MtDNA Markers in the British Isles

[Frans_Jozef]

MtDNA Markers for Celtic and Germanic Language Areas in the British Isles

Peter Forster, Valentino Romano, Francesco Calì, Arne Röhl & Matthew Hurles

The precise geographical origins of English and Insular Celtic languages on the European continent are obscure, especially so for Celtic languages. In
North America, prehistoric language spread can now be traced using state-of-the art genetic markers, for example Na Dene speakers and Eskimo speakers each harbour high frequencies (up to 50 per cent) of distinctive mtDNA types not found elsewhere (Torroni et al. 1993; Saillard et al. 2000).
However, the European situation contrasts with that of America: modern languages and human DNA do not appear to correspond particularly closely. Geographic distance tends to be better at predicting how similar the DNA of any two European populations is (Rosser et al. 2000; Zerjal et al. 2001).

In this paper our interest is to investigate the genetic prehistory of Celtic and Germanic speakers in the British Isles. We aim to show that genetic
markers tracing the prehistoric origins of Celtic and English speakers living today indeed exist and will be useful to linguists, archaeologists and historians to provide indirect evidence for the origins of the languages themselves.

http://www.geneticancestor.com/Forst...estschrift.pdf

[Elizabeth]

I have a computer glitch or something. I can't read pdfs.

I believe my mtDNA H1c12 originated in the British Isles.
My earliest known female ancestor was from Virginia in the late 1700s.
I was tested at Family Tree DNA.

[KYAnglo]

I have a computer glitch or something. I can't read pdfs.

I believe my mtDNA H1c12 originated in the British Isles.
My earliest known female ancestor was from Virginia in the late 1700s.
I was tested at Family Tree DNA.

I just got my results back. It has me as H3af, common to northwest Europe from what I can gather. H3 is the second most common subclade of the haplogroup in Europe evidently.

[KYAnglo]

I just got my results back. It has me as H3af, common to northwest Europe from what I can gather. H3 is the second most common subclade of the haplogroup in Europe evidently.

According to FTDNA, my mtDNA H3af subclade is more particularly common in Scandinavia and Iberia, supposedly. The "H" haplogroup is apparently the most common maternal lineage in Europe overall at 40+ %.