Saturday, May 28, 2022

MyTrueAncestry:Walkthrough and Review: Part 6e: Results: DNA Spotlight

DNA Spotlight
 
This section has more than forty buttons, most of which are gray. If I select my DNA kit before selecting DNA Spotlights, then click on any of the gray buttons, an illustration appears with a list of ancient people whose DNA has allegedly been compared to mine, with messages which indicate that I am not a match. The top three buttons are light blue, which indicates that they are "new." Coincidentally, I am not a match to any of the remains at any of these sites. However, thirteen of the buttons are pink, indicating that I have DNA matches among the ancient remains found at these sites:
  1. Roman Gladiators
  2. Blarney Castle
  3. Philip Calvert
  4. Ancient Britain
  5. Hanseatic League
  6. Mervingian Nobles
  7. King Louis XVI Mystery
  8. Flóki's Expedition
  9. Bishop Peder Winstrop
  10. Hillforts of Britain
  11. Pocklington Chariot
  12. Dorset Viking Executions
  13. Viking Age England

For examples, the ancient remains of seven Roman gladiators have been recovered at York, on the British Isles. They allegedly lived circa 250 A.D., and I am a DNA match to six of the seven. The one I am not a match to, is, unlike the others, who were Celtic and/or Nordic, was Egyptian.

 
Next, I'll discuss Timelines.
 
_________________________________
*To get to Results, login to MyTrueAncestry. See a page with their logo (see above) near the upper, left corner, and a row of six tabs across the top:
  1. Results
  2. Civilizations
  3. Populations
  4. Royalty
  5. DNA Testing
  6. FAQ

To get to "Analysis Summary"...

  1. Analysis Summary
  2. Maps
  3. Regional Archaeogenetics
  4. Haplogroup Analytics
  5. DNA Spotlight
  6. Timelines
  7. PCA Plots
  8. Genetic Social Groups
  9. Additional Features 

Blog post by William Mortensen Vaughan

MyTrueAncestry:Walkthrough and Review: Part 6d: Results: Haplogroup Analytics

Haplogroup Analytics
 
This section has eight tabs across the top, with regard to my D.N.A. matches:
  1. Royal Ties Globe
  2. Haplogroup Globe
  3. Y-DNA Breakdown
  4. Royalty Breakdown Y-DNA
  5. Royalty Breakdown mtDNA
  6. mtDNA Breakdown
  7. Haplogroup Explorer
  8. Y-DNA Matches
        1.  Royal Ties Globe

The Royal Ties Globe functions like the Ancestral Globe under Maps/Globes. There are two controls near the upper left corner. Clicking on the top one cycles through "Show ALL Matches," "Filter Sample Matches," and "Filter Deep Dive." Clicking on the control below that cycles through, in my case, a long list of royal families and Scottish clans, including English and Danish Royalty, and Clans Abernathy and MacDonald. Manipulating these options causes archaeological sites and "Ancestral Seats" to be plotted. Mousing over these points causes windows to pop up, displaying information about the site. 

For example, if I filter Deep Dive, Clan Abernathy, a pink dot with a crown over it appears in northern Britain, and a yellow dot with a thumbnail of a group of people appears in southern Britain. If I mouse over the yellow dot, a window pops up which indicates that the match is from Bronze Age Bedfordshire England, Clan Abernathy, as well as English and Scottish Royalty. The Y-DNA associated with this match is R1b1a1b1a1a2c1a (identical to mine); the mtDNA, unknown. The "Age" is 1104 B.C. The "Longest Shared DNA" is "115 SNPs." The "Archaeological ID" is "I7576."

Mousing over the pink dot causes another window to pop up, which indicates that the Abernethy Round Tower is the "Ancestral Seat" of the Clan Abernathy. It indicates the associated DNA, R1b1a1b1a1a2c1a, and displays a thumbnail picture of the Abernathy Coat-of-Arms.

         2.  Haplogroup Globe
 
The Haplogroup Globe functions like the Ancestral Globe under Maps/Globes. 
 
