units and regular legionnaires sent to Britain from those regions of the Balkans that had been first occupied by the Roman Army in antiquity (ref 2).
Reference sources:
(1)Tracing past Human Male Movements in Northern/Eastern Africa and Western Eurasia: New Clues from Y-Chromosomal Haplogroups E-M78 and J-M12” Cruciani, et al. in Molecular Biology and Evolution 2007 24(6):1300-1311; doi:10.1093/molbev/msm049 on line at http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/24/6/1300#FIG5
(2) Haplogroup E3b1a2 as a Possible Indicator of Settlement in Roman Britain by Soldiers of Balkan Origin-----Steven C. Bird July 2007 -- printed Sept 2007 http://www.jogg.info/32/bird.htm
Background on Haplogroups: Before discussing the details of Adam Brouwer’s haplogroup and its prehistory origins, let me begin by first summarizing some information concerning haplogroups in general. As discussed on the page “Adam’s DNA” we defined SNP Mutations (Pronounced ‘Snip’ mutation) as rare mutations that occur at a “Single Nucleotide Polymorphism” locus (location, position, or marker). They refer to a single small genetic change that randomly occurs within a DNA sequence. The human genetic code, responsible for features such as eye color, hair type, etc., also contains stretches of code with no apparent function at all, sometimes referred to as Junk DNA. Population genetics provides the means to read a record of ancient human migrations in the DNA of living people through the changes observed in that junk DNA. Such changes occur so infrequently that they can be used to track lines of descent over thousands of generations, dividing mankind into clusters called Haplogroups. These are groups of individuals that all carry the same single mutation at a specific marker location.
Generations later, finding that same mutation in two people’s DNA indicates that they share the same ancestor. By comparing SNP markers in many different populations it is possible to trace their ancestral connections and discern when and where different groups of people separated as they migrated around the world. They permit tracing the migrations of humans out of Africa to populate the world. This is a project goal of the current Genographic project headed by Dr. Spencer Wells, and one that you may participate in as a member of the Brewer surname project at FTDNA. More information about the Genographic project and how to join can be found atwww.familytreedna.com/ftdna_genographic.html
Haplogroups represent branches of the Genetic Tree for Homo Sapiens. A haplogroup is defined as the group of all the male descendants of the single person who first showed a specific rare SNP mutation on the Y-chromosome strand which may occur only once in a period of tens of thousands of years. Every male in the world can be located on one branch or another based upon the specific Y-chromosome mutation he carries. The nomenclature for Haplogroups is somewhat complicated and involves a string of letters with numbers and other letters defining subgroups within the broad groups (like E3b). The major branches of the Y-DNA tree of Homo Sapiens are labeled with the letters A through R. Adam Brouwer and his descendants are located on the branch labeled E specifically E-V13 (previously E3b). The graphic below right shows some haplogroup migration routes, including the E3b group in yellow into the Balkans, taken from FTDNA (2006).
The Story of ‘E’ : A short take on the history of a long genetic journey to Adam’s Haplogroup E-V13.
In this story of mutations and m
moving north from Africa along the Nile valley and across the Sinai Peninsula into the Middle East to Anatolia and the Balkans we track the ‘E’ haplogroup’s journey eventually arriving in Cologne, Germany and expressed in Adam Brouwer and his descendants. One of the earliest mutations occurred 60,000 years ago when, in one individual, the common ancestor of every non-African person in the world, a random DNA transcription error occurred at a location on the Y-chromosome called M168(the ‘M’ stands for Marker). All the Adam Brouwer family males now carry that mutation at that specific location in their DNA. Similarly, 50,000 years ago a new mutation designated E-M96 occurred in an ancestor living in northeast Africa which marked the origin ofHaplogroup E, and locates Adam Brouwer and his descendants on a major branch of the Y-DNA tree.
