How Can You Determine Your Ancient Origins?

In February 2021, the oldest DNA in the world was retrieved from the remains of a mammoth tooth that was over a million years old - considerably older than Viking DNA and even predating the existence of humans.

Yet, whereas we may not have been able to sequence the DNA in the mammoth tooth in previous years, traditional digging-in-the-dirt archaeology has evolved recently due to the advent of modern science techniques such as archaeogenetics.

This fascinating field melds contemporary genetics with archaeological studies - two completely disparate disciplines - with the aim of helping us to create a captivating picture of our past and where we come from.

Archaeogenetics makes it possible for anyone, from any culture, to determine their unique origins and further understand how we don’t come from one unique background. We are a melting pot of cultures, identities, and roots - making us even more individual than we may have believed previously.

But what exactly does archaeogenetics involve, and how can My True Ancestry help you use it to your advantage?

How does archaeogenetics work?

Archaeogenetics can be defined as the study of the past through the modern techniques of molecular genetics. It essentially connects the two fields of genetics and archaeology. In fact, archaeologist Colin Renfrew originally coined the term in the 1990s to encompass the Greek word for ancient - archaois - and genetics. Hence, archaeogenetics - ancient genetics. 

When most of us consider our genetic make-up, we generally only think about our nuclear DNA - that is, the mixture of DNA that we inherited from our parents. However, mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down through the female line, is susceptible to very little change or mutations. This DNA is astounding stable and remains unchanged from one generation to the next. Hence, this level of consistency means that this form of DNA allows us a concrete insight into our ancient origins.

Whereas we may not be able to trace our heritage back to one specific person, archaeogenetics instead allows us to determine the group of people we are descendants from - right back to the point in history when our species began to separate into distinct groups and cultures. 

All the information that we can glean from archaeogenetics has been taken from specimens of blood or tissue from current and past populations. The analysis of the ancient genomes are so exact that it even allows us further insight into bygone individuals sex and appearance.

Take Cheddar Man, for example; a ten-thousand-year-old skeleton that was unearthed in Somerset, England. Through archaeogenetics, scientists were able to determine that Cheddar Man had the unusual combination of dark hair and blue eyes. Yet, as interesting as these insights into appearance are, archaeogenetics allows us an even more valuable understanding of our relatedness to ancient populations. 

In contrast to how samples taken from modern civilisations allows us to understand how current populations connect, potentially even more interestingly, archaeogenetics allows us to study how our modern DNA can be linked to the samples of ancient DNA. Thus, the field enables us to compare and analyse information on the DNA from different ethnic groups from around the world and corroborate accounts from historical sources. In fact, this DNA data has been reconciled with the findings of archaeologists, linguists, and paleoanthropologists to shed further light on the past and our ancestry. 

How can My True Ancestry Help?

At My True Ancestry, our passion is to help you unveil your ancient origins through the use of advanced archaeogenetic technology. As we discussed in our previous article, “Make the Most of Your DNA Test,” it is possible to check your DNA against ancient DNA samples to uncover whether you have a genetic link with an ancient civilisation. 

MTA takes advantage of the most cutting edge techniques available to geneticists - including accessing the most prime examples of archaeological remains and latest software techniques - to process the ancient DNA, produce “snapshots” to which modern DNA samples can be compared, and perform raw DNA comparisons at the SNP level of ancient to modern DNA. 

Also, our DNA database is constantly expanding and being further enriched with new DNA samples.  This continuous expansion means that there is no limit to what we can figure out from your DNA aside from the speed to which archaeologists and researchers can increase their raw data set. This data set typically comes from studies that are funded for specific medical reasons, and are thus limited by the quality of viable DNA from dig sites.

The quality of this DNA is dependent on environmental factors such as weather, as well as a specific societies burial practices - such as avoiding cremation for example. Finally, MTA adds additional historical context to our DNA and provides details that cannot be found elsewhere, such as the latest data science techniques, including 3-D PCA and Spider charts.

MTA can match your raw DNA against hundreds of ancient DNA samples through our advanced archaeogenetic technologies. All that you need to do to start your personal journey into your history and where you came from is to upload your raw DNA data. In less than ten minutes, you’ll get your results and the answers you need. 

The following is a testimonial from one of our users:
“It draws out more ancestry for you to explore, and patterns that you see in other DNA tests get more focus. That way you can see that these hidden, background, trace ancestries show up again but explored in greater detail.”

Finding out more about the past and the cultures that you are descendent from may not change your identity or sense of self, but it can enrich your life, improve your knowledge, and inspire you to learn more about other civilisations. When science has evolved to the extent that we can find out so much about where we came from with such ease, there’s no reason for you not to start your journey with My True Ancestry today.