It has three controls in the upper left corner:
  1. Matches
  2. Y-DNA
  3. mtDNA
Clicking on the top button cycles through "Show All Matches," "Filter Sample Matches," and "Filter Deep Dive."
 
Clicking on the Y-DNA button, in association with my D.N.A., cycles through "All," "G," "I," "J," and "R."

Clicking on the mtDNA button, in association with my D.N.A., cycles through "All," "H," "I," "J," "K," "N," "R," "T," "U," "V," "W," and "X."
 
The first and most obvious difference, to me, between this globe and the others on MyTrueAncestry, is the appearance of lines connecting the points plotted on the map. According to text above this globe, "Lines connect samples that share the same Y-DNA haplogroup (direct male ancestor)."

        3.  Y-DNA Breakdown

This section has a rectangular section, divided into rectangular sections, above a circle divided into sections
. The size of the rectangles seems to correspond to the percentage of Y-DNA matches
between my D.N.A. and the D.N.A. extracted from ancient, human remains. I find this method of illustration cumbersome and hard to read. The R1b rectangle looks good, because it's large, since it represents about 75% of my ancient, Y-DNA matches, but the smaller rectangles tend to be illegible.

The circle below the rectangles is much easier to use. Mousing over a section of it causes a list to appear, of the corresponding matches, with information about the matches, and their corresponding coats-of-arms.

Mousing over the coat-of-arms, for example, of the Clan MacGregor, causes a window to pop up indicating that the Y-DNA haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1a2c1a1f1 corresponds to Rob Roy MacGregor (1671-1734) and Baronet MacGregor of MacGregor (1795-present). I assume that means that the Baronets of MacGregor have ruled the Clan MacGregor since 1795, and that the most recent Baronet of MacGregor is still alive. It also means that Rob Roy and I have father-to-son lineages "upstream" to a common, male forebear, but the MacGregor Y-DNA mutated three times since that man passed his Y-DNA on to us.

        4.  Royalty Breakdown Y-DNA
 
This section has a rectangular section, divided into rectangular sections. The size of the rectangles seems to correspond to the percentage of Y-DNA matches between my D.N.A. and the D.N.A. extracted from ancient, human remains. I find this method of illustration cumbersome and hard to read. Most of the smaller rectangles tend to be illegible. Text above this rectangle states that "Your Deep Dive matches (where you share DNA segments) share the following Royal Y-DNA haplogroups."
 
        5.  Royalty Breakdown mtDNA
 
This section has a rectangular section, divided into rectangular sections. The size of the rectangles seems to correspond to the percentage of Y-DNA matches between my D.N.A. and the D.N.A. extracted from ancient, human remains. I find this method of illustration cumbersome and hard to read. Most of the smaller rectangles tend to be illegible. Text above this rectangle states that "Your Deep Dive matches (where you share DNA segments) also share the following Royal mtDNA haplogroups."

        6.  mtDNA Breakdown
 
This section has a rectangular section, divided into rectangular sections, above a circle divided into sections. The size of the rectangles seems to correspond to the percentage of mtDNA matches
between my D.N.A. and the D.N.A. extracted from ancient, human remains. I find this method of illustration cumbersome and hard to read. The H1+H3 rectangle looks good, because it's large, since it represents about 20% of my ancient, mtDNA matches, but the smaller rectangles tend to be illegible.

The circle below the rectangles is much easier to use. Mousing over a section of it causes a list to appear, of the corresponding matches, with information about the matches, and their corresponding coats-of-arms.

Mousing over the coat-of-arms, for example, of the Danish Royalty, causes a window to pop up indicating that the mtDNA haplogroup H corresponds to Harald II (980-1018) and other royal, Danish personages
 
        7.  Haplogroup Explorer

Clicking on the "Haplogroup Explorer" button causes four more buttons to appear:
 
  1. Y-DNA Samples
  2. Y-DNA Deep Dive
  3. mtDNA Samples
  4. mtDNA Deep Dive
 
Clicking on any of these buttons causes colored dots to appear on a plain, white background, connected by lines, which show their relationships to each other, and to the DNA sample previously uploaded and selected.
 
