Bavaria Elongated-Skull Women
Elongated Skulls in Early Medieval Bavaria: DNA, G25 Models, and Their True Origins Among the most visually strikin...
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Articles, insights, and news about DNA ancestry testing and genetic genealogy.
Reconstructing the Genetic Origins of the Slavs: What the Latest Ancient DNA Reveals
The origins of the early Slavs remain one of the most debated questions in population genetics. A recent synthesis on ...
Why It Is So Hard to Genetically Distinguish Northwestern Europeans
From Normandy to Flanders, from southern England to the Netherlands and northern France, modern people of northwestern ...
From Taiwan to Easter Island: The Genetic Odyssey of the Polynesians
From Taiwan to Easter Island: The Genetic Odyssey of the Polynesians Ancient DNA has transformed our understanding of...
Milk, Sunlight, and Migration: How Lactose Tolerance and Light Skin Reveal Natural Selection in Action
Across the world, a few human traits tell a remarkable story of how genes, culture, and environment have co-evolved. T...
The Udmurts: The Red-Haired Finno-Ugric People Bridging East and West
Among the forests and rivers of the central Volga-Kama region of Russia lives a small but remarkable population — ...
Genes and Tongues: Five PCA-Based Cases Where Language Changed but DNA Did Not
Language and genes often tell different stories. Archaeogenetics shows that while migrations shape populations, cultura...
Roman Britain: A Genetic Mosaic at the Edge of Empire
Recent ancient DNA discoveries are reshaping our understanding of Roman and early medieval Britain . Far from being an ...
The New 23andMe 2025 Update: Excellent Results, But Never “Final”
23andMe has released its 2025 ancestry update , and overall the results are excellent. In our community, the improvemen...
From Guanches to Modern Canarians: Fiveteen Centuries of Genetic History on the Atlantic Edge
Ancient DNA from the Canary Islands reveals Amazigh (North-African) roots for the pre-Hispanic Guanches, followed by pos...
The Genetic History of Portugal: Five Millennia at Europe’s Atlantic Edge
The Genetic History of Portugal: Five Millennia at Europe’s Atlantic Edge Ancient DNA now traces Portugal&rsqu...
Why Ashkenazi Jews and Southern Italians Cluster Together Genetically
A recurring observation in population genetics is that Ashkenazi Jews often cluster with Southern Italians and Sicilian...
Understanding Your Ancient DNA Test Results – Why They Should Be Taken with a Grain of Salt
With the launch of our new ancient DNA test, many people are exploring their results with great enthusiasm. That’s...
From Rome to Byzantium: Tracing Eastern Mediterranean Ancestry in Ancient Italy
The Roman Empire forged a vast and interconnected world, extending from Britain to the Euphrates. As imperial power shif...
FRA009: A North African Man in Early Medieval Gaul
In the silence of a 5th-century cemetery in Angers , in the heart of what is now western France, a man was buried. More...
The Genetic History of the Iberian Peninsula: A Journey Through 8000 Years of Change
The Iberian Peninsula—today’s Spain and Portugal—has long been a meeting point of diverse peoples and ...
From Roman Soldiers to Merovingian Kings: A Genetic Legacy on the Northern Frontier
The edges of the Roman Empire were never barren limits. They were dynamic zones of exchange, settlement, and transformat...
Scythians: The Genetic Legacy of the Steppe Warriors
For centuries, the Scythians ruled the vast Eurasian steppe from the Black Sea to the Altai Mountains. Described by Hero...
Phoenician Genes Across the Sea: How Ancient DNA Reveals Their Mediterranean Legacy
For centuries, the Phoenicians have been remembered as master sailors, tireless merchants, and skilled craftsmen. Origin...
From Foragers to the Early Middle Ages: A Genetic History of France (7000 BCE – 1000 CE)
France’s population has undergone profound transformations over the past 9,000 years, shaped by successive waves o...
