Goddag På Dig!

So to continue on with my DNA test.
I had what is called the "Family Finder" or Autosomal test.
Both males and females can take this one.
It tests your SNPs or Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms.
Try saying that 10 times really fast!

This Family Finder kit tests along the 22 autosomal pairs of  your chromosomes.
It is helpful for finding recent relatives and your geographic origins.

With this genetic information they put your results next to the results for everybody else who has been tested, and see where and how much of your DNA matches to the same positions on your chain to everyone else's DNA combinations in their database.

This test can be useful in finding your genetic cousins going back 5-6 generations.....meaning you could match other's DNA going back to a shared common ancestor of your 4x Great Grandparents generation.

The drawback to this test though is that while it tells you who shares enough DNA combinations with you to be related to you, it doesn't tell you if that match is from your paternal or maternal side.
So basically it gives you a clue but brings along even more questions.

Or as I like to put it, someone hands you a jigsaw puzzle piece from the center of a puzzle and then dumps the other 9,999 pieces on the table and walks away. 8-)

My Match Results turned up 6 pages of "Distant Cousins"(who could be anywhere from 2nd to 5th cousins) and 35 pages of "Speculative Cousins"(who could be anywhere from 4th to Remote cousins), and 40 pages of possible matches over the entire database.

I wasn't counting on any close matches since my mother was an only child and my father had/has 1 sister and none of that generation was ever tested nor has my 1 remaining sibling been tested.
The closest match possible would be a second cousin if any of my grandparents siblings' grandchildren have/had been tested.
More on this later......

I have already shared my Population Finder conclusion.  Most, if not all, of my genetic material tested came back as originating in Western Europe.

Besides my nice totally blue pie chart, I also got a map graphic of the world, indicating where my ancestors originated from.
Wanna see it?

Look closely and try to find the dark blue specs of color.  The variation is so small you might need a microscope.  Not only am a very very white, I may be inbred.....lol

My DNA indicates that my ancestors mostly(if not all), came from Western Europe.
There are 7 Continental Groups you can be placed into.......Africa, Americans, Europe, East Asia, Middle Eastern, Oceania and South Asia.
Within these groups you can belong to a subgroup genetic population.

And within these subgroups are smaller subgroups of nationalities.
Here's Europe's group, subgroup and nationality breakdowns.....

Europe
	Northeast European
		Finnish
		Russian
	Southeast European
		Romanian
	Southern European
		Italian
		Sardinian
		Tuscan
	Western European
		Basque
		French
		Orcadian (Orkney Islands)
		Spanish

Using this organizational chart, since my findings came back as Europe/Western European, I could have shown Basque, French, Orcadian, Spanish or any combination of these in my results.
Like 43% French and 10% Basque and 47% Basque, etc.

Mine came back with a 100% makeup of Orcadian population.  This refers to the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland(which are part of modern day Scotland).

If you look at a map and do a little digging into the history of who and how different populations of peoples moved around in Europe the last 4,000 years, you'll see that Orkney is a group of 70 islands where the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea meet.
Neighboring countries/populations are Scotland(of course), the other British Isles of England, Wales, Ireland and the Isle of Mann, the Faroe Islands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden to the northwest, the seabound shores of France, Belgium and the Netherlands(plus part of northern Germany), plus Iceland out there northwest of the Faroes.

This Orcadian designations doesn't mean my ancestors were necessarily from the Orkney Islands but it means that the dna tested indicates that my ancestors were among the groups/tribes that mixed it up together in this area of the world......Scots, Picts, Vikings and Normans mostly.  This area of the world changed hands many times and countries were ruled by these groups.
People who test to be among the Orcadian population can also be found to have French ancestry I have read.  And there is definite direct French/Norman ancestry in my paper trail.

Orkney's first residents were Mesolithic hunters.  Then the savage warriors known as the Picts ruled over the area(throw in some Roman invasions)and then the even more savage Norse, along with the Danes, the Celts and the Norman invaders from the south.
You can go read a history book for more details but this gives you an idea of the groups swirling around this area of the world, swapping DNA long, long ago.

This idea that I could have Scandinavian/Norse ancestors if you go back far enough took me by surprise at first.  Not that you could prove via paper trail if I had a Scandinavian ancestor since there wouldn't have been any paper trail to follow that far back......

So while I was shaking my head at the thought of an ancestor named Ingrid or Bjorn, I saw this person listed as a possible 5th cousin-distant relative on my matches....
Rune NXXXXD
When you test your DNA you have the option of listing any known surnames in your family tree, so that you can see if you have any surnames in common with people you genetically match up with.  It gives you a place to start looking for the specific person who you are linked through.
Here is a partial list of Rune's family surnames.......       

• ¢demyr,
• ¢vregard,
• Andersbakken,
• Andersdatter Bredevangen,
• Andersdatter Fauchalskogen,
• Andersdatter Gjefseneie,
• Andersdatter Nigard Røsêasen,
• Anstensen N²rstelia,
• Bentsen Nigarden R²sêasen,
• Bentsen R²sêasen,
• Berdonsen Lille-Goplum,
• Bönick,
• Christiansen Skartseterbakken,
• Eiriksson Valbj²r,
• Endresdatter Fr²ysland,
• Engebretsdatter Odde,
• Engeskog,
• Eriksen Fr²ysland,
• Evensdatter Skartseterbakken,
• Fodstadkvennumen,
• Fr²ysland,
• Fremstad,
• Gr²te,
• Gr²thaug,
• Grimsrud,
• Gudbrandsdatter Krok,
• Gudbrandsen Gjefseneie,
• Gudmundsdatter ¢verbyeie,
• Gudmundsdatter Skinnerlia,
• Gulbrandsdatter,
• Guttormsdatter Gaarden,
• Haagensdatter Odde,

I can't even begin to spell these let alone find them in my family tree! lolz
And Rune lives in Sweden by the way.

The guide to this Autosomal testing does say it can pick up genetic dna matches going back further than 5-6 generations(or make mistakes evidently).
If there is a link here with old Rune, I know it has to be much deeper than 4x Great Grands ago.....



But on the other hand, when I gave that report on Wagner operas in a college music class and wore that Brunhilde Viking horned helmet for the presentation it felt oddly familiar and right to me.

                                   (photo from mudcat.org)

And dare I show you all this painting I did back in college?

It's entitled "Self-Portrait"........excuse the glare of the flash and  that it makes the painting look like I don't have a nose.....

 

Of course this Autosomal DNA test is also in it's BETA testing phase plus it only extracts/looks at about 40% of your chromosomal material so if they compared other places on your chains/strands you might come out with a slightly different continental grouping or subgrouping AND the same test might match you with people in their database that you weren't matched with for the markers/material they did test.
Which means, I may or may not actually have a genetic match with any one of these people they matched me with AND I may have ancestry in my DNA from other parts of the world, but it just wasn't found/tested for or it's too small of a dilution to be conclusive.
Yep.....that just makes this whole thing much clearer.....clear as mud...... ;-)

Who knows?
I might just have an "inner Viking".....



Sluggy