Latest News

19 October 2022, Discover (Beta 3) update.

21st September, 2022. Nature article THE ANGLO-SAXON MIGRATION AND FORMATION OF THE EARLY ENGLISH GENE POOL, Gretzinger et al. published online, link. See Medieval DF27 page.

September 2022. FTDNA Discover TMRCA estimates updated (Beta 2).

In July 2022 FTDNA launch a (Beta 1) version of their new Discover tool.

803 burials were studied for ancient DNA in the paper Large-Scale Migration into Southern Britain During the Middle to Late Bronze Age, Nick Patterson et al., 2021, Nature. This is the first study to reveal DF27>ZZ12>Z46512>FGC78762>ZZ19 burials in Britain that date back to before the Early Medieval Period, although none were found to belong to Rox2's particular lineage. See Iron Age DF27 page.

15th October, 2020. The paper, Population genomics of the Viking world, Ashot Margaryan et al. 2020, contains the first individual with DF27>ZZ12>ZZ19 ancient yDNA that I am aware of to be identified so far. He is VK261, a Viking burial (dated 10th-11th centuries) from the Ridgeway Hill Mass Grave, Dorset, England. The subclade is DF27>ZZ12>Z46512>FGC78762>ZZ19>Z31644>FGC13128>FGC78763>BY64643. Bone and tooth isotope analysis show the burials came from Scandinavia. VK261 would have had a striking facial appearance due to his deliberately-filed front teeth. ZZ19>Z31644 is the early 'brother' subclade to ZZ19>Z34609 (Rox2's early branch), both are immediately downstream of ZZ19. More details on the Medieval DF27 page.

13th October, 2020. Noticed that kit B351108 on Big Tree is now listed as FT171815 at FTDNA. This subclade now appears to have four very early parallel branches.

25th December, 2019. New Rox2 subclade FT171815 finalized on Big Tree.

9th November, 2019. Two new subclades (FT171815 and BY169396) formed by two new Big Y kits matching two of the three members of the Rox2* paragroup. There are now eight named Rox2 sub-branches and possibly more yet to be named. The new Big Y kits have not yet shared their files to the Big Tree so kits 453584 and 195076 remain in the Rox2* block on the right on that tree. Big Y-700 produces more SNPs than previous Big Y-500 tests. Until FTDNA increase the 30 SNP mismatch limit for Big Y 'Matching' and remove unnecessary 'bogus' SNPs from the tally, it won't be possible for us to identify, or contact, most of our new Big Y-700 matches.

28th June, 2019. BY166898 (sixth branch of Rox2 to be named) finalized by A. Williamson on the Big Tree after the addition of the latest Big Y-700 kit 726794. Branch BY166504 is now immediately downstream of BY166898 (Big Tree name)/BY168115 (FTDNA name).

15th March, 2019. New branch formed below BY166504 with the addition of Big Y-700 results to the Big Tree. FTDNA have not identified the block formed by K498 and three equivalents BY194976, BY195508 and BY193233 on their Block Tree or Haplotree yet. [Edit 19th April, branching now appears on FTDNA Block Tree but K498 is omitted.]

11th February, 2019. It has been quiet recently but I have updated the ancient yDNA sections of the website, Ancient DF27 and Bronze Age DF27.

24th January, 2019. FTDNA introduce Block Tree for Big Y results.

5th January, 2019. The addition of new Big Y kit 195076 to the Rox2* paragroup after analysis and placement on the Big Tree brings the number of 'son' branches up to nine (six named branches and three Rox2*). As with the other two kits that are currently Rox2* (positive for Rox2 but negative for all currently known branches), the new branch will be named and will appear on the phylogenetic trees when another branch member takes a Big Y test in the future.

14th December, 2018. Fourth 'son' branch identified below FGC11414, named Y69563. Formed by addition of new Big Y kit, 60417.

9th December, 2018. BY166504 finalized on Big Tree.

3rd December, 2018. With the addition of two new Big Y kits a third branch under Swedish subclade FGC11414>BY21590, named BY69194, has formed on FTDNA's Haplotree. The Big Tree does not show two of the new branches below FGC11414>BY21590 because some kits are missing.

28th November, 2018. BY166504 added to the FTDNA Haplotree (plus equivalents BY168115, BY166898, BY168311). Big Tree not yet finalized.

24th November, 2018. A potential sixth deep branch of Rox2 (FGC11397>BY166504, hg19 position 8667058 G>T, hg38 position 8799017 G>T) named with the arrival and comparison of new Big Y kit 433304 and my kit, N3461 (currently Rox2*) at the FTDNA project. Big Tree has provisionally placed 433304 and N3461 in the Rox2* paragroup so far (not finalized). BY166504 and four more of the nine SNPs that I once had listed at the Big Tree are now missing from results there. Results have yet to be finalized at FTDNA and the Big Tree. This site will be updated when done. The last SNP-defined deep branch of Rox2 to be identified was back in June 2017.

2nd September, 2018. New branch below A17453 found by Alex Williamson at the Big Tree and named BY157355 there. There are now four named branches of A17453.

