So apparently my DNA matches that found on decapacitated roman gladiators in York ! !

[Jansobieski]

I uploaded my raw DNA from Ancestry to Gedmatch. There is an opportunity to see if your DNA matches any found on ancient archeological human remains. Reading through the results mine has similarities to that found on a site in York called Driffield terrace. 200 skeletons were discovered who all had evidence of serious injuries, possibly sustained during gladiatorial combat. Most were foreign born or had spent time abroad. I might have taken this with a pinch of salt but for the fact that my family are actually from York (grandparents backwards for many generations) and my ethnicity estimate shows 1% iberian peninsula (presumably a slave taken from there ?). I also have a hefty percentage of scandinavian 'ethnicity' (Ancestry's words not mine !) of around 18% which probably originates from viking times. I know these kind of tests get a lot of stick but when things do make sense it's really interesting !

You should loan yourself to the yorvick Centre

More seriously, jolly awesome!

Fascinating! I did 23 and me and found out I have quite a lot of Neanderthal dna. Finding out haplogroups are also fascinating!

Wow, that's amazing OP. It really is incredible that they can take DNA from such ancient remains, and then be able to come up with a link to someone in the present day.

This is what I’m getting for Christmas, I’m so excited. Hoping something equally interesting, my current family research goes back 4-5 generations in the same postcode.

How exciting!

How interesting! I didn't know you could do this- I might upload my own.

Am a york gal too btw - I know exactly where Driffield terrace is!

Hello. I just read this then zipped over to check my ancient dna at gedmatch and I also have similar matches it sounds like.

Me too :)
They do say that if you go far enough back we're all related to each other.

I love this! My family tree was done to as far back as Edward III. I really want to do a DNA test myself!

So these gladiators were victims of decapitation?

And they've got your DNA on them?

And where were you on the night of Saturday July 5th 307ad?

😂 brilliant

Yep from Adam and Eve

😂😂😂😂

@Jansobieski are you aware that the Ancestry DNA test only goes back about 150 - 200 years?

Well done on surviving the Harrying of the North.

Or a bunch of headless Roman soldiers

Yes, and they have just done modern genome testing on the ancient remains and found similarities between those and living humans. Those living humans share similarities with the OP.

Nothing odd about that when you consider that we share around 35% of our DNA with daffodils.

Nothing odd about that when you consider that we share around 35% of our DNA with daffodils

Do we really?

So these gladiators were victims of decapitation?

And they've got your DNA on them?

And where were you on the night of Saturday July 5th 307ad?

Actually, it was a Wednesday. 😅😂

Me too! I think it’s so cool. I love genealogy and history.

OK, so I know this is something of a zombie thread, the post before the last one was almost a year ago.

However, I don't remember seeing this at the time, and since I already have a Gedmatch account (admittedly, not used in about a year or so) I thought I'd have a look.

These are very small segments of DNA indeed. There are various choices you can look at from 10 cM down to 0.5 cM.

In comparison, Ancestry use a minimum figure of 8 cM of matching DNA to show you as a DNA match to another person.

And with shared matches, Ancestry only shows a person as a shared match if you share more than 20 cM of DNA with that third person.

Having said all that, it did show matches for my dad at the 5 cM level. He matched on two segments, each at 5 cM, with an 8,000 year old DNA from Luxembourg and then also from one segment on a 13,700 year old DNA from Switzerland.

At a lower level, 3 and 4 cM, he also had matches with multiple DNA samples from Germany, Hungary and Russia and also one match from Anglo-Saxon Cambridgeshire. The only match with one of the Romans in York comes at the 2 cM level.

In contrast, my mum has a match at the 5 cM level with an Irish DNA from 2,000 years ago. At the lower level of 3 or 4 cM she also has multiple matches from Ireland, Germany, Hungary and Russia but also Georgia and Spain - as well as Luxembourg and Switzerland.

Even at the 2 cM level my mum doesn't have any links to the Romans in York, but does have a match with early Anglo-Saxon DNA (400-525 CE) from Cambridgeshire.

Then, even at 1 cM there is very little (so little that it's likely just random) that links my mum to those Romans so I'm pretty sure she's got no connection.

With my own DNA, I share DNA at the 5 cM level with the Swiss match from my father and also the Irish match from my mother.

Although, just to show you that at this very low level it can be random. When I look at my DNA matches it shows that I share 3 cM with an 8,300 year old DNA match from Anatolia, Turkey.

However, neither of my parents show this same "match". It's not a real match it just happened that I inherited a very small segment from my parents that randomly happened to match an entirely unrelated DNA.

I have an interest in the DNA from
The Yorkshire region. My mother's side of the family are from just north of Hull and my DNA on Ancestry is coming up as 16% Scottish (which seems to include the North-East) and 11% Swedish/Denmark. Would I be right in thinking that we have some descent from the Vikings given this? Some family names in the family eg Brumby are regional habitational names from the Old Norse. I know that Yorkshire was obviously in the Danelaw region.

Everybody with European ancestry is descended from the 'vikings' regardless of your DNA results.