From Ancient Israel to Medieval Europe: Tracing the Deep Genetic Continuity of Jewish Communities
Introduction The Jewish people, dispersed across continents yet culturally cohesive, have long maintained traditions ...
Tracing the First Americans: Ancient Genomes Confirm the Beringian Route and Siberian Ancestry
Introduction The question of how the Americas were first populated has long fascinated archaeologists and geneticist...
Iron Age Connections Across the Channel: The Durotriges as a Fusion of Continental and Insular Celts
Recent breakthroughs in ancient DNA have begun to rewrite our understanding of Iron Age Britain and its relationship wit...
L21 Across the Channel: Tracing Insular Roots in Iron Age Continental Celts
R1b-L21, a prominent Y-DNA haplogroup today concentrated in the British Isles , is often seen as a marker of Insular C...
Forgotten Lives Recovered: The Genetic Echoes of Africans in Colonial Mexico
In the heart of modern-day Mexico City, beneath centuries of stone and soil, lie silent witnesses to one of the most ove...
The Viking-Gaelic Roots of Iceland’s Founding Population
When Norse settlers arrived in Iceland around 874 CE, they were not alone. While sagas emphasize brave chieftains and wa...
From the Steppes to the Mountains: The Long Journey of Indo-Europeans into East Asia
Thousands of years before the Silk Road, other routes linked East and West—carried not by caravans, but by genes. ...
Crusaders: Echoes from the Deep Heart of Europe
Crusaders: Echoes from the Deep Heart of Europe When we picture the medieval Crusaders who stormed into the Levant ne...
The Lombards: A Case of Rapid Genetic Integration in Early Medieval Italy
When the Lombards migrated into Italy in the 6th century CE, they brought more than just political upheaval. Their arriv...
Warriors from Afar: How Ancient DNA Reveals the Global Army of Himera
In 480 BCE, on the northern coast of Sicily, Greek forces clashed with a Carthaginian army at the Battle of Himera. For ...
From the Steppes to the Danube: Genetic Evidence Confirms East Asian Origins of the Huns, Avars, and Early Magyars
For centuries, the history of the Huns, Avars, and early Hungarians has been entangled in legend, nationalism, and specu...
Tracing Female Mobility in Early Medieval Germany: Insights from Ancient DNA and the Case of AED_1108
In recent years, advances in ancient DNA analysis have transformed our understanding of early medieval European societie...
Mobility in Roman Britain: Ancient DNA Reveals the Empire’s Far-Reaching Connections
Recent breakthroughs in ancient DNA (aDNA) research have dramatically reshaped our understanding of life at the fringes ...
Ancient DNA Links Pompeii to the Middle East: Revisiting Southern Italy’s Roman Connections
Recent advances in ancient DNA research have revealed that cultural and genetic ties in the Roman Empire were far more c...
The Octagon at Ephesos (Turkey) - The History Written in Our Bones
A well-preserved skeleton discovered in 1929 in a sarcophagus at the Octagon in Ephesos (Turkey) has long been speculate...
Modern Greenlanders: A Genetic Mosaic of Inuit and Northwest European Ancestry
Introduction Greenland, the world’s largest island, is often associated with its dramatic arctic landscapes an...
What Is Raw DNA Data, How to Download It, and Where to Upload It for More Insights
What Is Raw DNA Data? Raw DNA data is the digital file containing your unique genetic code, as determined by a cons...
The Celtic Paradox : Culture, Not Blood, Rethinking Celtic Identity
When most people hear the word Celtic , they immediately think of places like Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, or Ga...
The Genetic History of the Romani People
The Romani people, often referred to as Gypsies, are believed to have originated in the Punjab region of northern India....
Rethinking Historical Narratives: Western Europe's Deep Connections Across the Channel
In Western Europe, we often tend to explain cultural and genetic similarities primarily through Roman or post-Roman hist...
The Unique DNA History of the Malagasy People
Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, is home to one of the most fascinating and genetically diverse popul...
The Mystery of the Basques
The Basques are renowned for their strong identity and character, similar to people from France's Atlantic coast and nor...