For example, if I click on the "Y-DNA Samples" button, after selecting my own DNA kit, I can trace "[My] Family" to "[Me] along the R lines. "Your Family" is represented by a light blue dot, with lines of different colors connecting it to dots that represent the major, applicable haplogroups; in my case they are G, I, J, and R. Most of the other dots are connected by purple lines to the purple dot representing the R haplogroup. Dots with white borders can be clicked on to toggle other, subordinate lines, on or off. The next major, purple dot represents haplogroup R1b1a1b. This includes a an ancient match identified as "Bischwihr
Bronze Age Alsace France." The next purple hub represents haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1, which includes a match identified as "Iron Age Celt Prague Central Bohemia." The next purple hub represents haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1a, which includes a match identified as "Late Medieval Icelandic Murderer KOV-A1." The next purple hub represents haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1a2, which includes a match identified as "Celtic Briton Pocklington Yorkshire England I13754." The next purple hub represents haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1a2c, which includes a match identified as "Celtic Saxon Hinxton Iron Age HI1." The next purple hub represents haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1a2c1, which includes a match identified as "Celtic Briton Pocklington Yorkshire England I5508." The next purple hub represents haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1a2c1a, which includes a match identified as "You," a.k.a. "me."
 
        8.  Y-DNA Matches

Clicking on this button causes an extensive list of Y-DNA matches to appear. The first twenty items are a Genetic Distance of 2 or less from my own Y-DNA, confirmed by FamilyTreeDNA's Big Y-700 test. They include thumbnails of the corresponding coats-of-arms, the name of their "Ancestral Seats," and names and years of birth and/or death of men whose Y-DNA haplogroup matches mine. Orm de Abernethy (1170) of the Clan Abernathy is the only exact match. MyTrueAncestry indicates that I'm a Genetic Distance of 2 from Belgian, English, and Scottish Royal personages, including Charles I and II, and James I through V.
 
Next, I'll discuss DNA Spotlights.
 
_________________________________
*To get to Results, login to MyTrueAncestry. See a page with their logo (see above) near the upper, left corner, and a row of six tabs across the top:
  1. Results
  2. Civilizations
  3. Populations
  4. Royalty
  5. DNA Testing
  6. FAQ

To get to "Analysis Summary"...

  1. Analysis Summary
  2. Maps
  3. Regional Archaeogenetics
  4. Haplogroup Analytics
  5. DNA Spotlight
  6. Timelines
  7. PCA Plots
  8. Genetic Social Groups
  9. Additional Features 

Blog post by William Mortensen Vaughan

Sunday, May 22, 2022

MyTrueAncestry:Walkthrough and Review: Part 6c: Results: Regional Archaeogenetics

Regional Archaeogenetics
 
This section has seven tabs across the top, with regard to my D.N.A. matches:
  1. Ancient Rome
  2. Fennoscandia
  3. Britain and Ireland
  4. Germania
  5. Scythia/Sarmatia
  6. Iberia
  7. More coming soon!
        1.  Ancient Rome
 
The Ancient Rome section has two, large areas, one above the other. One is a timelapse map of Italy, and the other approximately 300 words relating the history of the region.
 

         2.  Fennoscandia
 
Fennoscandia has a timelapse map of Scandinavia, and an associated history.

        3.  Britain and Ireland

Britain and Ireland
has a timelapse map of the British Isles, and an associated history.

        4.  Germania
 
Germania has a timelapse map of Europe and Scandinavia, and an associated history.
 
        5.  Scythia/Sarmatia
 
Iberia has a timelapse map of the Iberian Peninsula, and an associated history.

        6.  Iberia
 
Scythia/Sarmatia has a timelapse map of the eastern Europe, and an associated history.
 
        7.  More coming soon!

isn't a clickable button. I do believe it's accurate, because I've been a subscriber for a year or so, and they seem to update more often than once a week. 
 
Next, I discuss Haplogroup Analytics.
_________________________________
*To get to Results, login to MyTrueAncestry. See a page with their logo (see above) near the upper, left corner, and a row of six tabs across the top:
  1. Results
  2. Civilizations
  3. Populations
  4. Royalty
  5. DNA Testing
  6. FAQ

To get to "Analysis Summary"...

