The latest talk by Dr Tyrone Bowes at Scottish Origenes can be viewed on YouTube by clicking here.

The holy grail of Academic Ancient DNA research is to accurately date the rate at which Y-DNA mutations appear. However, there is a complete disconnect between Academic and commercial ancestral DNA testing (I have yet to meet an Academic involved in Ancient DNA testing who has taken a commercial DNA test). This means that Academics have essentially ignored a wealth of information, most notably the commercially available block display of Y-DNA SNP results, which as more and more people participate adds fine detail to the human paternal ancestral tree. 

When Commercial ancestral DNA testing first began, they looked at STRs on the Y chromosome which are basically short repetitive sequences of DNA that can be amplified or deleted with each generation. Basically, the more of these STRs two males share, the more recent their shared paternal ancestor once lived. Although not ideal, the STRs could potentially provide a rough estimate to a shared paternal ancestor, all one required was a reference set of individuals for whom we know the date of their surname’s appearance. That was first provided by descendants of the Scottish MacGregor Clan who were forced to change their surnames in 1603AD when their MacGregor ancestors were officially outlawed, and the surname banned. Those ‘closet-MacGregors’ popped up upon commercial ancestral Y-DNA testing as close matches to the current clan chief of Clan MacGregor.

Later, multiple related males named McGinnis with Y-DNA revealed origins in Derry in Northern Ireland undertook extensive Y-DNA STR and SNP testing. The MacGregor and McGinnis data facilitated the estimation of the number of SNP mutations that had appeared within a specific timepoint. The research and timeframe are laid out in the latest presentation given by Dr Tyrone Bowes to members of The Clan Young Society in Edinburgh in September 2023. You can view the presentation by CLICKING HERE. The Young Y-DNA Case Studies on which the research is based can be studied by clicking here (Ancient Paternal Reconstruction and timeline) and clicking here (pinpointing a Scottish Paternal Origin).

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