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Y-DNA Results:
Only males can test Y-DNA because it is the gene that makes a male a male. It is passed directly from father to son. Haplogroups are DNA signatures that are used to look at migrations of man. A resource on this topic is Spencer Wells, Deep Ancestry.
To learn more about the haplogroups and to see research and graphics of the Y-DNA tree, go to Additional information can be found by searching the internet for the haplogroup you are interested in. Be sure to specify Y-DNA Haplogroup.
The test kits have been sorted into their respective haplogroups. Those haplogroups listed in red are estimated by FTDNA. Those listed in green have been SNP tested to confirm the haplotype. More people are doing SNP tests because it can further refine what part of the haplogroup they come from. This is particularly true in Haplogroups E, G, I, J, and R. A few people do not have assigned haplogroups because their haplotype numbers are somewhat unusual. Only a SNP test can confirm the haplogroup when a haplotype (set of scores shown in DYS Values) is rare. When this happens, FTDNA performs a free “backbone” test to confirm the haplogroup.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup E would appear to have arisen in Northeast Africa based on the concentration and variety of E subclades in that area today. But the fact that Haplogroup E is closely linked with Haplogroup D, which is not found in Africa, leaves open the possibility that E first arose in the Near or Middle East and was subsequently carried into Africa by a back migration. E1b1a is almost exclusively associated with West/Central/South/Southeastern Africans. It is the single most common Y haplogroup in sub-Saharan Africa as well in Africans who were taken to the Americas. E1b1b1 probably evolved either in Northeast Africa or the Near East and then expanded to the west--both north and south of the Mediterranean Sea.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup G began about 30,000 years ago on the eastern edge of the Middle East. Members of this group lived in the Indus Valley before the expansion of Neolithic farmers into the region. After the glaciers melted the G2 lineage expanded northward and eastward to repopulate Europe and Eurasia.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup I overwintered in the Balkans during the last Ice Age and some members of this group also overwintered in Iberia. The subgroup I1 today is found mainly in northwestern Europe; some I1’s are Norse Vikings, and others are Anglo-Saxons. The subgroup I1b expanded from the Balkans both northward and eastward. I2 also has a very wide spread. Many in this group get SNP tests to see if they are mainly Sardinians (I2a1), Slavics (I2a2), from the Germanic spread (I2b1), or the smaller Germanic group (I2b2).
• Y-DNA Haplogroup J began 15,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, an area that today includes Israel, the West Bank. Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. J1 emerged during the Neolithic Revolution in the Middle East, and some moved northward into western Europe while others moved back into North Africa. J2 came out of the Near East, moved west along the Mediterranean to Italy and southern Spain. No J2’s got to Ireland, but they did get to Wales, England and Scotland in small numbers.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup L began in either the Middle East or India. More than 50% of southern Indians are members of Haplogroup L, even if they were not the first people in India.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup N probably arose in Siberia within the last 10,000 years and is associated with Uralic-speaking peoples. The lineage is diverse and can be seen among Russians of the far north, Hungarians, and the reindeer culture of the Saami or Lapps.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup O is believed to have first appeared in Siberia or eastern Central Asia approximately 35,000 years ago. This lineage is found at a frequency of 50% in Mongolia. Haplogroup O is also found in South Asia, Central Asia, and Oceania.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup Q first arose about 15-20 thousand years ago in Siberia. Some members of this group remained in Asia or migrated to India. Others traveled over the Bering Straits to populate the Americas from the far north to the tip of south America.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup R1a is believed to have arisen on the Eurasian Steppe, and today is most frequently observed in eastern Europe and in western and central Asia. It also appears in Scandinavia and northern parts of the UK.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup R1b is the most prolific haplogroup in Europe and its frequency changes in a cline from west (where it reaches a saturation point of almost 100% in areas of Western Ireland) to east (where it becomes uncommon in parts of Eastern Europe and virtually disappears beyond the Middle East).
• Y-DNA Haplogroup T was called K2 prior to May 2008. It is found at low frequencies throughout Europe and in parts of the Middle East, North Africa, and West Africa. A famous person in Haplogroup T was Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809.
mtDNA Results:
mtDNA test kits are also arranged by mtdna Haplogroups. mtDNA is passed from the female to all of her children, so both females and males have mtDNA, but males cannot pass it to succeeding generations. mtDNA Haplogroups with the same name as Y-DNA Haplogroups have no relationship with each other. An example is that mtDNA Haplogroup K has a different history from Y-DNA Haplogroup K. mtDNA Haplogroups show the deep ancestry of the tester and are described in Spencer Wells, Deep Ancestry. Descriptions are also available on the tester's personal page under mtDNA - Results. Additional information can be found by searching the internet for the haplogroup you are interested in. Be sure to specify mtDNA Haplogroup.
