(2017) Ancient & Recent Origins Results

By Hans De Beule

Below you find some charts of FTDNA Family Finder results of I-L38 samples.

• • The "All I-L38" group refers to the average Family Finder results of 44 I-L38 individuals with a self-declared continental origin.

  • Since Family Finder results are based on autosomal results, the results should be seen as a genetic cocktail of the region a individual lives in. To avoid bias due to overrepresentation of samples that are live in a "British region", I narrowed down the sample to 17 continental L38-individuals (that likely still live in the region of their Oldest Registered Paternal Ancestor). This is the ""C-ORPA L38" group, where C-ORPA stands for "Continental" ORPA. The C-ORPA group displays the average results of the 17 samples.

  • Based on SNP and STR results the 17 C-ORPA samples were subgrouped in the main I-L38 subbranches: S24121, BY14072, PH1237 and BY1183. The charts display the average results per subgroup. The sample size is mentioned between brackets.

AncientOrigins OF I-L38 (https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/ftdna/ancient-origins/)

AncientOrigins is a feature of our Family Finder test. This feature compares autosomal DNA to DNA found at archaeological dig sites throughout the European continent. With the inclusion of ancient artifacts found at each dig site, ancientOrigins provides a percentile breakdown of your DNA relation to the three major groups of people associated with ancient migrations on the European continent.

The following are the three ancient European groups (and aDNA samples):

Metal Age Invader (Bronze Age)

• • Corded Ware, Central Europe, 4Kya

  • Yamnaya, Eurasian Steppe, 5.8Kya

Farmer (Neolithic Era)

• • Stuttgart, Germany, 5 Kya

  • Ötzi, Swiss/Italian Alps, 5.3Kya

  • Linear Pottery Cultures, Central Europe 8Kya

Hunter Gatherer (Mesolithic and Neolithic Eras)

• • Loschbour, Luxemburg, 8Kya

  • La Brana1, Spain, 7Kya

MyOrigins 2.0 RESULTS OF I-L38 (https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/user-guide/family-finder-myftdna/myorigins-population-clusters/)

myOrigins attempts to reduce the wild complexity of your genealogy to the major historical-genetic themes that arc through the life of our species since its emergence 100,000 years ago on the plains of Africa. Each of our 24 clusters describes a vivid and critical color on the palette from which history has drawn the brushstrokes that form the complexity that is your own genome.

These population clusters are meant to reflect regions rather than, often changing, geopolitical borders. For example, Europe has had a high rate of migration and admixture throughout history, tightly connecting many of the seemingly distinct regions. Today, nationalities are commonly understood as distinct genetic groups; however, nationalities and your myOrigins results are not one in the same.

About the populations that show in I-L38 samples (text of FTDNA dd August 22, 2017):

British Isles

Modern humans arrived on the British Isles roughly 40,000 years ago via a land bridge that connected these islands to continental Europe. Early hunter-gatherer populations were able to navigate into and out of this region until roughly 6000 BCE when melting ice sheets caused sea levels to rise and the connection was severed between the populations within the British Isles and continental Europe. Farming occurred largely as an indigenous adaptation with little evidence of acquiring this technology from surrounding colonizing regions. Small agricultural communities are even recorded as the primary lifestyle by Roman invaders in the early 1st century CE.

By the second millennium BCE, trade relationships spread, and under the control of the Chieftains of Wessex, trade routes spanned from Ireland into central and eastern continental Europe via waterways. The wealth amassed from this intensified trade likely enabled the Wessex Chieftains to begin construction on what would grow to become Stonehenge. These trade practices further solidified a deep genetic connection with populations in the West and Central Europe cluster and areas of Scandinavia.

By 43 CE, Roman forces had conquered Britain. However, by 500 CE, Germanic tribes (originating in present day Scandinavia and eastern Europe) and Asian forces toppled the Roman Empire, and the subsequent continental European expansions brought Saxon tribes into the British Isles. Powers in the British Isles also conscripted mercenary populations from continental Europe. The Saxons, Angles, and Jutes came over to support Briton forces defending against the Picts and Scots in the 6th century CE.

Starting in the late 8th century CE, the British Isles were invaded and settled by Viking parties during the Viking expansion. Normandy later invaded and solidified cultural and economic connections between the British Isles and continental Europe. To this day, these ancient occupations and trading practices left a lasting impression on the genetic relatedness between populations in the British Isles cluster and Southeast Europe, Scandinavia, and West and Central Europe clusters.

East Europe

The East Europe cluster consists of an area encompassing present day Latvia, south to Ukraine, Romania, and the northern part of Bulgaria, west along the eastern edge of the Balkan states to Poland and the eastern half of Germany.

