The Genographic Project

When we found out we were pregnant a couple months ago, we suddenly became interested in genealogy. In fact, we wasted away an entire Saturday researching our family trees on Ancestry.com.

I had become exposed to a project between National Geographic and IBM a couple years ago to map human migration patterns using DNA analysis. While 99.9 percent of human’s DNA is the same, there are certain mutations that happened over time that allow scientists to pinpoint the evolutionary ancestry of a certain person. They do so by collecting DNA samples, analyzing the results and identifying the mutations to categorize a person by “haplogroups.”

While the evidence points to human life originating the Africa nearly 200,000 years ago, the path that led to us populating the world was less clear. The Genographic Project has provided better evidence to track our migratory evolution. Since the project’s announcement in 2005, nearly 400,000 people have participated, including Erica and myself.

Erica's Haplogroup

I was able to order two kits for myself, since the study can analyze both the “X” and “Y” chromosomes for a male. It’s a simple kit that just required us to collect DNA samples by swabbing the inside of our mouths for a minute. We placed the cotton swab in a special tube filled with solution, and sent it in to the lab. We could track the status of the test online, and about eight weeks later, we were able to view the results online.

Erica’s results show her to be a part of Haplogroup J. This means that her maternal lineage (mother’s mother’s mother’s, etc.) originated in eastern Africa, before the tribe migrated north in Africa, then into the Middle East. From there, her human ancestors split off to either India or Europe. I’m guessing that Erica’s multi-great-grandmother headed to Europe. But that’s just a hunch.

Jonathan's maternal haplogroup

My maternal lineage resides in Haplogroup U, which also starts in eastern Africa, migrates within the continent, before heading north into the Middle East. My ancestors went north from the Middle East, but then split three directions as it headed toward Europe. One group migrated back south, and into northern Africa. Another headed into western Europe, and the third darted north into Scandinavia.

 

My paternal lineage belongs to Haplogroup Rb1, M343. This group took a more unique route directly out of Africa and into the Middle East. But instead of heading immediately north and towards Europe, these ancestors migrated north and east into Central Asia, into present-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and southern Siberia. From there, they migrated west into Europe, reaching present-day Italy, France, Spain and the British Isles. This Haplogroup also makes me a direct descendant of the Cro-Magnons who dominated human expansion into Europe. These people are famous for their cave drawings in southern France.

Jonathan's paternal haplogroup