28th August, 2018. More Rox2* kits finalized on Big Tree. Eight parallel 'sons' downstream of Early Medieval Rox2 (five named branches plus three currently Rox2*/FGC11388* kits).

21st August, 2018. New kits below FGC11414 finalized on Big Tree. Updates to the FGC11414 section on the Home Page.

1st August, 2018. Three new kits, including mine, placed on the Big Tree who initially appear to be Rox2* i.e. positive for the shared Rox2 block and negative for the five currently know 'named' subclades downstream. This means there could be eight 'brother' branches below the shared block. Big Tree finds one more 'family' SNP for my kit than FTDNA so far. The results have yet to be finalized and positions could change.

17th July, 2018. Indications of the potential for a previously unknown sixth 'son' branch below Rox2's shared block with the arrival of my Big Y test results (kit N3461). Results have been uploaded to the Big Tree. Placement on FTDNA's Haplotree might change after further analysis and when/if new closely matching kits are added. Currently N3461 is listed as R-BY741 at FTDNA, that SNP is one of the many equivalents in the block shared by all Rox2 matches. My initial analysis indicates I'm derived (positive) for all the SNP in Rox2's shared equivalent block that Big Y can read and ancestral (negative) for all of the five currently known sub-branches below Rox2's shared block. Several more Rox2 Big Y kits have been returned in the following weeks. Signs of recurrent SNPs being included in initial results.

1st June, 2018. Updated website appearance to New Google Sites.

19th February, 2018. I2416: 2460–2200 calBCE 'belonged to Y haplogroup R1b1a1a2a1a~L151, and possibly to R1b1a1a2a1a2a6~Y8397'. FGC11381 is positive in the low quality ancient DNA sample from the main in situ male burial, 25004, aged 30-45. I2416 is one of the Boscombe Bowmen buried 700m north of the similar-in-age Amesbury Archer. Their burial site overlooks the massive Durrington Walls henge and Stonehenge is 4km away across the River Avon. FGC11381 is a SNP out of Rox2's large phylogenetically equivalent block. Some think this could be a 'false positive' result but it's worth keeping an eye on. News report on the Bell Beaker paper in February's Nature.

October, 2017. FTDNA begin converting hg19 to hg38.

19th June, 2017. Several new kits added and analysed at the Big Tree. Updates made to site. Five branches identified so far.

3rd June, 2017. New branch formed by the addition of second Simpson NGS kit 436237 to The Big Tree. The new block of 15 SNPs leads with FGC39762.

29th May, 2017. Block of 7 phylogenetic equivalents, led by 7653325-G-A (A12543), forms a new deep branch with the addition of two new Hickey Big Y kits to The Big Tree and analysis by Alex Williamson.

9th May, 2017. The Beaker Phenomenon And The Genomic Transformation Of Northwest Europe, Iñigo Olalde et al. link

4th May, 2017. Abstract of the big ancient yDNA paper ('Western Europe during the third millennium BCE: A genetic characterization of the Bell Beaker Complex') released. Paper to be presented later this month by Iñigo Olalde and David Reich. It includes data from 196 Neolithic and Bronze Age Europeans and 109 Bell Beaker Complex individuals. link

16th March, 2017. New 'brother' clade to Z2571, below Z34609, has formed. Identified by 7811558 C>T and six more equivalents.

16th March, 2017. Potential new branch (20663937 G>T) below the shared Rox2 block identified with the addition of new Big Y kits 204779 and 476439 to the Big Tree.

2nd March, 2017. Added BRONZE AGE DF27 map and details about forthcoming ancient yDNA studies in relation to the earliest identified instances of DF27 to the Distribution Maps page, here.

23rd November, 2016. With the addition of kit 46496 to the Big Tree, a deep, ancient subclade just below CTS11567, parallel with DF84, has formed. It is BY3865 (position 14878305 T>C).

8th September, 2016, ancient DF27 yDNA identified at last. I0806, noted here some time ago is a Bell Beaker burial dated to 2296-2206 cal BC at Quedlinburg, in about the middle of what is now known as Germany (see Bronze Age DF27 map here). Autosomal DNA suggests he came from the east, not the west. His grave contained mixed cultural features, including a Corded Ware stone shaft-hole axe and a perfect bell beaker.

14th May, 2016. New Big Y results for King, kit 10479, just added to Alex Williamson's Big Tree have highlighted a very early branch point in Rox2's long and previously equivalent block of SNPs. Kit 10479 looks positive for FGC11380 (Y8841) and negative for all other SNPs in Rox2's shared block. Rox2 is now a subclade of Z2571>FGC11380 (Y8841) along with at least one other subclade containing kit 10479 King. Edit September 13th, 2016: YFull have added FGC11385 and FGC11384 to make a small phylogenetically equivalent block along with FGC11380 at this branch point. The Big Tree only shows FGC11380 and 22220783 C>T (uncertain region DYZ19). There is no sign of FGC11385 or FGC11384's positions in King's Big Y .vfc file. YFull did analysis of the BAM file.