The early populations in the East Europe cluster consisted largely of small agricultural communities. Some of these developed indigenously, while others were colonies of farming communities from Asia Minor. Eastern Europe played a significant role in the metalworking traditions of Scandinavia, and an intense metal trade was established between the two by 1500 BCE. In 1000 BCE invasions from the Celts (from Gaul and Germany) in 1000 BCE in the north and central regions and invasion from Iranian tribes to the south in interrupted this trade. By 200 BCE, Scandinavian groups drove southward and ended the Iranian control in the south.

Slavs from the North Carpathian Mountains were forced into the steppe regions of present day Ukraine and Belarus by the 5th century CE. The Turkish Empire controlled the Ukrainian steppe between 700–900 CE and used its location to improve their mercantile empire. By the Viking Age of the 8th century CE, trade between the Scandinavia cluster and the East Europe cluster continued. By the middle of the 9th century CE, Vikings took control of the trade route that ran from the Baltic Sea, along the Dnieper River, and into Constantinople in present day Turkey. The Vikings exploited the local Slavic peoples and established their stronghold in Kiev. These Viking merchants were to be the progenitors of the Kievan Princes. By the 11th century CE, the Viking Age ended, and in 1240, the Mongol army sacked Kiev, adding further cultural and genetic influence to this cluster. Since the invasion of Kiev, this arm of the Mongol army became known as the Golden Horde—the western portion of the Mongol Empire.

The East Europe cluster sits on two prominent trade routes, which resulted in a history complete with invasion and migration. As a result, the genetic relatedness of populations within this cluster is shaped by the water trade routes from Scandinavia and from the Baltic to (the Black Sea) Constantinople via the Volga, Dnieper, Dniester and the Danube, connecting Eastern Europe with Scandinavia and Siberia; it also includes the Steppe region, connecting Eastern Europe to Russia, Asia Minor, and the Eastern Middle East. Genetic diversity in this region is high.

Scandinavia

The Scandinavia cluster consists of present day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Due to the remaining ice sheets from the last Ice Age, modern humans did not permanently settle in this region until roughly 9000 BCE. During this time, Denmark and Sweden were connected via a land bridge that enabled migration from continental Europe to the Scandinavian Peninsula roughly 13,000 years ago.

These early hunter-gatherer populations settled along the waterways—lakes, marshes, and rivers. By 6000 BCE, the Ertebolle peoples had established complex hunter-gatherer settlements and seasonal camps along the coastlines. The cultural and technological achievements of these peoples are paralleled in regions of the North European plains stretching eastward to regions in Ukraine and Siberia.

By 2500 BCE, local populations in this cluster had begun farming and soon established strong trade links with continental Europe. These were particularly robust with populations along the Danube River basin stretching from present day Moldova, west to Germany, and south to the Roman Empire.

Chieftain tribes ruled ancient Scandinavia, and the Viking Age was born around 800 CE in the bay between the Gotta River in Sweden and Cape Lindesnes of Norway. Between 800 and 900 CE, Viking populations had taken control of trade from the Dnieper River to the Baltic Sea and Constantinople, connecting them to populations as far away as the Middle East, Western Russia, and Siberia to the east. During the Viking Age (800–1050 CE), Vikings spread from Scandinavia as far west as North America and east to Russia, raiding and colonizing any settlements that were in their path from Ireland and Scotland to England, France, Iceland, and Greenland. Viking populations moving into the east maintained control in the Slavic states along the Baltic Sea, Russia, and Steppe regions until they were forced out by invading Mongol armies.

By the 11th century CE, the Viking Age had ended, and the powers of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway battled for control of the Scandinavian cluster. In 1397, the Kalmar Union unified the three powers until the early 16th century CE.

Southeast Europe

The Southeast Europe cluster consists of present day populations from the areas of Italy, Greece, and the western Balkan states from Bulgaria to Croatia. Present day populations in the Southeast Europe cluster show some of the highest rates of genetic relatedness to the second wave of migration into Europe roughly 11,000 years ago. This wave of migration consisted of Neolithic farmers from the Fertile Crescent and expanded primarily into southern Europe, incorporating small scattered European hunter-gatherer communities along their path.

The island of Sardinia, having early evidence of post-glacial hunter-gatherer inhabitants, was not permanently settled until this migration of Neolithic farmers from the fertile crescent populated it roughly 8,000–7,000 years ago. Although a key position in early Mediterranean trade routes, the populations of Sardinia remained relatively isolated genetically and today, represent a particularly unique connection to Southeast European Neolithic ancestry.