  1. Analysis Summary
  2. Maps
  3. Regional Archaeogenetics
  4. Haplogroup Analytics
  5. DNA Spotlight
  6. Timelines
  7. PCA Plots
  8. Genetic Social Groups
  9. Additional Features 

Blog post by William Mortensen Vaughan

MyTrueAncestry:Walkthrough and Review: Part 6b: Results: Maps

Maps/Globes
This section used to be called "Maps." Then they introduced virtual globes to it.

Upon entering this section of their website, which corresponds to a certain DNA kit, a virtual, "Ancestral Globe appears, under eleven tabs:
  1. Ancestral Globe
  2. European Timelapse
  3. Asia
  4. Africa
  5. Americas
  6. Premium Europe
  7. Premium Asia
  8. Archaeological Europe
  9. Archaeological Asia
  10. Deep Dive Europe
  11. Deep Dive Asia
        1.  Ancestral Globe
 
The Ancestral Globe has eight controls:
  1. Filter Matches Button at top, left
  2. Time Period Sliders at top, right
  3. Number of Matches Shown Slider across the top
  4. Period Selector, near upper left corner
  5. Vertical Slider
  6. Horizontal Slider
  7. Zoom In Button
  8. Zoom Out Button 
Clicking on the Filter Matches Button cycles through three options:
  1. Show All Matches
  2. Filter Deep Dive
  3. Filter Sample Matches
The Time Period Sliders can be clicked and dragged from either end, to select any period of time between the default start and end times (10,000 B.C. to 2021 A.D.) (Yes, they still use "B.C." and "A.D.")

The Number of Matches Shown Slider can only be clicked and dragged from the right end, to adjust it from 250 down to zero.
 
Clicking on the Period Selector causes it to cycle through seven periods:
  1. all periods
  2. Neolithic
  3. Bronze
  4. Late Bronze
  5. Iron Age
  6. Early Medieval
  7. Medieval
Manipulating any of the above controls causes the corresponding matches to plotted on the globe almost immediately. The other controls can be used to move to and zoom in on any area of interest on the virtual globe. Clicking and dragging the map works to move a point of interest to a different place on the viewer, and scrolling with the mouse wheel zooms in and out. Overall, I find the controls very responsive and intuitive.
 
Out of curiosity, I tried to determine how MyTrueAncestry defines the six ages named above, by selecting them, and seeing about how early or recent the samples seemed to be.

The only Neolithic sample shown as a match for my D.N.A., is Cheddar Man, circa 7150 B.C.

There are numerous Bronze Age matches for my D.N.A., which seem to be circa 2,000 B.C.

There seem to be less Bronze Age matches for my D.N.A., which seem to be circa 1,500 B.C.
 
The Iron Age matches for my D.N.A. seem to be circa 500 B.C. and 500 A.D.

The Iron Age matches for my D.N.A. seem to be between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D.
 
The Early Medieval matches for my D.N.A. seem to be between 500 and 1,000 A.D.
 
The Medieval matches for my D.N.A. seem to be between 975 and 1,500 A.D.
 
By using the Time Period Sliders, I am able to see that the most recent match to my D.N.A. on MyTrueAncestry is Louis XVI (1754-1793). According to MyTrueAncestry, we share 141 S.N.P.s.**
 

         2.  Europe Timelapse

This map of Europe has an arrow on each side. Clicking these arrows cycles back and forth through the ages, plotting matches accordingly.
 
There are three sliders below the map:
  1. Samples [number]
  2. From [year]
  3. Until [year]
Below the sliders is an "Update" button. After using the sliders to determine how many samples from which period of time are to be displayed, I can click the "Update" button to generate a new map of Europe accordingly. However, it doesn't work. As of 5:30 p.m. E.D.T., May 22, 2022, if I select ten samples between 23 A.D. and 1014 A.D., I get more than ten samples, including at least one sample from 2170 B.C.

        3.  Asia

Asia shows me a blanck map. Apparently, none of my ancient D.N.A. matches were from Asia
.

        4.  Africa

...Or Africa.
 
