Of this morning, the project has 384 families participating. The results page is current and most kits have been grouped by haplogroup designation. As many know, Family Tree recently expanded and revamped their haplogroup nomenclature and added many new designations. On the results page the kits are listed under both the shorthand and full haplogroup name. For those members that have tested various SNPs this has the potential for providing a lot of new data for your family history.
The geneticists are identifying more haplogroups downstream from the major groups. This will allow us to classify kits with more precision. The end result is your kit will be in a haplogroup from a more recent genetic event. In layman's terms, it will allow you to locate your family's geographic point of origin and identify your kinship group in historical times. For Scottish origin families this is particularly useful information. (that clan and blood thing)
Many of the kits in the major haplogroups such as R-M269 or R-L21 would benefit from testing for downstream SNPs.
Some analysis of the Scots-Irish:
The majority of the participants are as expected of Atlantic Zone Celtic origin. This will be a combination of Cumbric and Gaelic Celts native to Scotland. The participants are running about 65% of Lowland Scottish origin and 35% Highland Scottish origin,. There is a stereotype of all Scots-Irish being from 'the Lowlands' but many were from Argyll and Lennox in the southwest Highlands. This is showing up in the DNA results.
One interesting aspect, we have more I haplotypes than expected. Some of these I subgroups are Scottish Norse/Norman in origin and others are indigenous to ancient Scotland. It is a very complex group and I have not had time to read the latest research on the I subgroup origins. We are dealing with a lot of very new material.
I highly recommend the books 'Britain Begins' and 'Celtic from the West 2' by Dr Barry Cunliffe for those who would like to read the latest research and thinking about the people who became the 'Scots-Irish.'
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