The Mysterious Guti

The ancient Indo-European homeland has been postulated to be connected to an ancient Near Eastern people called the Guti. Interesting to me, my own deep genetic ancestry (as discovered in my ancestral DNA results from DNA Tribes) is in Sweden, where Guti is an old Swedish-Nordic name on the surface meaning "Gotlander".

The Mystery of Archaic Denisovan DNA in Me

Why am I Denisovan?

I've been a bit puzzled by my Geno 2.0 archaic hominin genetic ancestry result which reported that I have 2.3% Denisovan genetic ancestry - greater than my Neanderthal genetic ancestry which weighs in at a mere 1.9%. This particularly perplexes me in light of the fact that my autosomal genetic ancestry results indicated that I am significantly and overwhelmingly of European stock (97% - 100% in most studies). Given the overwhelming European-ness of my genetic profiles, coupled with the fact that in the scientific literature archaic Denisovan genes have been found to exist (so far) only in modern populations of Aboriginal Australians and the Melanesians of Papua New Guinea, I didn't expect to have any Denisovan ancestry.

Then comes Teutonic me, with 2.3% Denisovan genetic ancestry. As a daughter of Europe (mostly Northern and Northwestern Europe even more specifically), I expected to have much more European Neanderthal in me and no Asian-Australian Denisovan. But surprise! - I have more Denisovan than Neanderthal! So, what gives with this?

Comparable with others of primarily Celtic-Germanic ancestry (matching the modern German and British reference populations), Geno 2.0 did report that I do have some genetic ancestry admixture from Southeast Asia. Papua New Guinea, home to the Pacific Islanders known as the Melanesians, is in East Asia - so this gets me closer to an answer as to why I have Denisovan DNA.

Like some of Nordic descent, I was born with white blonde hair, though it darkened to a dark blonde as I became an adult. Though I don't have blue eyes, my father does. So, it's clear that some of my ancestors had blonde hair and blue eyes stereotypical of Nordic types.

Interestingly, like me and like some others of Nordic ancestry, blonde hair is also found in high frequency among Melanesian children - those very same children with Denisovan genes. Like me.

So, while it may be that my Homo sapiens sapiens homeland may be Europe by way of Africa and the Near East, it may also be that my Denisovan ancestry homeland is in Australia - maybe that's why so many modern Brits live and love in Australia - our ancestral folksoul (Britain is one my ancestral homelands) is tied to that land as well.

Heathen Sacred Calender

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