        5.  Americas

I have several matches plotted on the map of North America, in  New England and Greenland, but they are Caucasoids - Vikings and Colonists. 
 
Outlines of modern countries are drawn on these maps, but no place names are displayed unless I click on a dot representing a match, in which case, if I'm lucky, a window will pop up with information about the match which will indicate a geographic location, such as "St. Mary's Coffin Maryland."
 
        6.  Premium Europe
 
This map is unremarkably similar to the European Timelapse map.
 
        7.  Premium Asia

This is another blank map, with regard to my D.N.A. 
 
        8.  Archaeological Europe
 
This map is has lines drawn from textual blurbs to archaeological sites plotted on a map of Europe, but I still find it hard to read, and rather unimpressive.
 
        9.  Archaeological Asia
 
This is another blank map, with regard to my D.N.A.
 
       10.  Deep Dive Europe
 
This map is has lines drawn from textual blurbs to archaeological sites plotted on a map of Europe, but I still find it hard to read, and rather unimpressive.
 
       11.  Deep Dive Asia
 
This is another blank map, with regard to my D.N.A.
 
The only map I enjoy looking at on MyTrueAncestry is the Ancestral Globe. This is the only one that seems to really let me take a good look at matching D.N.A. samples from certain times and places, and zoom in or pop windows up to read the text.
 
Next, I discuss Regional Archaeogenetics.
_________________________________
*To get to Results, login to MyTrueAncestry. See a page with their logo (see above) near the upper, left corner, and a row of six tabs across the top:
  1. Results
  2. Civilizations
  3. Populations
  4. Royalty
  5. DNA Testing
  6. FAQ

To get to "Analysis Summary"...

  1. Analysis Summary
  2. Maps
  3. Regional Archaeogenetics
  4. Haplogroup Analytics
  5. DNA Spotlight
  6. Timelines
  7. PCA Plots
  8. Genetic Social Groups
  9. Additional Features

**single nucleotide polymorphism ("snip") A DNA sequence variation that occurs when a single nucleotide (adenine, thymine, cytosine, or guanine) in the genome sequence is altered and the particular alteration is present in at least 1% of the population.--cancer.gov 

Blog post by William Mortensen Vaughan

Saturday, May 21, 2022

MyTrueAncestry:Walkthrough and Review: Part 6a: Results: Analysis Summary

Results
As far as I'm concerned, the "Results" are what MyTrueAncestry is all about.
 
There are nine sections under the "Results" tab, on MyTrueAncestry.com:
  1. Analysis Summary
  2. Maps
  3. Regional Archaeogenetics
  4. Haplogroup Analytics
  5. DNA Spotlight
  6. Timelines
  7. PCA Plots
  8. Genetic Social Groups
  9. Additional Features
Analysis Summary

MyTrueAncestry provides an Analysis Summary page for each DNA kit listed on a user's dashboard (the page a user sees after logging in). These kits can be uploaded by users, or generated from MyTrueAncestry's DNA files associated with ancient, human remains. The number and type of kits a user can have depends on their Membership Level. The lowest Level at which Members can create kits based on ancient remains is my current Level, Olympus (Level 6). This Level also allows me to upload or create a total of fifteen kits. If I were at Odyssey (Level 7), I would be allowed twenty-five; if Enlightenment (Level 8), thirty. 
 
I'm only using nine of the fifteen kit slots I'm allowed to upload or create: three based on my various DNA tests; one each for my wife, her mother, her father, and her sister; and two based on ancient, human remains (Scotland Late Bronze Age I2861 and Bronze Age Bedfordshire England I7577).

Each "Analysis Summary" had four tabs:
  1. Ancient Populations
  2. Ancient Samples Results
  3. Deep Dive Results
  4. Modern Populations
        1.  Ancient Populations
 
When selected, this section generates a list of ancient populations related to the DNA kit which has been selected. 
 
