23andme DNA results

EDIT: I have a slightly updated post about my 23andme DNA results in a new post here: https://keen101.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/my-updated-23andme-dna-results/

Awesome! I have great news! I finally got to see the results from my spit sample i sent to 23andme. For the most part everything was as i expected. However, there were a few interesting things as well.

 

23andme lists ancestry lineage in three columns. European, Asian, and African. In my case it seems i am 94% European, 6% Native American, and interestingly 1% African. Cool. I wasn’t surprised about the Native American, although i had hoped to have more than 6%. Oh, well. I’ll take what i can get.

 

 

 

What’s really cool to know though is that i really am descended from the Anasazi. I was always told i had some Indian heritage growing up. I was told that we had Cherokee, Apache, Mandan, and maybe Hopi. And while all of those may be true, or maybe only one type (probably both Hopi and Apache), i always felt a connection to the Anasazi. The pueblo people. The people who’s nearby ruins still remain in Southern, Colorado. Interesting isn’t it? I certainly think so.

The Anasazi

Haplogroup B4’5 appears to have been a fixture in the Southwest at least since the introduction of agriculture to the region from Mesoamerica 2,500 to 3,500 years ago. In some areas the haplogroup is found in 100% of the Native American population and sometimes multiple populations share the identical forms of the haplogroup; for example, a single variant of haplogroup B4’5 is shared by the Navajo, Zuni, Jemez and Seri groups.

Haplogroup B4’5 reaches levels of 75-90% among the Pueblo groups of New Mexico and Arizona, which are thought to descend from the cliff-dwelling Anasazi who occupied the Southwest from the 8th century AD until their sudden disappearance in the early 12th century.

The Anasazi didn’t literally disappear; modern Pueblo people and most scholars believe warfare or environmental catastrophe forced them to abandon their elaborate cliff dwellings for settlements in the Rio Grande valley. Recent studies of DNA extracted from 2,000-year-old remains have supported that view by establishing the presence of haplogroup B4’5 among the Anasazi.

 

Results based on my Y chromosome indicates that on my paternal side comes mostly from Germany and Denmark. And that result isn’t very surprising either. We have genealogy to back that up, and have known i had some German and Danish ancestors.

Doggerland: A Real-Life Atlantis

One of the places that was repopulated as the Ice Age waned no longer exists. During the Ice Age and for some time afterward, lower sea levels exposed much of the area that is now covered by the North Sea. Known as “Doggerland,” it must have been occupied by men bearing haplogroup I, because today that haplogroup is abundant in all of the countries surrounding the North Sea.

As the meltwaters of the retreating Ice Age glaciers caused sea levels to rise, the low-lying forests and wetlands of Doggerland gradually became inundated. Doggerland’s inhabitants retreated to the higher ground that is now the North Sea coast.

Today the I2b1 branch of I2 is common in the Netherlands and Germany. Like I1, which is most common in Denmark and Sweden, it was probably found among the men who inhabited Doggerland. The presence of I2b1 in Sweden, particularly the northern province of Vasterbotten, is likely due to the more recent arrival of German and Dutch immigrants during the 17th century.

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Something that wasn’t expected was in the Health section of 23andme which is called “Drug Response”. It’s basically a section which tries very hard to predict which drugs you might be allergic to (among other things).  Apparently there is a high chance my liver will be hosed if i am ever exposed to the antibiotic Floxacillin. But Floxacillin is not used in the United States, so i should be fine. I should probably add that in general i don’t put much faith in the “health” section of 23andme, for the simple fact that i don’t think most diseases are determined by genetics.

 

All in all, really cool stuff. I’m very glad i spent the money on it. But, in the end I’ve learned that my senses know things that sometimes just seem so uncanny. I try to remind myself to never doubt them. Once in awhile they are wrong, but most of the time they aren’t.

Oh, and hey… the Global Similarities map shows that i could blend in best with German and French populations. (Thats assuming i could speak those languages of course). haha