Scottish DNA Project now on Google+

The Scottish DNA Project now has a profile on Google+. The platform is increasingly used as a tool for genealogical networking, although the change in the way Google ranks pages is also an important factor in now having a presence. Just search for Scottish DNA and include the project in your Circles.

DNA and Social Networking: A Guide to Genealogy in the Twenty-First Century

Debbie Kennett's excellent new book about genetic genealogy and the networking revolution has now been published. Debbie is to be commended in articulating in a very skilful manner what can potentially be a challenging field for the family historian.

Debbie is an active member of the Guild of One-Name Studies and runs several vibrant DNA projects such as the Cruwys surname project and the geographical DNA project for Devon.

The topic of chapters in the first section include: the basic principles of DNA testing; surnames and the paternal line; before surnames - haplogroups and deep ancestry; the maternal line - mitochondrial DNA tests; cousins reunited - autosomal DNA tests and setting up and running a DNA Project.

Section two includes: traditional genealogical networking methods; genealogy social networking websites; general social networking websites; blogs; wikis; multimedia and collaboratives tools. There are also four appendices: DNA websites; Testing companies; DNA Projects and Surname resources.

All in all a thoroughly helpful resource for the newbie to the field as well as the seasoned genealogist.

The Scottish DNA Project gets a mention on page 37 within the Surnames and paternal line chapter.

It is well worth subscribing to Debbie's Cruwys blog and read more about her book here.

Digging for Britain - Cladh Hallan ancient DNA evidence

Dr Alice Roberts travels back to the Ages of Bronze and Iron where she examines the two Hebridean Bronze Age skeletons known as the Cladh Hallan mummies. Not only do they appear to have been mummified, new analysis has revealed they are made up of a jigsaw of different people. 

Analysis reveals that the two mummies are made up of three people belonging to mitochondrial haplogroups U or U5, T1 (not U, U5) and H (not U, U5 or T1). 

A short video is available on YouTube Cracking the puzzle of the Cladh Hallan Bodies. The full programme can be viewed on BBC iPlayer at Digging for Britain - Series 2 - 3. Age of Bronze and Iron. 

 

It can also be downloaded to your computer to view (which will expires after 30 days). I am not sure if either of these features are available outside the United Kingdom.

 

The Scottish DNA Project mtDNA results for members can be viewed here.

DNA reveals body parts from South Uist mummies belonged to different individuals

DNA tests on British prehistoric mummies revealed they were made of body parts from several different people, arranged to look like one person. The four bodies discovered in 2001 at Cladh Hallan, South Uist, in Scotland's Outer Hebrides were the first evidence in Britain of deliberate mummification.

Archaeologists found the mummies in the foundations of a row of unusual Bronze Age terraced roundhouses. But after being radiocarbon dated, all were found to have died between 300 and 500 years before the houses were built, meaning they had been kept above ground for some time by their descendants.

The results of the DNA work on the Cladh Hallan mummies will feature on the latest series of Digging For Britain on BBC Two in September.

Read all about it at Scottish prehistoric mummies made from jigsaw of body parts

You can read more about the the prehistoric village at Cladh Hallan on the University of Sheffield department of archaeology website.

Clan Chisholm DNA Project

Robert Chisholm, administrator of Clan Chisholm DNA Project has posted an update on the ScotDNA mailing list about significant results from his project. 

Robert states that the Chisholm DNA results would appear to back up the clan origin story of a Norman origin, via the conquest, marriage into Roxburghshire, and "conquest via marriage" into the Highlands.

"Identified Old Chiefs line via several documented genealogies (modern Chief's line is female descent from 1888) , classic I1 Norse type identified by Ken Nordeveldt. Within Clan Chisholm this single type is representing 30-40% of Chisholm named project members. Large DNA footprint traceable back through England, a small amount in Normandy, and back to Scandinavia. Several large family groups (English) who match and would represent sibling lines of Norman family prior to the first representative to found the new surname de Cheseholme, in Scotland, during reign of David I."

"Other DNA in Clan: the majority represent R1b, but with some smaller family groups, predominance of British, but still significant numbers with Gaelic ancestry. Overall the Highland part of the Clan is likely to exceed 50% celtic base, as the I1 Norman type does include the Borders branch which has over time spread
throughout the lowlands and back to Northumbria (whence it originally came, as oral histories have the first de Cheseholme being a Norman Knight from Tindale)."

"So overall, a good result for DNA, proves beyond doubt the favoured origin foundation story, and all those origin myths about the men of the north, the Earl of Orkney, can be dispensed with."

The full original post can be read at SCOT-DNA/2011-07/1310603008