Brit-Am
DNA and
Anthropology Updates
Updates in DNA studies along with Anthropological Notes of general interest with a particular emphasis on points pertinent to the study of Ancient Israelite Ancestral Connections to Western Peoples as explained in Brit-Am studies.
Brit-Am
Research
Revelation
Reconciliation
The Brit-Am Rose
Official Symbol of Brit-Am
BAMAD-40
Contents:
1. David Wilson: Ancestor of "Neil"
(R1b1c7) Group Now Dated to between 500 and 1000 CE!
2. Using House Mice DNA to Trace Human Migrations!
3. Exposure: DNA Tests - "A Waste of Money"!
4. Distinct pregnancy risks in Asian-white couples
5. Genetic Changes Decreasing
1. David Wilson: Ancestor of "Neil"
(R1b1c7) Groups Now Dated to between 500 and 1000 CE!
From: David Wilson
Subject: Re: [DNA-R1B1C7] MRCA of R1b1b2e as early as 1388 CE??
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/DNA-R1B1C7/2008-10/1223025801
There are good grounds for thinking that members of the NW Irish/Lowland
Scots cluster share a fairly recent common ancestor, but I am not sure that
the MRCA need be quite as recent as the TCD researchers calculate. Remember
that their calculations are based on a data base of only 17 STRs in which
the IMH (as they term the cluster) is distinguished from the more common R1b
modal haplotype at only two locations. Had their calculations included 25,
37 or 67 markers, they would have come up with different dates for the most
recent common ancestor, as well as different confidence intervals for the
proposed time depths.
But to be fair, even calculating from a richer data set won't change the
MRCA calculation by a huge amount. In general, if you make the simplifying
assumption that the 67 marker modal haplotype for the cluster reflects the
haplotype of the MRCA, then any M222+ individual living today has a very
high probability of being no more than 40 generations downstream from him.
At 30 years per generation (which is my
preferred measure), we are looking
back 1200 years to the common ancestor with, of course, some margin of error
on either side of that date.
Note that the MRCA need not be the person in whom the M222 mutation first
occurred, nor does the MRCA need to be the famous Niall of the Nine Hostages
himself, to use the identification proposed by the Trinity College Dublin
team. Niall (who lived about 1600 years ago) may in fact be a direct
male-line ancestor, but the MRCA of the cluster could be one of his
descendants who lived several generations later.
In the last several months new forms of statistical analysis applied to
different levels of the Y-chromosome tree suggest that the large modern
European populations in the R branch may have differentiated more recently
than was long thought. If the S106 and S116 subhaplogroups (which are
modally quite similar) are no more than 4,000 to 5,000 years old, then it is
completely possible for the M222 group to be less than 2000 years old. M222
is subordinate to S116 and, based on simple mutation tallies, appears to be
half the age of S116 or even a little less.
I once believed that the NW Irish/Lowland Scot cluster represented the
survivors of the first post-glacial-maximum inhabitants of what we now call
Ireland. At a time when we thought that the majority of the most refined
Haplogroup R subclades had been in Europe for more than 20,000 years, that
was not an impossible notion. But now I
tend to look at the world with a
more collapsed time frame. Do I think the common ancestor could have lived
barely 600 years ago, as the subject line asks? No. Am I open to the
possibility that the MRCA
could have lived between 500 and 1000 CE? Yes.
David Wilson
2. Using House mice DNA to Trace Human
Migrations!
(a) Abstract
Of mice and (Viking?) men: phylogeography of British and Irish house mice
Authors
Jeremy B. Searle1, Catherine S. Jones2, 3, slam G?d?1, 4, Moira Scascitelli1, 5,
6, Eleanor P. Jones1, Jeremy S. Herman1, 7, R. Victor Rambau1, 8, Leslie R.
Noble2, 3, R.J. Berry2, Mabel D. Gim?ez1, Fr?a J?annesd?tir1
Abstract
http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/g47098702062q2h4/
The west European subspecies of house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) has gained
much of its current widespread distribution through commensalism with humans.
This means that the phylogeography of M. m. domesticus should reflect patterns
of human movements. We studied restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)
and DNA sequence variations in mouse mitochondrial (mt) DNA throughout the
British Isles (328 mice from 105 localities, including previously published
data). There is a major mtDNA lineage revealed by both RFLP and sequence
analyses, which is restricted to the northern and western peripheries of the
British Isles, and also occurs in Norway. This distribution of the "Orkney"
lineage fits well with the sphere of influence of the Norwegian Vikings and was
probably generated through inadvertent transport by them. To form viable
populations, house mice would have required large human settlements such as the
Norwegian Vikings founded. The other parts of the British Isles (essentially
most of mainland Britain) are characterized by house mice with different mtDNA
sequences, some of which are also found in Germany, and which probably reflect
both Iron Age movements of people and mice and earlier development of large
human settlements. MtDNA studies on house mice have the potential to reveal
novel aspects of human history.
(b) Article
'Viking mouse' invasion tracked
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7645908.stm
Humans and mice have been close companions for thousands of years
Scientists say that studying the genes of mice will reveal new information about
patterns of human migration.
They say the rodents have often been fellow travellers when populations set off
in search of new places to live - and the details can be recovered.
A paper published in a Royal Society journal analyses the genetic make-up of
house mice from more than 100 locations across the UK.
It shows that one distinct strain most probably arrived with the Vikings.
Rodents from Orkney are among those helping the scientists. It has been shown
that mice from the islands have a DNA signature similar to their Scandinavian
relations.