• mtDNA Haplogroup A began moving east across Siberia about 50,000 years ago and moved on to populate the Americas. It is the primary mitochondrial lineage carried by Eskimos.
• mtDNA Haplogroup B moved into East Asia about 50,000 years ago. This haplogroup along with F and M comprise about three-quarters of all mitochondrial lineages found in East Asia today. Some groups migrated to Southeast Asia and thence to Polynesia. Others crossed over the Bering straits to populate the Americas.
• mtDNA Haplogroup C evolved from Haplogroup M somewhere on the Asian steppes. About 50,000 years ago these game hunters moved north into Siberia, then migrated toward northern and central Asia. Some crossed the Bering land bridge 15-20 thousand years ago to populate both North and South America.
• mtDNA Haplogroup D evolved from Haplogroup M about 50,000 years ago on the Central Asian steppes, and today are highly represented in different Asian populations: 20% East Asian, more than 20% Northern Asian, and 17% Southern Asian. Some members of this group crossed the Bering land bridge to populate both North and South America.
• mtDNA Haplogroup F startedabout 50,000 years ago in East Asia. Today it makes up more than 25% of Southeast Asians, includingIndonesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.
• mtDNA Haplogroup H (also known as Helena) comprises 40 to 60 % of the mtDNA gene pool in Western Europe and as such is considered the most successful of the mtDNA haplogroups in reproducing itself. It also comprises about 20 % of southwest Asian lineages, 15 % of central Asian lineages and 5 % of northern Asian lineages.
• mtDNA Haplogroup HV is the predecessor of Haplogroup H. Today this group is mainly found in the Near East, including Turkey, southern Russia, and Georgia. It is also seen in parts of East Africa, particularly in Ethiopia.
• mtDNA Haplogroup I occurs in high frequencies in northern Europe and northern Eurasia. This group is thought to have migrated to these areas from the Middle East. They are associated with the Aurignacian culture which is distinguished by innovations in tools and tool manufacturing.
• mtDNA Haplogroup J (also known as Jasmine) has a very wide distribution, being common in eastern and northern Europe, and is present as far east as the Indus Valley bordering Indian and Pakistan and as far south as the Arabian peninsula. mtDNA haplogroup J is largely considered one of the main genetic signatures of the Neolithic expansion and is associated with the spread of agriculture.
• mtDNA Haplogroup K (also known as Katrine) has a wide distribution including areas of Europe, northern Africa, India, Arabia, the northern Caucasus Mountains and throughout the near East.
• mtDNA Haplogroup L (includes mitochondrial Eve) is the root of the mtDNA tree and is prevalent in Africa. The L3 subclade was established about 80,000 years ago and contained the first modern humans to have left Africa through heading north. The major African American subclades are L2a (18.8%, sub-Saharan Africa), L1c (11%, Bantu and Semi-Bantu speakers of west-central tropical Africa), L1b (9.1%, West Africa), L3e2 (9.1%, Bantu speakers of West Africa), L3b (8.1%, West Africa), and L3d (6%, West Africa).
• mtDNA Haplogroup M descended from L3 and left the Africa. M is considered primarily an Asian lineage and found in high frequencies east of the Arabian peninsula. The group’s age is estimated at 60,000 years.
• mtDNA Haplogroup N, like M, descended from L3. This group likely followed the Nile basin, then entered the Mediterranean. Because most of the mitochondrial lineages of the Near East and Europe descend from N, it is considered a western Eurasian haplogroup.
• mtDNA Haplogroup R moved across the Middle East into central Asia and the Indus Valley and some went back into Africa. Their arrival in Europe around 35,000 years ago coincided with the end of the Neanderthals. • mtDNA Haplogroup T (also known as Tara) is common in eastern and northern Europe and found as far east as the Indus Valley and the Arabian Peninsula. It is considered one of the main genetic signatures of the Neolithic expansion.
• mtDNA Haplogroup U (also known as Ursula) has a wide distribution. Most in mtDNA haplogroup U come from a group that moved northwest out of the Near East. Today they are found in Europe and the eastern Mediterranean at frequencies of almost 7% of the population. U5 is mainly found in Scandinavia and U6 is found mainly in North Africa.
• mtDNA Haplogroup V (also known as Velda) tends to be restricted to western, central, and northern Europe. It is found in 12% of Basques and is thought to have been established within the European refuge during the last Ice Age.
• mtDNA Haplogroup W is found in Europe and west and south Africa. It is a very small group with its highest concentration found in northern Pakistan.
• mtDNA Haplogroup X spread from North and East Africa, across Europe to Eurasia and also is represented in the Americas, in such tribes as the Ojibwa, Sioux, Nuu-Chah-Nulth, and Navaho.
