Autosomal DNA SNP Population Results

According to the autosomal SNP genetic analysis I had done through Family Tree DNA, I am 87.06% (blue) Western European (my specific subpopulations - French, Orcadian-Scotland's Orkney Islands, Spanish) and 12.94% (orange) from other areas of Europe (my specific subpopulations - Tuscan, Finnish, Romanian, Russian, Sardinian).

I have no appreciable genetic links to ancient Basque or Italian populations by autosomal SNP analysis (although I do have links to the Italian peninsula through ancient Tuscany). Sweden and Norway are not part of the reference populations (see map), so it may be that the SNP population data for these two areas are still under scientific development (autosomal SNP genetic analysis is still developing its population databases I think).

Even as a developing method of ancestral analysis (in contrast to autosomal STR ancestral analysis), I suppose these autosomal SNP ancestral analysis results are in general agreement with the autosomal STR genetic results in that they also report that my genetic ancestry is largely Celtic (originating in Scotland's Orkney Islands with the ancient Picts) and then later Scandinavian (likely originating in Finland, which has a history intimately intertwined with Russia, Norway and Sweden).

Ancient Pictish history is tied to both the Celtic and Scandinaivian peoples. Also importantly, the ancient Neolithic Picts themselves originally came from the Iberian Peninsula (which is Mediteranean and explains Spain). Before that, they came from North Africa.

Sardinia and Tuscany are near and in the Italian Peninsula, but are distinct populations from Italy proper (see reference populations on map). In prehistorical times, Tuscany lost territory to the Celts, so it is likely some ancient Etruscan Tuscans simply got absorbed into the Celtic (Pictish-Celtic) gene pool. The first settlers of prehistoric Sardinia came from Etruria (present day Tuscany) and the Iberian peninsula (Spain), so the Sardinia result is also explained by these populations becoming admixed with the Pictish-Celtic gene pool. Both Sardinian and Tuscan genes found their way into the Pictish-Celtic gene pool via Spain.

The oldest human traces in Europe are found in France - "The oldest traces of human life in what is now France date from approximately 1,800,000 years ago." Consequently, the French result likely reflects my most ancient genetic beginnings in Europe (even possibly through Neanderthals, since 1-4% of the genome of all Eurasians has been contributed to us by Neanderthals), and in consideration of the fact that my motherline mitochondrial genetic haplogroup is U5, the oldest motherline haplogroup in Europe, arising in Europe approximately 50,000 years ago when the first homo sapiens came to Europe.

Like France, prehistoric Romania evidences some of the first homo sapiens to inhabit Europe. Also, ancient Celts lived in Northwestern Romania, so Romania also links up with ancient Celtic civilization, which likewise links back to the ancient Picts in Orkney (Scotland).

Taking all this together, it reasonable to say that my primary ancestral heritage (by autosomal SNP genetic analysis) is Pictish-Scottish-Celtic (with associated links to Northeastern, Southern and Southeastern Europe as discussed above) and Scandinavian-Finnish (with associated links to Russia and other Scandinavian countries as discussed above). This is in general agreement with my autosomal STR genetic analysis results which also tell me I am mostly Celtic and Scandinavian, with ancient genetic admixtures from other areas of Europe figuring into my genetic stew.

According to information at the Family Tree DNA website, these results reflect my ancestry for the last 100-2000 years (40-80 generations) and "may also reflect one population that mixed with another in ancient times and became fixed in the second population."

Viking Jewish Khazarian Connection

More on the mutation shared by the Vikings and the Jews.

Laura Spinney. "HIV protection via the Vikings?" BioMedNet News (July 23, 2003). Excerpts:

"A common genetic mutation that confers protection against HIV and possibly also multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes may have arisen over 1000 years ago in a lost kingdom in what is now Russia, according to an Australian geneticist. Marc Buhler of the Institute for Immunology and Allergy Research at the University of Sydney thinks that the delta32 deletion mutation in the CCR5 gene is now a target for selection because it protects against certain strains of HIV, but that initially it may have been selected for because carriers survived small pox... The CCR5-delta32 mutation is particularly common among Ashkenazi Jews... among Ashkenazis from Western Europe, for instance, it occurs with the same frequency as in Caucasian non-Jews... He then genotyped the 26 Ashkenazi Jewish individuals who turned out to be homozygous for the mutation, and measured the degree of recombination that had taken place in the region in which the mutation occurs to come up with an estimate of when the mutation first arose. To his surprise, his calculations generated an age of 50 generations, or just over 1000 years. The Ashkenazi Jews left Israel around 2000 years ago... Since the mutation is not common among the Sephardic Jews who stayed in the Middle East, and since it appears to be older than the Ashkenazis' Germanic period - the last time they were concentrated as a population - Buhler surmises that it had its origins elsewhere [other than Germany]. There were several other pieces to fit into the jigsaw: for instance, the incidence of CCR5-delta32 is relatively high among Scandinavians... When he gathered information about his Ashkenazi volunteers' forebears, he found that the frequency of the mutation leapt to 20% in a subgroup whose grandparents came from Russia or Eastern Europe - almost 10% higher than the frequency among Western European Ashkenazis... Since small pox kills around one third to a half of its untreated victims, Buhler says selection would have been very strong for CCR5-delta32 if heterozygotes did indeed avoid death... [U]pper class Khazars adopted Judaism in the mid-10th century... 'The Jewish Khazars had the main block of the mutation,' says Buhler, 'But a few [Khazar] slaves kidnapped by the Vikings would have been enough for them to take it away as a souvenir.' Khazaria ceased to exist around the 13th century, when it was absorbed by Russia, and from then on the Khazar Jews would have blended with the Ashkenazi ancestors of Buhler's Australian volunteers."

"Geneticist finds Ashkenazi immunity." Australian Jewish News (August 22, 2003). Excerpts:

"...In a study of 1400 subjects, Marc Buhler found that Jews originating from Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Russia are prone to carry CCRS-delta 32 - a gene modifier that alters the immune system. ...Buhler said that the gene modifier fends off the symptoms of HIV/AIDS for anywhere between four years and a lifetime. ... Presented in Melbourne at the International Congress of Genetics, the study found CCRS-delta 32 in as many as 35 per cent of Jewish subjects originating from Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Russia. The proportion for non-Jewish subjects hailing from that part of the world was around 25 per cent. However, Jews from other parts of Europe, Asia and the Middle East are no more likely to carry the gene modifier than their non-Jewish counterparts from the same region, he said. CCRS-delta 32 was also discovered in nearly 30 per cent of subjects from Iceland - an observation that prompted Buhler to speculate that the mutation first emerged among medieval Russian Jewish communities and was spread to Northern Europe by the Vikings. Buhler believes that the first carrier of the gene mutation was probably born in Khazaria (in Southern Russia) between 800 and 1000AD. ... Buhler said that CCRS-delta 32 may have also protected Jews against the smallpox. The gene modifier has thrived, he said, because it can ward off adverse symptoms and keep carriers alive long enough to procreate."