As of 11:50 p.m. E.D.T., the ancient populations MyTrueAncestry associates with my FamilyTreeDNA test are:
  1. Celt + Saxon (2.937)
  2. Celt + Celtic Dobunni (4.087)
  3. Viking Danish + Celt (4.137)
  4. Briton + Saxon (4.214)
  5. Saxon (4.366)
  6. Viking Danish + Saxon (4.537)
  7. Celt (5.882)
  8. Viking Danish (5.956)
  9. Briton (6.391)
  10. Celtic Dobunni (7.109) 
The numbers in parentheses are genetic distances. With regard to genetic distances, MyTrueAncestry indicates that:
  • 10 means this is [my] ancient ancestry
  • 20 means this is part of [my] ancestral link
  • 30 means possibly related to [my] ancestry
To me, the word "possibly" is no more meaningful than the phrase "may contain" on a package of bologna or hot dogs.  Furthermore, I believe that any digits after the decimals are irrelevant, as far as determining genetic proximity.

MyTrueAncestry indicates that the ancient "
Celt + Saxon" people are at a genetic distances of less than 3 from me. FamilyTreeDNA uses a similar, numerical system to indicate genetic proximity, without any decimal points. Someone whom they determined had a genetic proximity to me of 4, believes, apparently, that they are descended from one of my ten times great grandparents - a distance of twelve generations. Twelve generations ago could be approximately two to four hundred years ago, assuming a generation every twenty to thirty years. (Twelve times twenty is two hundred forty; twelve times thirty is three hundred sixty.) If someone with a genetic distance of 4, from me, could have lived less than three hundred years ago, and been a mere dozen generations "upstream" from me, how much closer could these ancient relatives with a genetic proximity of 2 or 3 be, to me?!?

        2.  Ancient Samples Results

MyTrueAncestry's Ancient Samples Results page shows me five additional tabs:
  1. Ancient Breakdown
  2. Matching Samples
  3. Top 10 Samples by Era
  4. Outlier Samples
  5. Americas Samples
          a.  Ancient Breakdown

MyTrueAncestry's Ancient Breakdown page displays two circle charts, one above the other, based on data that it says "will change over time as more samples are added."

The top circle chart shows what it labels an "Ancient Sample Breakdown" of my ancient ancestry. A picture of myself that I uploaded is in the center of a single circle divided into various sections of different colors - mostly shades of blue. (Actually, the picture of myself shows a small portion of my tophat and the background behind me; I have yet to figure out why this picture doesn't show my face.) A legend indicates what ancient group each color represents. Mousing over a section of the circle causes the name of the ancient group to appear, with a percentage - presumably, to indicate what percentage of my ancestors are from that group. As of May 21, 2022, the largest section is fluorescent green, and indicates that 23% of my ancient ancestors were Celts. The smallest section is a sliver of teal, which indicates that 0.25% of my ancient ancestors were Celtic Cantiaci.

The bottom chart, labeled "Breakdown By Era," is six concentric circles around the off-center picture of myself. These circles are also divided into sections, all of which are a shade of blue or green.  To get data to appear for any of these sections, I need to click on it. This causes a picture to appear, with labels naming an ancient group of people, such as the Celts; an age or era, such as the Dark Ages; and a percentage.

The circles represent the following ages, from outermost to innermost:
  • Medieval Age
  • Dark Ages
  • Iron Age
  • Late Bronze Age
  • Early Bronze Age
  • Neolithic Age
I have asked info@mytrueancestry.com what they regard as the difference between the Medieval Age and the Dark Ages, but they have yet to respond. They have also ignored my suggestion to reverse the order of the concentric circles so that the most recent age is closest to my picture in the center.

It appears that most of my ancestors during the Medieval and Dark Ages were Celts, Saxons, and Vikings - mostly Danish Vikings.

          b.  Matching Samples
 
Matching Samples, in the case of my FamilyTree DNA, consists of a numbered list of 150 sets of ancient remains whose DNA allegedly matches mine. Each item in this list indicates a name, a year, a genetic distance, a code number, a gender (to indicate, presumably, whether the relationship to me is paternal or maternal), and a "Top" percentage of the "match vs. all users." The items at the top of this list have the smallest numbers representing their genetic distance to me, and the largest percentages, so I assume that the percentages are reversed. In other words, if MyTrueAncestry indicates that a match is among the "Top 98%" versus all users, I assume that means I'm among the top two percent of all users with regard to having DNA that matches the remains indicated; in other words, ninety-eight percent of MyTrueAncestry's users appear to be more distantly related to the indicated ancient decedent than I am.   

