The term SNP (pronounced "snip") means a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, or change at a single position on the Y Chromosome DNA strand from the usual result found in other Haplogroups.  Y-DNA SNPs are very reliable, and are used by population geneticists to arrange the human family tree via the direct paternal (patrilineal) line of descent (Y Chromosome descent). Whereas STR markers (37, 67, 111, 500, 700) are merely “suggestive” of the line of descent.

SNPs form a line of descent out of Africa, into the Near East, and further around the world. Haplogroup R descends from a line that made its way from the Near East to the Far East, then back west towards Europe. 

R-U106 is a patrilineal descended family that descends from an ancestral R-L151 group located among or near the Yamnaya culture, north of the Black Sea.  The group rose to significance in the area of present Germany and the surrounding areas probably a bit before 3000 BC.  Although U106 is found all over Europe, and in countries that Europeans have migrated to, it is most significant in Germany and surrounding countries, Scandinavia, and Britain. In its time-frame of 3000 BC, U106 likely arose in the Corded Ware culture. Depending on which branch of U106 a member descends from, the people on that branch adapted to a variety of different cultures along the way, including various derivatives of Slavic, Latin, Celtic, Belgae, Saxon, Viking, and other cultural groups. U106 is a family, not a culture. 

Some families of the historic nobility have paperwork ancestry that reaches back farther into The Genealogical Gap of the Dark Ages.  This enables us to compare the paperwork to the DNA as follows:  both the Bourbon family of the Spanish and the former French Royal families, and the Wettin family of Saxe-Coburg from which the British and the Belgian Royal families, and the former Portuguese and Bulgarian Royal families descend, are confirmed to descend from the same Branch of R1b-U106, being DF98. See also https://the-kings-son.com/wettin-house/

Meanwhile, the co-discoverer of DNA, Dr. James Watson, and along with him, the other scientist who together were the first to have their DNA mapped, Dr. Craig Venter, both belong to the R-U106 haplogroup.  We accept the publicity benefit these folks bring to R-U106.

For ages of the various haplogroups, see FTDNA’s beta version (as of July 2022) of their new Discover tool: https://discover.familytreedna.com/

Welcome to R-U106!  See Historical Milestones of the R-U106 Project at the “News” tab above.

See the Left side Links menu for additional resources, including the link to our discussion group.