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

SNPs - the latest results: St Clair DNA Study

Many folk are well aware of how 37 or 67 Y-DNA marker tests can be used to identify matches within a genealogical time frame, but there is an increasing and welcome interest in 'deep ancestry'.

The history of the human Y-DNA tree is defined at each branch by an SNP (a single-nucleotide polymorphism), a change to a single nucleotide in a DNA sequence. These events are rare but when they do happen, every descendant of the individual in which the event occurred will carry the mutation to the next generation.

Steve St Clair has posted a very helpful video of recent developments in his project which can be viewed here St. Clair DNA Study

I would also recommend a visit to the St. Clair DNA Study website where there are interviews with Bennett Greenspan, Terry Barton and  Richard White

James Naughtie's DNA

My six-week hell when I thought I might be English

James Naughtie political commentator and presenter of the 'Today' programme on BBC Radio 4 recently had his Y-DNA tested to discover his deep ancestral roots. He was found to be S142+ which is haplogroup I1d and indicative of possible Angle descent.

The light hearted account about his anxious wait for the results can be read  here and the Radio 4 programme listened to at James Naughties DNA

DNA Heritage database and Ybase transferred to Family Tree DNA

Significant news today with the transfer of the DNA Heritage database and customers to Family Tree DNA. This will now bring several Scottish surname projects under the wing of FTDNA such as the original Lindsay DNA Project.

Below is part of the message from Alastair Greenshields, principal of DNA Heritage:

April 2011   
Dear Customers,

Today we have signed an agreement with Family Tree DNA to transfer the DNA Heritage database, and also the Ybase domain, site and database.  In a few weeks time, the DNA Heritage domain will also be transferred.

Customers within the DNA Heritage database will be able to opt-in to be uploaded into the FTDNA database.  Family Tree DNA will organize this opt-in process.  New orders can then later be taken through Family Tree DNA.  Project Funds for Surname Projects will remain intact in the transfer.

In recent months sales have lowered which impacts the rate at which we can cover the costs of the lab process.  With no immediate rise in sales, this became unsustainable so we started the process of finding a suitable company that could a) absorb the customer database and b) continue testing at the same markers.  The number of companies that are able to do this is limited but we hope that our past customers will be happy with the transfer.

Because of the income from the sale of assets, testing will resume at our current labs and we shall complete all those in process, and also for those that have pre-paid.

See this link for more information:
http://www.familytreedna.com/landing/dna-heritage.aspx

The Gene Code - new series from the BBC

A new series is currently showing on BBC 4 on Monday evenings (also available on BBC iPlayer, but not accessible outside the UK).

Programme 1 - The Book of Life
Dr Adam Rutherford takes the viewer on a rollercoaster ride as he explores the consequences of one of the biggest scientific projects of all time - the decoding of the entire human genome in 2000. Adam discovers that every human carries the entire story of life on earth hidden in his or her DNA and sees how we are all linked directly to the origins of life and to the first creatures with backbones. He also investigates the implications of the fact that for much of its existence, the human race was an endangered species.

Programme 2 - Unlocking the Code
How we are coming to understand the very process by which our DNA makes each of us unique.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010j64w