Greg's Ancestry from 23andme.com

MATERNAL: BRENNAN & LEOPOLD

Origin and Migrations of Haplogroup U5a2a 

 U5a2a is a relatively young branch of one of the oldest European haplogroups — U5. The members of U5a2a trace their maternal lines back to a woman who lived approximately 13,000 years ago, at the end of the Ice Age. For several thousand years, humans had survived the last great cold peak in a small number of more hospitable refuges in the south and the east of the continent. Then, around 14,000 years ago, the ice sheets covering the interior of the continent began to recede and human populations started to re-expand north. As they spread out and thrived in the newly hospitable continent, new maternal lineages emerged, including U5a2a.

 Today, members of U5a2a are frequently found among Poles, Russians, Belarusians, and Czechs. 

U5a2a is relatively common among 23andMe customers.  Today, you share your haplogroup with all the maternal-line descendants of the common ancestor of U5a2a, including other 23andMe customers. The Cheddar Man also belonged to U5a

The Cheddar Man

The Cheddar Man is named for Cheddar Gorge, England. 

First discovered in 1903 in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England, the Cheddar Man is Britain's oldest complete human skeleton. Researchers have dated his bones back to nearly 9,000 years ago, when the Ice Age had ended but farming technology had not yet made its way across the continent, and people in England still survived by hunting and gathering. Unfortunately for the Cheddar Man, a bone lesion above his right eye shows he likely had a bone infection, and other skeletal evidence suggests his days of hunting may have come to a violent end.

 More recently, Bryan Sykes of Oxford University extracted mitochondrial DNA from one of the Cheddar Man's teeth, and found that his maternal haplogroup was U5.

PATERNAL: REKAS & BRODIE

Origin and Migrations of Haplogroup J-M267 

 You descend from the paternal lineage of haplogroup J1-M267, one of the oldest branches of haplogroup J. Haplogroup J1-M267 originated 31,000-36,000 years ago in the Middle East, over 20,000 years before the advent of farming and about 10,000 years before the height of the last Ice Age. While haplogroup J is a large haplogroup with a wide geographic range, including Europe, North Africa, and Asia, J1-M267 is much less widespread. Members of J1-M267 are most commonly found in ethnic groups throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Ethiopia, and are only rarely seen in Europe. Specifically, people who belong to J1-M267 have been found in Morocco, North Africa, Algeria, Algeria, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Turkey, Georgia, Greece, Albania, Italy, Pakistan, and central Asia. Members of J1-M267 have been found in Sahrawish, Bedouin, Ashkenazim and Sephardim Jewish, and Hunza populations.

 Haplogroup J1-M267 was involved in two migrations that are responsible for its current geographic distribution. During the first migration, which happened about 8,000 years ago, members of your haplogroup migrated from the Middle East into East Africa and Europe. This migration may have been associated with the initial spread of farming technology and culture, one of the most important technological innovations in human history. During the second migration, Arabic members of J1-M267 migrated from the southern part of the Middle East into North Africa around the year 700 AD. The more recent migration was likely associated with the emergence and spread of Islam.

 J-M267 is relatively common among 23andMe customers. Today, you share your haplogroup with all the men who are paternal-line descendants of the common ancestor of J-M267, including other 23andMe customers.

Your haplogroup was carried by the first farmers.

J-M267 Your paternal line traces back to the branch J-M267, which was involved in two significant migrations. During the first migration, which happened about 8,000 years ago, members of your haplogroup migrated from the Middle East into East Africa and Europe. This migration may have been associated with the initial spread of farming technology and culture, one of the most important technological innovations in human history. During the second migration, Arabic members of J-M267 migrated from the southern part of the Middle East into North Africa around the year 700 AD. The more recent migration was likely associated with the emergence and spread of Islam.