The R-Z18 and Subgroups project is researching Z18, Z17, Z372, L257 and all other SNPs and clusters downstream of R-Z18. It is directly downstream of R-U106 and parallel to R-Z381. The SNP was discovered in 2012 by Greg Magoon, who researched the results of the 1000 Genomes Project after the SNP R-L257 was discovered in Peter's results in the WTY Project by Thomas Krahn of FT-DNA. This discovery triggered the search for SNPs between R-U106 and R-L257. A number of them (Z19, Z14, Z17 and Z372) were found by Greg in the 1000 Genomes results (Z18, Z19 and Z14 and others have since turned out to be phylogenetically equivalent, thus emphasizing the importance of Z18 as a genetic marker). The number of phylogenetically equivalent makers suggest to us that the group of people travelling north through the Baltic States or Poland was stationary for some time before what seemed like a barrier, like the Baltic Sea between them and Sweden, where one cannot see the other side which must have appeared formidable for non-seafaring people (the R-U106 people who crossed the British Channel always stayed in clear view of the other side) This stationary event during migration most likely happened some 4.800 - 4.400 years ago. The U106 Haplogroup is estimated by FT-DNA to be about 5.000 years old, so the R-Z18 group split off very early in their existence. When we discovered R-Z18 to clearly define a special branch of U106, a Scandinavian branch where the rest of U106 defines the main branch in Continental Europe. The U106 Project, for this or other reasons, proved not to be very interested in this branch, the decision was therefore made to start a dedicated project to study the Z18 and Subgroups Haplogroup. We expect to identify a number of subgroups in R-Z18, so as to make it easier for our members to find meaningful matches, and hope to be able to give the historical background of each of the groups found and at the very least specify a likely geographic origin and, where applicable, a migrational path for each group. One thing currently appears clear: if your personal background (and/or that of your family) is on the British Isles (possibly migrating from there to the US or to other parts of the world), then it's save to assume that your ancestors arrived on the British Isles as Vikings. The Vikings were a seafaring tribe from the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway and Denmark) in Northern Europe in the 750 - 1050 AD timeframe who on revolutionary so-called longships made trips to both the British Isles (starting with the small island of Lindisfarne in 793 AD) and to Continental Europe, Russian rivers and present-day Greenland and Canada for trade and warfare (so much as this difference was made in those days). So, as an R-Z18 member, you most likely have famous ancestors in your male ancestry line. The project sub-grouping and has recently (October 2024) been updated and now supports all new SNPs and members. We will now try to get a reasonable historical overview. If you like this effort, we suggest making a small donation to the project. We intend to use the money to make tests possible that would not happen otherwise e.g. for people that appear important to the project (such as members found in the utter East or West), but are not very much interested in DNA testing themselves (use the button "Donate" on the left). Project Grouping The menu on the left points to the Result Chart of the project (> DNA Results > Classic Chart). This chart was made using a dedicated tool as in the mean time the project is a little too complex to do it all by hand (e.g. there are currently over 1,000 SNPs downstream of R-Z18) and for whatever reason, lots of people are joining who are not R-Z18+. We nominated four key SNPs as important way-points in haplogroup R-Z18: R-Z18, R-Z17, R-Z372 and L257. In the chart these SNPs are indicated with a RED background, all other SNPs have a GREEN background. These colors have been selected to be both clearly discriminating and keep the text well readable. For other SNPs downstream of these four, full paths are indicated starting at the closest key SNP. Profiles from members are grouped in Groups as long as there are at least three members in the group, in other cases they are moved to the group above (e.g. if there is a SNP A13 below R-Z18 with one profile positive for it, then this profile is listed under R-Z18 (and A13 in the Haplogroup column). The Haplogroup column always give the most terminal SNP of each profile (in green if tested in red if estimated by FT-DNA). On first viewing this may seem to give strange results, but it will always be the case that the group name is the common path all group members share and the terminal SNP is always in the Haplogroup column. This strategy as followed because otherwise, there would be a huge number of groups and readability would be compromised and overview would be lost. BTW, our special automated tool used to keep track of SNP-Names and paths guarantees full correctness. Within each group the profiles are listed in random order as we have no influence on element ordering as is usually the case in relational databases, so closely related profiles are not always listed in logical order and profiles with limited testing would clearly benefit if listed directly after the profile they rely on (we have no influence on that). There's a significant number of people who have tested to one of the key SNPs (these key SNPs played an important role in old Deep Clade tests of Haplogroup R or Haplogroup R-Z18). The SNPs concerned are R-Z18, R-Z17, R-Z372, R-L257; We would like to get in contact with these people to see if we can help them get more added value out of their investment in DNA testing. Special attention is asked for the (a few tens) of members who have been estimated by FT-DNA to be R-M269+ (estimated so in red), the most detailed haplogroup that can reliably be estimated for people with no SNP testing. Some may indeed be Z18+ but others will belong in other haplogroups. Possibly some of these people just wanted to see how close in STRs they are to family members who are already known to be R-Z18+. In cases we are aware of, we have included these people in the same groups as their tested family members, but still there are a significant number of R-M269+ with no SNPs tested left. Please inform us on the ideas behind these people.