Ovum Act 2

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Meet a great-grandmother from 250 generations ago. She carries the mtDNA haplogroup H6, or perhaps H6a, in trillions of her cells. She is a descendant of the 'Basal Helena' we met in the Levant 25,000 BCE. But this grandmother lives on the banks of the Volga, in what is now southern Russia, and the date is 4,500 BCE.

5,000–4,500 BCE), the Khvalynsk culture

Source ©  OpenStreetMaps Modified by myself.

She is no longer a nomad of the caves. Here she belongs to a world of copper, cattle, and sheep—the first great social hierarchies of the steppe. The ancient spark from the Levant has adapted to the cold winds of the north.

Our 250-times great-grandmother is not a wife of the Fertile Crescent Neolithic, nor have her people abandoned their Eastern Hunter-Gatherer roots. Instead, they have adapted to a way of life unique to the steppe. The herds they once hunted, they now master. They take from the Fertile Crescent what they need—sheep and cattle—but they do not toil the soil. They are women of the great Eurasian Steppe. They are becoming the great pastoralists; the herders of the endless grasslands

This ancestor belongs to an archaeological layer which Russian researchers have named the Khvalynsk culture. It is a period defined by a pivotal shift: the move away from hunting, fishing, and foraging towards the pastoral herding of cattle, sheep, and goats.

These herds introduced the concepts of private property and surplus value to their economy—a newfound wealth that seems to have stratified their society. While some of their graves were laden with status objects, such as polished stone maces and copper bracelets, rings and pendants, others remained starkly bare.

The Great Eurasian Steppe serves as the continent's primary thoroughfare. Across these vast grasslands, new cultures, languages, and peoples—alongside their livestock and technologies—surged east and west, linking Europe, the Caucasus, and Central and East Asia. The people of the Khvalynsk culture were a product of this flux, carrying the genetic heritage of several previously isolated populations. These included hunter-gatherer groups local to the East Europe and the Eurasian Steppe, from the Caucasus, and from as far away as Siberia. Our 250th great-grandmother’s matrilineal lineage once resided on the Iranian Plateau before embarking on an arduous trek far to the north. Her arrival on the Volga helped forge a new way of life, blending southern traditions with the rugged spirit of the northern plains.

mt DNA Haplogroup H6a1 Resource Page

Above image by Marta D. Costa, Joana B. Pereira, Maria Pala, Verónica Fernandes, Anna Olivieri, Alessandro Achilli, Ugo A. Perego, Sergei Rychkov, Oksana Naumova, Jiři Hatina, Scott R. Woodward, Ken Khong Eng, Vincent Macaulay, Martin Carr, Pedro Soares, Luísa Pereira & Martin B. Richards [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

I'm gathering here, data on H6a1a, in preparation for my expected FT-DNA mtFull Sequence test results later this month.  23andMe has previously tested me to H6a1.  The James Lick and Wegene analysis services both predict me to be H6a1a8. What will FT-DNA say?

A collection of ancient references for mitochondrial DNA haplogroup H6 so far (2017-01-02) harvested from Ancestral Journeys

Palaeolithic Western Eurasian aDNA

No mtDNA H6 so far found.  Mainly U

Mesolithic Western Eurasian aDNA

No mtDNA H6 so far found.  Mainly U.  Other H found in Russia, Georgia, and Sweden.

Near Eastern Neolithic aDNA

No mtDNA H6 so far found.  Some H.

European Neolithic aDNA

No mtDNA H6 so far found.  Many other H.

Copper and Bronze Age aDNA

  • H6.  Israel Wadi el Makkukh. 4240-4065 BC
  • H6a1b.  Yamnaya.  Russia Kutuluk River, Samara. 3300-2700 BC
  • H6a2.  Potavka.  Russia Kutuluk River, Samara.2867-2484 BC
  • H6a1a.  Corded Ware.  Germany.  Esperstedt.  2465-2395 BC
  • H6a1b.  Okunevo.  Russia.  Verkhni Askiz.  2201-2036 BC
  • H6a1b3.  Unetice.  Germany.  Leau.  2200-1550 BC
  • H6a1a.  Srubnaya.  Russia.  Spiridonovka, Samara River.  1913-1629 BC

Iron Age aDNA

  • H6a1a8. On yFULL id: 16413 and 16495. Haddingtonshire East Lothian, Scotland dated 1914 ybp and 2047 ybp.

Ancient Roman aDNA

  • H6a1a.  Romano-British.  England.  York.  100-400 AD
  • H6a1b2. Romano-British.  England.  York. 100-400 AD.

Medieval and later European and Western Asian aDNA

  • H6a1b1.  Lombard.  Italy.  600-800 AD
  • H6.  Viking.  Oppland, Norway.
  • H6a1a.  Magyar.  Karos-Eperjesszög, Hungary. 800-850 AD
  • H6a1b. Magyar.  Karos-Eperjesszög, Hungary. 900-950 AD
  • H6a1a.  Medieval English.  East Smithfield, London, England.  1347–1351 AD.

Discussion

Above image by User:Dbachmann [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Although this is based on limited samples (albeit rapidly growing samples over the past year), there is of mt haplogroup H spread across Western Eurasia, certainly by the Mesolithic period.  Today, it is the most common haplogroup in Europe, found in 41% of Europeans.