igrations of peoples
A series of further mutations led to additional branches along the tree designated E1, then E1b, and then a mutation E1b1 designated P2 at DYS391 occurred in one of the Haplogroup E1b men. It diverged again and descendants of that man are now grouped into what is called Haplogroup E1b1b (E-M215) that originated about 22,400 years ago in Eastern Africa. Within that group a distant ancestor of Adam Brouwer passed on a SNP mutation called E-M35 (forming sub-clade E1b1b1) which was followed by another mutation designated E- M78 in a man who lived some 18,000 years ago in Northeastern Africa forming the subgroup E1b1b1a. Population movements then brought his descendants, the men that carried E-M78, to western Asia where about 11,000 years ago, a mutation now called E-V13 originated in a single ancestor somewhere in the Near East/Anatolia whose descendants formed the Haplogroup subclade E1b1b1a2. Not long afterward, western Asian men carrying E-V13 reached the Balkans, and after several millennia expanded from there into Europe, but no earlier than 5,300 years ago. Any descendant of Adam Brouwer now carries all the above markers in his Y-Chromosome: (M168 -> E-M96-> P2 ->E-M215-> E-M35 -> E-M78 -> E-V13), providing a 60,000 year record of the long migratory journey out of Africa.
A further note: The subgroup a2 or E-V13 designation was adopted by the Y-Chromosome Consortium (YCC) in May 2008. It was previously designated as E3b. Researchers led by Dr. Hammer published an updated Y-chromosome haplogroup tree in “Genome Research” and in May 2008 Family Tree DNA adopted the updated nomenclature of that publication. While the name of the haplogroup branches changed, and will continue to change as new branches are discovered, the test results and interpretation remain the same. Individual participants in the Brewer surname project may go to their FTDNA personal web page and under “Haplotree” explore the specific lines of descent on this Y-DNA Haplotree chart. Further information and charts depicting the 20 haplogroups and the distribution in 10 geographic regions around the world may be found at www.familytreedna.com/hap_nomenclature.html
From Cruciani (2007 ref. 1) we learn “Haplogroup E-V13 is the only E-M78 lineage that reaches the highest frequencies out of Africa. In fact, it represents about 85% of the European E-M78 chromosomes with a pattern of frequency distribution highest from the southern Balkan peninsula (19.6%) to western Europe (2.5%).”However, it should be noted that although E-V13 is the highest occurring subgroup of E-M78 in Europe, it is none the less relatively rare compared to the occurrence of other haplotypes found in northern and western Europe (haplogroups R, I and J). He also claims that the European E-V13 distribution was a likely consequence of a rapid demographic expansion and the dispersion of E-V13 seems to have mainly followed the river waterways connecting the southern Balkans to north-central Europe. “This axis also served as a major route for the following millennia, enabling cultural and material (and possibly genetic) exchanges to and from central Europe.” His observation lends some conceptual support in a different context, regarding the possible source of Adam Brouwer’s E-V13 chromosome that is discussed next.
From the Balkans to Cologne, Germany-- Conjectures:
Some remarks on the possible source of the E-V13 haplogroup inherited by Adam Brouwer and his descendants.
From the records he left behind, we know that Adam Brouwer was born in Cologne, (Köln) Germany, ca.1620 AD [Ref: Chris Chester, "New Insight into the Origins of Adam Brouwer", New Netherland Connections Vol. 13, No. 4, pages 85-92 (2008)]. The fact that the haplogroup E-V13 is relatively rare in northern Europe leads to the question, “Where did his E-V13 chromosome come from?” In terms of percentages there was probably less than two out of a hundred chances that he would be fathered by a man carrying the E-V13 marker, but he was. So how did it reach Cologne? A very similar question was raised and addressed by Steven Bird regarding the rare occurrence of E-V13 in England and presented in the publication: Haplogroup E3b1a2 as a Possible Indicator of Settlement in Roman Britain by Soldiers of Balkan Origin-----Steven C. Bird July 2007 -- printed Sept 2007 http://www.jogg.info/32/bird.htm. His answer was - from Roman soldiers of Balkan descent carrying the gene to England during the centuries of occupation following the invasion of 43AD. After reading the work presented by Steven Bird, I am motivated to conjecture that Adam Brouwer was possibly a descendant of one of those Roman Soldiers of Balkan origins that passed through, or retired in, Cologne, Germany during the period between the first to the fourth centuries AD of occupation following that invasion of England. (Such a possibility was also entertained by Chris Chester in an e-mail to me). Is there any supporting evidence for such a hypothesis? I think so. Although Bird was concerned with the appearance of the E-V13 Haplogroup in England, I think the same considerations he used may be applied to the appearance of the Haplogroup in Cologne, in particular in Adam Brouwer. Let me discuss some of the evidence.
