Monday, June 11, 2012

My Prehistoric Saami Cultural Connections

Since it looks like my motherline may ultimately originate with the Saami people, I'm following this line back into prehistory. The Saami, the oldest ethnic group in Northwestern Europe, is considered to be the indigenous population of the area. Additionally, the Saami are considered to be a cultural continuation of the Paleolithic and early Mesolithic Komsa culture which existed from around 10,000 BCE in Northern Norway. The Komsa culture is itself part of the "pure hunter-gatherer" Fosna-Hensbacka culture. The Hensbacka culture later evolved into the Sandarna culture which is found along the coast of western Sweden (a primary autsosomal STR match for me). The majority of Hensbacka sites (ca.75%) are located the islands in the outer archipelago (another mtDNA genetic match for me through Roots For Real). Sometimes the Sandarna culture appears as the name of an intermediary form between the Swedish Hensbacka and Lihult cultures. This name comes from a settlement near Gothenburg (approximately 7000 BC–5000 BC). The Lihult culture lived in Norway and Sweden.

It looks like my motherline is indeed very anciently Nordic, as are many of my ancestors by autosomal genomic analysis.

Nordic History - Unto a Good Land, Early Mesolithic Colonization of Eastern Central Sweden

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