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timtom -> RE: Europe (4/20/2006 7:51:59 PM)
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I recently partook in a DNA reasearch project to explore our deep ancestry. The people in white coats took a look at my Y chromosome, which, as you probably know, is passed down "whole" from father to son. It thus explores my line of paternal descent only, which of course make up on a small part of my total genetic heritage.
Turns out I descend on the paternal side from a group of people who migrated from the Middle East to Europe via the Balkans about 20,000 BC. Archeologically they're associated with the so-called Gravettian culture. You've probably seen the little, fat Venus figurines these people fashioned, among other things.
Haplogroup I, as this branch of the human tree is called, is found throughout Europe and to a lesser extend Asia Minor, and by extension whereever the descended of migrants from these areas live.
Haplogroup I is particularly prevelant on Sardinia, the northwestern Balkans, and Scandinavia. Nowhere do they make up a majority of the population.
Populations with > 15% haplogroup I:
Italian (Sardinia): 42.3%
Bosnian: 42.0%
Swedish (South Sweden): 40.5%
Norwegian: 40.3%
Danish: 38.7%
Slovenian: 38.2%
Croat (mainland): 38.1%
German: 37.5%
Gagauz (Moldova): 31.6%
Saamic: 31.4%
Macedonian (northern Greece): 30.0%
Moldavian: 28.3%
Dutch: 26.7%
Swedish (North Sweden): 26.3%
Russian (Adygea): 24.4%
French (Low Normandy): 23.8%
Albanian: 23.6%
Hungarian: 22.8%
Russian (Cossacks): 22.7%
Romanian: 22.2%
Ukrainian: 21.9%
Mordvin: 19.3%
Byelorussian: 19.0%
Russian (Kostroma region): 18.9%
Estonian: 18.6%
English: 18.4%
Polish: 17.8%
Russian (Belgorod region): 16.7%
Scottish (Scottish Isles) 16.5%
French (Southern France): 15.8%
Different samples will come up with different numbers, but the trends are the same.
For the technically inclined, I belong to the haplogroup subclade I1a-AS4 [:)]
It also appears I've got a strange mutation on a segment of my Y-chromosome. GF1 thinks it explains allsorts...
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