First, consider that Cologne (or Köln) lies on the Rhine river which was the northern boundary of the Roman Empire. The Roman legions marched into what is now Rhineland’s largest city in 38 BC and from the beginning of its existence until now has played an important role as a major route enabling cultural and material (and possibly genetic) exchanges to and from central Europe.
Take a look at the map below, depicting the Rhine frontier of the Roman Empire in 70 AD. Cologne, called Colonia Agripina, was a Roman city then and was situated at the head of the main road from Cologne to Boulogne (Gesoriacum) which was built for the invasion of Britain.
In 70 AD there were six Roman legions stationed along the Rhine from Mainz (Moguntiacum) north towards what is today the Netherlands. Legion I Germanica had a permanent base at Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne, Germany) as early as 9 AD as well as at Bonna (Bonn, Germany) in 28 AD and the two are only16 miles (26 km) apart, about a days walk. The Romans did not have just a passing interest in Cologne, which is apparent from the fact that they built an aqueduct which brought fresh water from springs in Mechenich in the Eifer Hills over a distance of 70 miles to Cologne which allowed over twenty thousand cubic meters of fresh spring water to flow daily into the city, an amazing bit of engineering. In Bird’s paper he points out that the invasion of Britain by the Roman military in CE 43, and the subsequent occupation of Britain for nearly four centuries, brought thousands of soldiers from the Balkan peninsula to Britain as part of auxiliary units and as regular legionnaires. He states that “... the hypothesis that members of the E3b1a2 haplogroup migrated to Britain from the Balkans with the Roman military during the first through third centuries, CE, as members of auxiliary military units or as members of the regular Roman legions, is supported by genetic, archaeological and historical evidence.” An important part of his analysis involves the evidence of phylogeographic associations between the E3b1a2 haplotypes identified within the Balkans and those regions of the Balkans occupied first by the Roman army in antiquity. Bird points out that, “E3b1a2 is found to be at its highest frequency worldwide in the geographic region corresponding closely to the ancient Roman province of Moesia Superior, a region that today encompasses Kosovo, southern Serbia, northern Macedonia and extreme northwestern Bulgaria.” He supplies the following two charts depicting that conclusion. Note that E3b1a2-V13 represents 85% of the parent E3b1a-M78 clade shown in the distribution below.Paralleling the research of Bird, our goal will be to identify any significant association of E-V13 at military posts near Cologne that were specifically associated with Roman soldiers of Balkan origin. One hint comes from Bryon Sykes “Saxons, Vikings, and Celts” where (as quoted in Bird’s paper) he indicates that the soldiers of the Roman army who occupied England would have been from the auxiliaries and were drawn largely from the valleys of the Rhine and the Danube. Sykes insists that signs of genetic influence in the Roman occupation of England should be sought in the Y-chromosomes brought in from those parts of Europe (the Rhine and Danube valleys).
I would add that the E-V13 haplotypes that came from the Rhine to England were themselves imported from the Balkans with the Roman Auxiliaries made up of units identified with regions found to be high in frequency for E-V13. Bird’s paper states, “The ala I Thracum (First Wing of Thracian Cavalry) and the cohors II Thracum (Second Thracian Infantry) would have had members from the regions containing Thracian tribes, including the Roman provinces of Thracia and Moesia. The Pannonian and Dalmatian units, ala I Pannoniorum Tampiana, and the cohors IIII Delmatarum(Fourth Dalmatian Infantry) may also have had some E-V13 members from the Balkan peninsula.”
The Thracians tribes of the Balkan peninsula living between the Danube and the Aegean Sea, specifically showed up in Cologne, Germany. For orientation, in the following map the Danube is marked in red from the Rhine to the Black sea. Cologne is seen on the Rhine halfway between Strasbourg and Rotterdam. It is my conjecture that the E-V13 chromosome followed the Roman Auxiliaries along the Danube to the Rhine and north along the Rhine to Cologne where it was expressed in the local Cologne ancestry of Adam Brouwer.
A little background: Historically, the Thracians repelled the attempts of the Roman empire to conquer them. It was only two centuries after they first set foot on the Balkans in the year 45 A.D., that the Romans succeeded in subjugating all Thracian lands. The Thracians were employed as mercenaries and later in the Roman auxiliary troops, and from the second century onwards in the legions. The Roman army was manned with soldiers from the rural population of the Danube provinces. Thracian and Dacian soldiers originated from the geographic regions near the Danube, where E-V13 has been shown to have its highest frequencies worldwide.
