I will claim a cousin anyway.

What can one do with their haplogroup? I am H10a1. You can go to several websites to look for your haplogroup in the skeletons of ancient people who have been sequenced!

I am H10a1 and my mother’s father was an R1a haplogroup, which is loosely associated with coming from the Russian Steppes. Many went to Sweden and a very few to the British Isles, like mine, eventually.

This example is H10a. There is no reason to think this is a direct ancestor. Cousin, maybe, even if he is quite distant. There is a Latvian grave with a male whose mt-DNA is H10a and his y-DNA has also been sequenced. To my delight, this ancient man was also R1a. Of course not related in that way – but this is the fun of haplogroups – seeing the travels of ancient cousins and even the possibility of forever unknown ancestors.

So like I tell all folks – get your haplogroups done and dusted. There are a few sites you can use to learn about your haplogroup. You can search for it in the sequenced ancient skeletons from archaeological sites. There are more being sequenced all the time, but there are enough already to enjoy.

Look on Jean Manco’s old site, which is archived (search in the contents list for her name and there is the link to her story and how to use her free, saved archived pages). Also Eupedia = wonderful for reading haplogroups.

 

Be sure not to miss my constant harping on pedigree collapse.

Our Kivutkalns 19 has a few things written about him, and this can all be found with a Google search. Google, which everyone knows I love so much.

Both Expedia and Jean Manco’s saved site on archive.org have information about ancient DNA. Ms. Manco’s site is not being updated – but every time I look there for a haplogroup I find anthropology gold. In searching her pages, begin with your root ancestor/ancestress’ haplogroup. I am H10a1 but not all skeletons have refined sequencing. So I would search page by page for all H10. In this person below, his y-dna is sequenced to R1a1a1b. But if I were this person and searching, I would search for R1a and read all of those from the start.

Let’s follow my trail to see what pieces I can learn. I am sure some might say this is not enough. Maybe this would seem nothing and silly and not even a relative. Is this all there is?

Great to me. 🙂

 

Culture

Country

Site and/or Individual

Sex

Date

Genome

Y-DNA

mtDNA

Baltic BA

Latvia

Kivutkalns [19]

M

730-400 cal BCE

896471

R1a1a1b

H10a

https://web.archive.org/web/20170825051810/http://www.ancestraljourneys.org/copperbronzeagedna.shtml

 

Sample name	95.4% CI calibrated radiocarbon age (calBCE)/contextual dating (BCE)	Population label	Site location	Genetic sex	SNPs overlapping 1240k set	Average coverage on 1240k SNPs	mtDNA haplogroup	Y-haplogroup*

Kivutkalns19

730–400 calBCE

Baltic BA

Kivutkalns, Latvia

M

896471

5.760

H10a

R1a1a1b

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5789860/

and this blogger has shared more details about his genes being analyzed. Can you imagine? So wonderful that searching with Google we can look for researchers writing about our own haplogroups, almost in real time.

Sample	Country	Culture	Date BC	Skin	Hair	Eyes

Kivutkalns 19

Latvia

Late Bronze Age

730–400

Light

D-blond/ Brown

Brown

https://genetiker.wordpress.com/2018/02/04/pigmentation-of-ancient-northern-europeans/

Latvia tools

https://books.google.com/books?id=0_uIQJO8FmcC&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=Kivutkalns,+latvia&source=bl&ots=Sau60uUrlY&sig=ACfU3U1eJNPLWOGhT4duV-CulrJuloTYTw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwil8MaGysHjAhWOpFkKHWhACioQ6AEwA3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Kivutkalns%2C%20latvia&f=false

The link below gives a PDF of the study at the site. They say… “The Bronze Age site of Kivutkalns with its massive amount of … human remains is considered the largest bronze-working center in Latvia…”

I hate to think this person would have been an enslaved bronze worker, or a power overlord. Either one is just too human. Too much describing the struggles of all ages.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291426476_Stones_Bones_and_Hillfort_Radiocarbon_Dating_of_kivutkalns_Bronze-Working_Center

Besides sharing a near haplogroup, my mother’s father was an R1a. So with pedigree collapse I have many fun chances to see the lives of ordinary humans from the past whose lives would have been similar to the lives of all our ancestors – each for their own continents.

Bronze Age Europe – great stories

https://ancientdnahub.com/story_10171.html

 

Countless archaeological sites with DNA

https://ancientdnahub.com/MapIndex.html

 

Brochures and Map from Latvia Tourism

https://www.latvia.travel/en/page/brochures-maps

Here is a great blog with lots and lots of stories about our ancient peoples. As more is learned there will be more and more from far-reaching places on our earth. Let’s all keep reading and learning about ourselves through our haplogroups.

https://indo-european.eu/tag/latvia/

 

Google Maps and Latvia Tourism pictures and maps