H6 however, is less certain.  It has been suggested that it is more frequent in Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus.  The above ancient DNA references, collected so far, might suggest that H6a1 arrived into Europe with the Yamnaya expansion off of the Eurasian Steppes, carried by Steppe pastoralists migrating westwards, during the Copper Age / Early Bronze Age.  H6a1a itself, first appears in the Corded Ware Culture, which has recently been recognised as a fusion culture, that developed in Eastern / Central Europe, as a result of the arrival of the Steppe pastoralists.

The samples above suggest that H6a1a was present in Britain previous to the Anglo-Saxon period, and was also present in Medieval London.

H6a1a Today

Harvested from the FT-DNA MT-DNA H6 Haplogroup Project (2017-01-02).  These samples are most likely affected by a bias in sampling, to people of European heritage.

H6a1a - T11253C.  Britain, Ireland, Netherlands, Central Europe, Italy, Iberia, Balkans.  A cluster in SW Britain probably caused by sampling bias.

  • H6a1a* - G16526A.  Czech Rep.  Poland.
  • H6a1a* - T3548C.  Sweden, and Sicily.
  • H6a1a2a - C41T, G16482A.  Lithuania
  • H6a1a2a* - A297G, A14970G.  England
  • H6a1a3 - T5785C.  England (Norfolk), Germany, Poland, and Ukraine.
  • H6a1a3* - T7094C.  Finland.
  • H6a1a3a - A827G.  Scotland
  • H6a1a4 - T10237C.  Norway, Poland, England, and Ukraine.
  • H6a1a5 - C10936T.  Very Eastern Europe - Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldovia, and Romania.
  • H6a1a5* - T5302C.  Russia.
  • H6a1a6 - A288G.  Poland.
  • H6a1a8a - T6185C, G16145A.  Wales.

Haplogroup.org.

The Haplogroup.org website proposes the following dates:

H6a1

Age: 8,669.7 ± 1,905.2; CI=95% (Behar et al., 2012b)

Origin: Undetermined
Mutations: A4727G

H6a1a

Age: 7,139.5 ± 1,993.2; CI=95% (Behar et al., 2012b)
Origin: Undetermined
Mutations: T11253C

H6a1a8

Age: 2,023.7 ± 1,898.9; CI=95% (Behar et al., 2012b)
Origin: Undetermined
Mutations: T16298C

Facebook Group



2017-01-04 UPDATE


I received my FT-DNA mtDNA Full Sequence test results.

Confirmed H6a1a8.


Matches mainly North America and Australasia without many Old World provenances.  However, I'm getting the distinct impression that it's been in the British Isles for some time.  I'm starting to research, but I'm seeing England, Ireland, Wales, maybe Finland.

Using the above Behar et al dating of H6a1a8, I age this haplotype to between 1970 BC and 1825 AD.  It's not old, although most likely late prehistoric.  It must have formed after Corded Ware, Unetice, etc.  Might date towards the end of the Bell Beaker Culture at a stretch, but most likely later - Iron Age perhaps?

My main interest is origins, with genealogy only as a bonus. I'm interested in knowing where H6a1a8 originates! H6a1 has been found in Yamna context. H6a1 and H6a1a have been found in Corded Ware context. No earlier H6a1 found in European atDNA. So it appears likely, that H6a1/a was an mt DNA type that followed the many Y-DNA types of the Copper Age Steppe migration across Europe - despite the usual dominance of Steppe Y haplogroups in Western Europe that indicate a male sex bias. 

Behar et al., 2012b, dates H6a1 to 8,669.7 ± 1,905.2; CI=95%, H6a1a to 7,139.5 ± 1,993.2; CI=95%, and H6a1a8 to 2,023.7 ± 1,898.9; CI=95% So I see H6a1a8 as pretty young, most likely Bronze Age or Iron Age. I'm curious as to when it distributed through Europe, and when it likely entered the British Isles. My mt-line has been in Norfolk, England for at least 290 years, when my earliest mt ancestor, Susannah Briting was born. She married my ancestor at Bunwell, Norfolk in 1747. I'd say that the probability is that it had been here in East Anglia long before that paper trail. So when did it likely move here?

23andMe had previously tested me to H6a1. Both the James Lick mthap analyser, and WeGene, looking at the 23andMe raw data, took that to H6a1a8. They were correct:

The FT-DNA mtFull Sequence confirmed my mt haplogroup to be H6a1a8.

My HRV1 mutations are: A16129G, T16187C, C16189T, T16223C, G16230A, T16278C, T16298C, C16311T, T16362C, A16482G, C16519T
My HRV2 mutations are: G73A, C146T, C152T, C195T, T239C, A247G, 522.1A, 522.2C, 309.1C, 309.2C, 315.1C
Extra mutations are: 309.1C309.2C315.1C522.1A522.2CC16519T

HRV1 matches are:

England 3
Hungary 1
Ireland 4
UK 1
USA 1

HRV1 + 2 matches are:

England 2
Hungary 1
Ireland 3

I have a "HRV1, HRV2, and Coding Region" exact match: Ireland 2

On Matches I get four GD0, but all appear USA/Aus, etc. I have emailed them. Three replied. No paper or geographical correlations. They can't follow their mt lines previous to emigration. They could come from anywhere in Europe, although English surnames keep dominating on their maternal sides.

On Matches map, a little more hope:



I've joined the H6 project, but being a development of the pretty massive mt hg H Project, it is drowned in submissions, with a long waiting queue of "ungrouped". The only other H6a1a8 on the results is USA. There is a H6a1a8a ungrouped as private located as "Finland", and another H6a1a8a located to Wales.

Other Links


H6a1a/H6a1b linked to reduced risk of Alzheimer's Disease