Populations within the Italian peninsula and the Greek and Balkan states, however, display more genetic diversity having experienced waves of migration and the rise and fall of numerous civilizations. The ancient populations on the Italian peninsula generally consisted of the Greek colonies in the south, Etruscan cities in west-central Italy and north of Rome, and Italian groups, such as Samnites and the Umbrians, who inhabited Rome and central Italy. The western Balkan States mostly consisted of small kingdoms until the rise of Alexander the Great’s father Philip II of Macedon (present day Macedonia).

These early states had a wide influence as they were shaped by Alexander the Great’s campaigns, the Roman expansion, and migrations from Slavic tribes who were forced from the Carpathian Mountains by Germanic tribes in the 5th–6th centuries CE.

The Southeast Europe cluster is home to civilizations that many consider to have founded the principles of Western civilization and continue to influence modern politics, art, and architecture. Greek and Roman influence spans the western and southern regions of this cluster, while the influence of the Hellenistic world of Macedonia and Alexander the Great encompass the Western Balkan states.

Iberia

The Iberia cluster consists of present day Spain and Portugal. Modern humans reached this area roughly 35,000 years ago.

Farming and animal domestication were slow to gain momentum in this region as most populations remained organized into small hunter-gatherer bands or extended family groups. It is not until 5,000 years ago that larger communities and villages were established as lifestyles began to shift toward farming. The site of Los Millares in southeast Spain displays this social complexity and contains evidence of a stratified society with marked inequality.

By 800 BCE, Phoenician settlers from the Middle East had established the city of Carthage in Tunisia, North Africa and arrived along the southern coast of Spain to establish colonies; the Greeks followed by 575 BCE and established colonies along the southern coast of Spain. Inland Spain was comprised of agricultural and herding communities or tribes. These inland Iberian peoples maintained regular trade and interaction with the colonies on the coast, as evidenced by the cultural artifacts they had brought from Central Iberia. Furthermore, this cluster shares a common genetic heritage with parts of Western and Central Europe, the British Isles, and Southeast Europe due to the settlement of Celtic and later, Germanic tribes

When the Phoenicians fell to the Babylonians, Carthaginians moved north to colonize Ibiza and southern areas of Spain by the 2nd century BCE. Evidence of cultural and genetic influence of colonization remains in this region. There were three distinct writing systems established in Iberia: one based on the Phoenician alphabet and two more based on Greek models. These writing systems were largely used in the southern portions of the peninsula until Roman conquest at the end of the 2nd century BCE, after which there was continual war between the Romans and the northeastern Celtiberians and the western Lusitanians.

Islamic forces spread throughout the Mediterranean by the 7th century CE, and their influence is forever encapsulated in the Moorish architecture of southern Spain. Populations from clusters in the Americas show genetic relatedness with the Iberia cluster, as the Spaniards played a significant role in early colonization of the New World.

West and Central Europe

The West and Central Europe cluster consists of present day countries of France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, and Germany. Modern humans began to populate West and Central Europe toward the end of the last ice age when the ice sheets north of the Mediterranean coast began to retreat.

Due to ancient interactions and exchanges with cultures from the British Isles, Scandinavia, Asia, and Africa, this cluster displays an incredible history of migration, invasion, and colonization resulting in continual shared genetic, cultural, and linguistic relatedness with nearly all of the other European clusters.

Long distance travel between continental Europe and populations in the British Isles are illustrated by the shared knowledge of specific pottery and metalworking technologies. Through analysis of his teeth, remains of an individual (the Amesbury Archer) buried around 2000 BCE near Stonehenge in England was proven to have grown up in mainland Europe, thus illustrating the close connections between these two clusters.

The development of complex city-states was first established along the southern coastlines of France. Colonies of Greek, Phoenician, and Carthaginian settlers were the first to establish these complex societies; Roman colonies were quick to follow transferring cultural practices, such as the importance of wine drinking for the elites in central and eastern France.

To the north, barbarian tribes maintained semi-nomadic settlements throughout most of the cluster. By roughly 300 CE, Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, having originated in Scandinavia, were pushed westward by invading forces from Attila the Hun, further intensifying tension between the Romans and the barbarian tribes. With Germanic tribes being pushed out of eastern Europe as well, Slavic speaking peoples settled in their wake, occupying areas leading up to east Germany. Continual raids from various European and Asian groups ended the Roman occupation of this area by roughly 500 CE. During this time period, these various groups continued migration to further reaches of land once unified by Rome. These regions included Northern Italy, most of Britain, modern day France, and Spain; they also conquered most of Northern Africa, Sardinia, and Rome in the process.

It is after this migration that populations within this cluster began to establish complex and diverse civilizations that are later recognized as some of the most powerful and influential cultures in the world. These ancient histories continue to influence identities and histories of present day populations in this cluster.

Last update: August 22, 2017