Only males can test Y-DNA because it is the gene that makes a male a male. It is passed directly from father to son. Haplogroups are DNA signatures that are used to look at migrations of man. A resource on this topic is Spencer Wells, Deep Ancestry.
To learn more about the haplogroups and to see research and graphics of the Y-DNA tree, go to Additional information can be found by searching the internet for the haplogroup you are interested in. Be sure to specify Y-DNA Haplogroup.
The test kits have been sorted into their respective haplogroups. Those haplogroups listed in red are estimated by FTDNA. Those listed in green have been SNP tested to confirm the haplotype. More people are doing SNP tests because it can further refine what part of the haplogroup they come from. This is particularly true in Haplogroups E, G, I, J, and R. A few people do not have assigned haplogroups because their haplotype numbers are somewhat unusual. Only a SNP test can confirm the haplogroup when a haplotype (set of scores shown in DYS Values) is rare. When this happens, FTDNA performs a free “backbone” test to confirm the haplogroup.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup E would appear to have arisen in Northeast Africa based on the concentration and variety of E subclades in that area today. But the fact that Haplogroup E is closely linked with Haplogroup D, which is not found in Africa, leaves open the possibility that E first arose in the Near or Middle East and was subsequently carried into Africa by a back migration. E1b1a is almost exclusively associated with West/Central/South/Southeastern Africans. It is the single most common Y haplogroup in sub-Saharan Africa as well in Africans who were taken to the Americas. E1b1b1 probably evolved either in Northeast Africa or the Near East and then expanded to the west--both north and south of the Mediterranean Sea.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup G began about 30,000 years ago on the eastern edge of the Middle East. Members of this group lived in the Indus Valley before the expansion of Neolithic farmers into the region. After the glaciers melted the G2 lineage expanded northward and eastward to repopulate Europe and Eurasia.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup I overwintered in the Balkans during the last Ice Age and some members of this group also overwintered in Iberia. The subgroup I1 today is found mainly in northwestern Europe; some I1’s are Norse Vikings, and others are Anglo-Saxons. The subgroup I1b expanded from the Balkans both northward and eastward. I2 also has a very wide spread. Many in this group get SNP tests to see if they are mainly Sardinians (I2a1), Slavics (I2a2), from the Germanic spread (I2b1), or the smaller Germanic group (I2b2).
• Y-DNA Haplogroup J began 15,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, an area that today includes Israel, the West Bank. Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. J1 emerged during the Neolithic Revolution in the Middle East, and some moved northward into western Europe while others moved back into North Africa. J2 came out of the Near East, moved west along the Mediterranean to Italy and southern Spain. No J2’s got to Ireland, but they did get to Wales, England and Scotland in small numbers.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup L began in either the Middle East or India. More than 50% of southern Indians are members of Haplogroup L, even if they were not the first people in India.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup N probably arose in Siberia within the last 10,000 years and is associated with Uralic-speaking peoples. The lineage is diverse and can be seen among Russians of the far north, Hungarians, and the reindeer culture of the Saami or Lapps.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup O is believed to have first appeared in Siberia or eastern Central Asia approximately 35,000 years ago. This lineage is found at a frequency of 50% in Mongolia. Haplogroup O is also found in South Asia, Central Asia, and Oceania.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup Q first arose about 15-20 thousand years ago in Siberia. Some members of this group remained in Asia or migrated to India. Others traveled over the Bering Straits to populate the Americas from the far north to the tip of south America.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup R1a is believed to have arisen on the Eurasian Steppe, and today is most frequently observed in eastern Europe and in western and central Asia. It also appears in Scandinavia and northern parts of the UK.
• Y-DNA Haplogroup R1b is the most prolific haplogroup in Europe and its frequency changes in a cline from west (where it reaches a saturation point of almost 100% in areas of Western Ireland) to east (where it becomes uncommon in parts of Eastern Europe and virtually disappears beyond the Middle East).
• Y-DNA Haplogroup T was called K2 prior to May 2008. It is found at low frequencies throughout Europe and in parts of the Middle East, North Africa, and West Africa. A famous person in Haplogroup T was Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809.
mtDNA Results:
mtDNA test kits are also arranged by mtdna Haplogroups. mtDNA is passed from the female to all of her children, so both females and males have mtDNA, but males cannot pass it to succeeding generations. mtDNA Haplogroups with the same name as Y-DNA Haplogroups have no relationship with each other. An example is that mtDNA Haplogroup K has a different history from Y-DNA Haplogroup K. mtDNA Haplogroups show the deep ancestry of the tester and are described in Spencer Wells, Deep Ancestry. Descriptions are also available on the tester's personal page under mtDNA - Results. Additional information can be found by searching the internet for the haplogroup you are interested in. Be sure to specify mtDNA Haplogroup.