But these house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) were also found in areas around
the Atlantic coast of Europe reached by the Norse explorers, said Professor
Jeremy Searle, from York University.
"If we look at the genetic patterning of the mice, we find they have patterning
that very much relates to human history; and so we get a particular genetic type
of mouse that is found in the region where the Norwegian Vikings operated," he
told BBC News.
"What this suggests to us is that the Norwegian Vikings were taking these mice
around and they were taking a particular genetic type; because there are all
sorts of genetic types and the particular type that happened to be where the
first Vikings picked them up is the one that got spread around."
Abundant food
Much of Britain has another strain with genetic similarities to a type in
Germany.
It is thought this rodent probably arrived from continental Europe with Iron Age
people.
The humble house mouse has its origin as a species in Asia and migrated on foot
to the Middle East, becoming firmly established in the first agricultural
settlements - no doubt enjoying the abundant food to be found in grain stores.
"Interestingly, [the house mice] didn't migrate into Europe at the same time as
agriculture, about 8,000 years ago," Professor Earle explained.
"They only migrated in about 3,000 years ago. And the reason for this is that it
wasn't until the Iron Age that we got the development of large settlements in
western Europe. The house mouse needs these large settlements in order to
survive and out-compete the local field mouse."
Professor Searle said future studies with mice could help document more
fine-scale Viking movements such as the colonisation of different parts of Faroe,
Iceland and even North America.
Professor Searle and colleagues publish their research in Proceedings of the
Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Brit-Am Note:
Note the statement above:
##"They only migrated in about 3,000
years ago. And the reason for this is that it wasn't until the Iron Age that we
got the development of large settlements in western Europe. The house mouse
needs these large settlements in order to survive and out-compete the local
field mouse."##
In other words until ca. 1000 BCE Western and North Europe was very sparsely
populated.
The house mouse did migrate however (after ca.1000 BCE) when the population
increased.
According to the article, the house mouse migrated from the Middle East when the
population in Europe increased
so perhaps the population increase was also due to migration from the Middle
East?
3. Exposure: DNA Tests - "A Waste of
Money"!
On-line Article
http://www.which.co.uk/news/2008/07/we-reveal-online-dna-tests-are-waste-of-money-150686.jsp
Article in Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1031244/Expensive-online-DNA-tests-accurate-horoscopes.html
Extracts from Article:
One customer, Penny Law, was fascinated by the growth in the DNA
heritage industry and decided to have three tests done.
But the results from each company were so different, she concluded they might be
a rip-off and at best should be treated as fun.
One suggested her origins were in East Asia, another said Spain and the last
came up with the Near East.
Miss Law, deputy editor of Ancestors magazine, said: 'All the companies were
working from the same DNA with the same technology, so to come back with
different results is suspicious. Heritage DNA tests should be treated as fun.
You can't rely on them.'
4. Distinct pregnancy risks in
Asian-white couples
http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2008/10/distinct-pregnancy-risks-in-asian-white.html
5. Genetic Changes Decreasing
Brit-Am Note:
We do not believe in Evolution. We do however believe in the
possibility of inbuilt
Genetic Change within parameters set in advance. The article below points to a
diminishing of this change taking place.
Leading geneticist Steve Jones says human evolution is over
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4894696.ece
Extracts from Article:
Fathers over the age of 35 are more likely to pass on mutations,
according to Professor Steve Jones, of University College London.
Speaking today at a UCL lecture entitled "Human evolution is over" Professor
Jones will argue that there were three components to evolution, natural
selection, mutation and random change. "Quite unexpectedly, we have dropped the
human mutation rate because of a change in reproductive patterns," Professor
Jones told The Times.
"Human social change often changes our genetic future," he said, citing marriage
patterns and contraception as examples. Although chemicals and radioactive
pollution could alter genetics, one of the most important mutation triggers is
advanced age in men.
This is because cell divisions in males increase with age. "Every time there is
a cell division, there is a chance of a mistake, a mutation, an error," he said.
"For a 29-year old father [the mean age of reproduction in the West] there are
around 300 divisions between the sperm that made him and the one he passes on,
each one with an opportunity to make mistakes.
"For a 50-year-old father, the figure is well over a thousand. A drop in the
number of older fathers will thus have a major effect on the rate of mutation."
Professor Jones added: "In the old days, you would find one powerful man having
hundreds of children." He cites the fecund Moulay Ismail of Morocco, who died in
the 18th century, and is reputed to have fathered 888 children. To achieve this
feat, Ismail is thought to have copulated with an average of about 1.2 women a
day over 60 years.
Another factor is the weakening of natural selection. "In ancient times half our
children would have died by the age of 20. Now, in the Western world, 98 per
cent of them are surviving to 21."
Decreasing randomness is another contributing factor. "Humans are 10,000 times
more common than we should be, according to the rules of the animal kingdom, and
we have agriculture to thank for that. Without farming, the world population
would probably have reached half a million by now, about the size of the
population of Glasgow.
"Small populations which are isolated can evolve at random as genes are
accidentally lost. World-wide, all populations are becoming connected and the
opportunity for random change is dwindling. History is made in bed, but nowadays
the beds are getting closer together. We are mixing into a global mass, and the
future is brown."
BAMAD Archives
Join the Brit-Am Ephraimite Discussion Group
Just Send an
e-mail
with "Subscribe"
in the Subject Line
Main Page
Offerings and Publications
Return to
Question and Answer
Table of Contents
