My Position Among (POPRES) European Populations By High Resolution Principal Component Analysis Using PC1 Vs. PC4

My earlier POPRES European post was plotted using the wrong Principal Components for this particular analysis. In the earlier post I used PC1 and PC2. I was supposed to use PC1 and PC4. So, here is my corrected graph. In this corrected analysis, my closest European genomic neighbors are Sweden (SE) and Norway (NO).

Finland (FI) falls a bit above me (csv) on the graph. The countries clustering near Finland are Germany (DE), Norway (NO), Poland (PL) and Latvia (LV). In the mass nearest to me on the right in the graph are the United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands (NL), Sweden (SE), Poland (PL) and Ireland (IE).

This high resolution graph (using 74,000 SNPs) was generated by uploading my autosomal SNP csv raw data file to Stanford's Interpretome site and using their tool to do all the hard work.

Mesolithic Fennoscandian Ice Sheets

This paper (Sami Prehistory Revisited by John Weinstock, University of Texas) states, "the maps (above) show the ice sheet at 10,000 BP and 9,300-9,200 BP (Eronen et al. 2001: 19). They illustrate how rapidly the ice was shrinking and the avenues by which humans could reach Fennoscandia."

By ca. 13,000 BP long stretches of the Norwegian coast were ice-free but, as Hein Bjartmann Bjerck points out, there was “no certain evidence of human settlement in this rich arctic biotope” until near the end of the Younger Dryas (1,300 year cold snap) about 10,000 BP (2008: 65). The earliest evidence of human activity in Scandinavia is during the Early Mesolithic chronozone from 10,020-8,900 BP (9,500-8,000 cal BC); Bjerck lists 37 key sites in Norway (Ibid. 75-78). There were three coastal techno-complexes: the Fosna along the coast of southern Norway, the Hensbacka in southwest Sweden near Bohuslän and the Komsa in northern Norway, all with a forerunner in the late Paleolithic Ahrensburg culture further south (Ibid. 74). The Middle Mesolithic chronozone 8,900-7,690 BP and the Late Mesolithic chronozone 7,690-5,230 BP follow, the latter period witnessing an increase in rock art.

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

Swedish Scandinavian Ancestry

In follow-up to an earlier post, it makes perfect sense that Frau Holle, the great mother goddess of the Teutonic people, is revealed to be my patroness as a witch, and as a descendent of the Vikings. In the photo, are the results of the autosomal DNA test (by STR analysis) I had done which looks at the genes I inherited from all of my ancestors. According to these results (numbers also shown for my top six population matches), which look back approximately 500 years, Sweden is clearly the top land of my modern ancestors - no other land even comes to close it in terms of the raw Match Index number result, although my Norway Tribe Score (in parentheses) is equal to my Swedish Tribe Score, indicating a strong Viking ancestry and family blood ties to Norway as well. Wales, Scotland and the UK in general are also in my top five matches - lands where Vikings heavily settled during the Middles Ages. On top of all this, my motherline mtDNA haplogroup is U5b, called Clan Ursula among genealogists, and is a Northwestern European haplogroup. My motherline and autosomal DNA tests were both done through different labs in different countries. Even as I await my Family Finder results (to confirm and add more detail to my ancestral genetic research), I think it's pretty clear that my ancestors were heavily Viking.

Scandinavian Roots, Gomer & the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel

Sweden and Norway (part of Scandinavia) figure significantly in my autosomal mtDNA results, as did a Scythian ancestral connection.

Uncovering Scandinavian Roots

The term "Scythians" is sometimes applied by historians to a particular people and sometimes to all the nomad tribes in the vast territory north of the Black and Caspian Seas. It is this area where we must find the roots of the Scandinavian peoples. The Cimmerians were the oldest inhabitants of Scythia. Their history can be traced back to near the close of the eighth century B.C.in Assyrian records. A collection of letters preserved in Ashurbanipal's library inform us of events in the Urartu area of Armenia during the years 707-706B.C. Included in this collection were reports from Assyrian frontier posts. One said the king of Urartu came into "the land of Gamir" and had to be forced back.

For many years E. D. Phillips studied the history of the nomads in Scythia. He says the Cimmerians "appear late in the eighth century on the northern border of the Kingdom of Urartu as the Gimirrai or Gamir of Assyrian records" (page 52, The Royal Hordes, Nomad Peoples of the Steppes). Other historians agree that the Gimirrai were the "Kimmerioi" Cimmerians of the Greeks.

There is also a connection with the biblical Gomer in Hosea's prophecy. Notice that the prophet Hosea married a woman called "Gomer" (Hosea 1:3). She represented the unfaithfulness and slavery of the ten tribes of the House of Israel (chapter 3).

This prophecy indicates that the northern ten tribes of Israel would also be called "Gomer" while in captivity. The Israelites were actually known as Gomerians or Cimmerians.

Read more at the link above.