• mtDNA Haplogroup A began moving east across Siberia about 50,000 years ago and moved on to populate the Americas. It is the primary mitochondrial lineage carried by Eskimos.
• mtDNA Haplogroup B moved into East Asia about 50,000 years ago. This haplogroup along with F and M comprise about three-quarters of all mitochondrial lineages found in East Asia today. Some groups migrated to Southeast Asia and thence to Polynesia. Others crossed over the Bering straits to populate the Americas.
• mtDNA Haplogroup C evolved from Haplogroup M somewhere on the Asian steppes. About 50,000 years ago these game hunters moved north into Siberia, then migrated toward northern and central Asia. Some crossed the Bering land bridge 15-20 thousand years ago to populate both North and South America.
• mtDNA Haplogroup D evolved from Haplogroup M about 50,000 years ago on the Central Asian steppes, and today are highly represented in different Asian populations: 20% East Asian, more than 20% Northern Asian, and 17% Southern Asian. Some members of this group crossed the Bering land bridge to populate both North and South America.
• mtDNA Haplogroup F startedabout 50,000 years ago in East Asia. Today it makes up more than 25% of Southeast Asians, includingIndonesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.
• mtDNA Haplogroup H (also known as Helena) comprises 40 to 60 % of the mtDNA gene pool in Western Europe and as such is considered the most successful of the mtDNA haplogroups in reproducing itself. It also comprises about 20 % of southwest Asian lineages, 15 % of central Asian lineages and 5 % of northern Asian lineages.
• mtDNA Haplogroup HV is the predecessor of Haplogroup H. Today this group is mainly found in the Near East, including Turkey, southern Russia, and Georgia. It is also seen in parts of East Africa, particularly in Ethiopia.
• mtDNA Haplogroup I occurs in high frequencies in northern Europe and northern Eurasia. This group is thought to have migrated to these areas from the Middle East. They are associated with the Aurignacian culture which is distinguished by innovations in tools and tool manufacturing.
• mtDNA Haplogroup J (also known as Jasmine) has a very wide distribution, being common in eastern and northern Europe, and is present as far east as the Indus Valley bordering Indian and Pakistan and as far south as the Arabian peninsula. mtDNA haplogroup J is largely considered one of the main genetic signatures of the Neolithic expansion and is associated with the spread of agriculture.
• mtDNA Haplogroup K (also known as Katrine) has a wide distribution including areas of Europe, northern Africa, India, Arabia, the northern Caucasus Mountains and throughout the near East.
• mtDNA Haplogroup L (includes mitochondrial Eve) is the root of the mtDNA tree and is prevalent in Africa. The L3 subclade was established about 80,000 years ago and contained the first modern humans to have left Africa through heading north. The major African American subclades are L2a (18.8%, sub-Saharan Africa), L1c (11%, Bantu and Semi-Bantu speakers of west-central tropical Africa), L1b (9.1%, West Africa), L3e2 (9.1%, Bantu speakers of West Africa), L3b (8.1%, West Africa), and L3d (6%, West Africa).
• mtDNA Haplogroup M descended from L3 and left the Africa. M is considered primarily an Asian lineage and found in high frequencies east of the Arabian peninsula. The group’s age is estimated at 60,000 years.
• mtDNA Haplogroup N, like M, descended from L3. This group likely followed the Nile basin, then entered the Mediterranean. Because most of the mitochondrial lineages of the Near East and Europe descend from N, it is considered a western Eurasian haplogroup.
• mtDNA Haplogroup R moved across the Middle East into central Asia and the Indus Valley and some went back into Africa. Their arrival in Europe around 35,000 years ago coincided with the end of the Neanderthals. • mtDNA Haplogroup T (also known as Tara) is common in eastern and northern Europe and found as far east as the Indus Valley and the Arabian Peninsula. It is considered one of the main genetic signatures of the Neolithic expansion.
• mtDNA Haplogroup U (also known as Ursula) has a wide distribution. Most in mtDNA haplogroup U come from a group that moved northwest out of the Near East. Today they are found in Europe and the eastern Mediterranean at frequencies of almost 7% of the population. U5 is mainly found in Scandinavia and U6 is found mainly in North Africa.
• mtDNA Haplogroup V (also known as Velda) tends to be restricted to western, central, and northern Europe. It is found in 12% of Basques and is thought to have been established within the European refuge during the last Ice Age.
• mtDNA Haplogroup W is found in Europe and west and south Africa. It is a very small group with its highest concentration found in northern Pakistan.
• mtDNA Haplogroup X spread from North and East Africa, across Europe to Eurasia and also is represented in the Americas, in such tribes as the Ojibwa, Sioux, Nuu-Chah-Nulth, and Navaho.