Is there any evidence they were in Cologne? First, as reported by Bird, the cohors I Thracum eq. (mounted cohort of Thracian cavalry), is recorded on a tombstone in Cologne from the first century and second, a line of Roman barrows are found in Belgium lying along a section of the main road from Cologne to Boulogne which was built for the invasion of Britain, between Bavai and Tongres, and are said to be similar to descriptions of earthen burial mounds throughout ancient Thracia described in “The Thracians” by Hoddinott 1981 and reported in Steven Bird’s paper.
Steven Bird ends his paper by including in his summary the statement, “Some relevant questions that must await better and more complete genetic sampling of E3b1a2 (E-V13) haplotypes in Britain and western Europe include:.... Could any E3b haplotypes located in the Rhine river region also have been the result of settlement and military occupation of Germania Inferior by soldiers of Balkan origin?” That of course is my thesis and I look forward to additional DNA research that may expand on this idea.
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E-V13 to Cologne, Germany--An alternative Conjecture:
Ashkenazi Jewish population migrations as a possible source of the E-V13 haplogroup inherited by Adam Brouwer and his descendants.
There is an alternative to the Balkan Roman auxiliaries conjecture discussed above that must be considered -- that early Jewish population migrations could have carried the E-V13 marker to the Ashkenaz or Rhineland region of Cologne, Germany. Ashkenaz is the Medieval Hebrew name for the region along the Rhine in Germany and thus Ashkenazim literally signifies ‘German Jews.’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews ).
As pointed out to me by Joerg Hohnloser (also E-V13), Administrator of the FTDNA Hohnloser surname project (http://www.familytreedna.com/public/HohnloserFamilyProject/default.aspx?section=results ) :
a) Some Brauers (Brouwers) are Jewish (to be expected as the name was occupational and therefore somewhat random).
b) Haplotype E is one of the two most frequent “Jewish” Haplogroups.
c) Cologne and Trier were medieval centers of German Jewish populations (referred to as Ashkenazi = German) who later (15th century) were force-converted or force-migrated into Eastern Europe (at one point 92% of world Jewish population was Ashkenazim). Spreading through the Roman Empire from Palestine these populations were on the run all the time. They were expelled from Southern Spain under fanatic Islamic rule, by Northern Spain by fanatic Catholic rule, by France around 900 (also Catholic) and ended up along the Rhine (Cologne and Trier being old Roman and then new Jewish centers) before German Antisemitism drove them East (Poland, etc.) in the 14th century. So, there is a Jewish DNA signature along the Rhine. Note: this part of Jewish history must be clearly separated from repopulation of some German regions with Jewish populations following the 30 year war after 1648
This suggests that the E-V13 marker could have been brought to Cologne by the Ashkenazi populations and could be the source of Adam Brouwer’s haplogroup. How to test this alternative hypothesis? Bennett Greenspan, President and CEO of FTDNA has compiled a Jewish Ancestry comparative data base which can be used to determine if the Adam Brouwer ancestral haplotype comes from the Jewish genetic gene pool or not (see his 2008 paper “ Can DNA Testing Confirm Jewish Ancestry?” at http://www.familytreedna.com/PDF/Spring2008Page011Greenspan.pdf). In his article Bennett Greenspan claims such a comparison can yield Ashkenazic results with nearly 100% certainty and that an individual signature that does not match, does not come from a Jewish genetic gene pool -- which would clearly negate the idea of the E-V13 haplogroup of Adam arriving with the early Jewish populations in or near Cologne, Germany.
To address this possibility I had FTDNA run a signature comparison using the Y-DNA haplotypes of Kit #’s 30185 and 159021 of the Adam Brouwer group (see “Pedigrees”). These kits not only provide a resolution of 67 markers but represent an exact match to the derived ancestral signature of Adam Brouwer and therefore can act as a proxy for Adam’s signature to compare to the database and resolve the issue.
The Results of the comparison revealed no haplotype matches at any level beyond the first Y-12 marker, which indicates Adam Brouwer was NOT of Jewish Ancestry and we conclude his E-V13 haplogroup was NOT derived from the Ashkenazi populations-- that hypothesis is thus negated. This helps narrow the options to consider and the Balkan Roman auxiliaries conjecture remains a leading contender.