Posted on 01/25/2007 4:39:21 AM PST by Pharmboy
New research has identified the first genetic evidence of Africans having lived amongst "indigenous" British people for centuries. Their descendants, living across the UK today, were unaware of their black ancestry.
The University of Leicester study, funded by the Wellcome Trust and published today in the journal European Journal of Human Genetics, found that one third of men with a rare Yorkshire surname carry a rare Y chromosome type previously found only amongst people of West African origin.
The researchers, led by Professor Mark Jobling, of the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester, first spotted the rare Y chromosome type, known as hgA1, in one individual, Mr. X. This happened whilst PhD student Ms. Turi King was sampling a larger group in a study to explore the association between surnames and the Y chromosome, both inherited from father to son. Mr. X, a white Caucasian living in Leicester, was unaware of having any African ancestors.
"As you can imagine, we were pretty amazed to find this result in someone unaware of having any African roots," explains Professor Jobling, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow. "The Y chromosome is passed down from father to son, so this suggested that Mr. X must have had African ancestry somewhere down the line. Our study suggests that this must have happened some time ago."
Although most of Britain's one million people who define themselves as "Black or Black British" owe their origins to immigration from the Caribbean and Africa from the mid-twentieth century onwards, in reality, there has been a long history of contact with Africa. Africans were first recorded in the north 1800 years ago, as Roman soldiers defending Hadrian's Wall.
To investigate the origins of hgA1 in Britain, the team recruited and studied a further eighteen males with the same surname as Mr. X. All but one were from the UK, with paternal parents and grandparents also born in Britain. Six, including one male in the US whose ancestors had migrated from England in 1894, were found to have the hgA1 chromosome.
Further genealogical research to identify a common ancestor for all seven X-surnamed males suggests that the hgA1 Y chromosome must have entered their lineage over 250 years ago. However, it is unclear whether the male ancestor was a first generation African immigrant or a European man carrying an African Y chromosome introduced into Britain some time earlier, or even whether the hgA1 Y chromosome goes back as far as the Roman occupation.
"This study shows that what it means to be British is complicated and always has been," says Professor Jobling. "Human migration history is clearly very complex, particularly for an island nation such as ours, and this study further debunks the idea that there are simple and distinct populations or 'races'."
In addition, Professor Jobling believes that the research may have implications for DNA profiling in criminal investigations.
"Forensic scientists use DNA analysis to predict a person's ethnic origins, for example from hair or blood samples found at a crime scene. Whilst they are very likely to predict the correct ethnicity by using wider analysis of DNA other than the Y chromosome, finding this remarkable African chromosome would certainly have them scratching their heads for a while."
Pinging those who may be interested...
National Geographic - Genographic Project
https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html
Check the various links across the top.
For $100 they will do a genetic analysis of your tissue (mouth swab) and trace your 'genetic journey'.
https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/journey.html
Also, 'atlas of the human journey'.
https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/atlas.html
Click on various dates and see migration.
Since several branches of my family tree go back to England, does this also mean I can now claim African heritage too?
I did mine through the National Geographic last year. HUGE surpise: my Y-chromosome is pure Celtic. It shows the identical pattern to those named Nickels, Mahoney and Pickering. Scots Irish, me paternity is...saints be praised. And I'm Jewish.
Don't tell Hillary about this.
!!!LOL!!!
V's wife
I think her hubby has already claimed that...
I think we all can. I always check the box and my skin tone is just shy of Richie Cunningham's in the middle of winter.
I think we all can. I always check the box and my skin tone is just shy of Richie Cunningham's in the middle of winter.
"can now claim African heritage too?"
Where do you want your Reparations Checks mailed to?
Very interesting.
Makes sense though. During the Roman period, there were a lot of African Roman citizens. Would make sense that some would have ended up in England.
That patrilineal DNA thing is useless when it comes to finding out a man's roots. The Y-chromosome study only tells you the genetic code of one particular remote male ancestor. Let's say that if you go back 15 generations (around 500 years) you have a Celtic great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather (who happens to be the guy from which you got your Y-chromosome). Guess what? You have 16,383 other great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfathers and 16,384 great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmothers. If over 30,000 of your 32,768 great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents were Jewish, not Celtic, then I think that you can safely state that you are of Jewish descent, not of Celtic descent.
BTW, the Celts were originally from Central Europe and spread first to France, Spain and Portugal and later to the British Isles. If you are Jewish, the likeliest explanation for having Celtic blood in you is due to the marriage of one of your Jewish ancestors in Central Europe or Spain with a man with Celtic blood.
Thanks for the link. I agree. The Welsh are Celtic.
I never SAID I was of Celtic descent...only that my Y-chromosome was pure Celt. And, if you knew your biology (as well as you know arithmetic) you would understand that the Y-chromosome does not get diluted over time in the patrilineal line as other non-sex chromosomes can. So, it is more equal than others.
Origins Of The British: (A Genetic Detective Story)
"Synopsis Unpublished mtDNA and Y-chromosome genetic data has rapidly piled up about the British people. Synthesising the new genetic evidence with linguistics, archaeology and history, Stephen Oppenheimer breaks dramatic findings about the origins of the British people. The first scoop is that the roots of English identity lie over 6000 years ago, not with the Anglo-Saxons. The 'Anglo-Saxon invasion' contributed only 5-10 per cent of male English genes. Instead, the genetic evidence reveals that the majority of English people derive directly from before the first farmers. Secondly, new genetic findings finally answer the question of Celtic genetic identity. The putative origins of the Celts is an issue real for millions of people, from sore-lunged Glasgow football fans to the refined Celtic diasporas of North America and Australia. Gene lines prove once and for all the continued existence of a discrete, British Atlantic coast-based population that first spread north from the Basque country at the end of the last Ice Age - not Iron Age Europe. The division between England and the Atlantic fringe started to build up from that time. Finally, Oppenheimer puts new detail on the genetic legacy of the Viking invasions. He reveals that Orkney and Shetland, far from being victims, had been part of the Scandinavian world long before the Viking onslaught and, through the evidence of their genes, participated actively in raids on Ireland and the colonization of Iceland. "
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