          c.  Top Ten Samples by Era
 
Top Ten Samples by Era, in the case of my FamilyTree DNA, consists of a list of eight ages or eras:
  1. Neolithic Age
  2. Early Bronze Age
  3. Late Bronze Age
  4. Iron Age
  5. Roman Age
  6. Dark Ages
  7. Medieval Age
  8. Early Modern Period
Below the name and an illustration of each of these ages, is a list of numbered, ancient remains, similar to the list of Matching Samples, but their numbers do not appear to be in any particular order. The same information is included about each sample as in the Matching Samples list: name, year, genetic distance, etc.

          d.  Outlier Samples
 
Outlier Samples, in the case of my FamilyTree DNA, consists of a list of twenty samples, with the same information as the above samples.

          e.  Americas Samples

MyTrueAncestry's Americas Samples page displays a remark in large, bold letters, which states that "Currently you have no ancient Americas samples." None that match, I presume... I'm not surprised.

        3.  Deep Dive Results

According to MyTrueAncestry's FAQ, "Deep Dive" results are more "conclusive" than any others that they offer.

MyTrueAncestry's Deep Dive Results page displays four tabs:
  1. Ancient Relatives
  2. Deep Dive Breakdown
  3. Chroma Analysis
  4. Spider Breakdown
          a.  Ancient Relatives

MyTrueAncestry's Ancient Relatives page displays a slider bar labeled "Min SNP [Single nucleotide polymorphisms (pronounced “snips”)] length:  60." If I click and drag the green dot on the bar, to the right, the number 60 increases up to a maximum of 500. A buttom below that is labeled "Update." Clicking that button with the slider set to 500 produces a remark, in large, bold letters, stating that "For now there are no direct ancient relatives for this kit."  

If I set the slider to 120, and click "Update," it produces a list of approximately a dozen sets of ancient remains which match my DNA. The paragraphs associated with the items in this list specify that the genetic distances are measured in "cM," which means "centiMorgans."

Looking at the Centimorgan chart available from FamilySearch, I can get an idea how closely related these ancient decedents might be, to me.

Below each paragraph about these matches is one, two, or three gray line charts, with green and blue sections. A number of SNPs is mentioned in each green section - presumably, to show how many match mine.

          b.  Deep Dive Breakdown

MyTrueAncestry's Deep Dive Breakdown page displays two circular charts, similar to those on the Ancient Breakdown page described above. The breakdowns look the same, with two outstanding exceptions:  purple and dark purple sections, which represent Balari and Proto-Balari groups, in the Breakdown and Breakdown by Era charts, respectively.

          c.  Chroma Analysis

MyTrueAncestry's Chroma Analysis page displays a slider bar and an "Update" button, similar to the ones on the Ancient Relatives page. Below are twenty-two gray bars, numbered Chr. 1 through Chr. 22 - presumably, representing all twenty-two pairs of my autosomal chromasomes. The other pair, which is not autosomal, is the pair associated with gender - XY, in my case, since I am male.

Once I select a suitable number of SNPs, and click the "Update" button, colored sections appear along these twenty-two gray bars.  Clicking on one of these colored sections causes a window to pop up, with a picture and a description of the genetic match represented by the colored section.

          d.  Spider Breakdown

MyTrueAncestry's Spider Breakdown page displays a chart which resembles a spiderweb. Six colors, representing "filters," can be selected or deselected from the legend:
  1. Green - Genetic Closeness [Distance?]
  2. Blue - Total SNP
  3. Red -  Longest SNP
  4. Yellow - Total SNP compared to other matching users
  5. Purple - Civilization Closeness
  6. Gray - Sample Age
Any, all, or none of the above filters can be applied. Applying a filter causes an angular shape to appear on the web, in the color associated with the filter.

The spokes of the web are labeled with the names of ancient groups of people, such as the Celts and Saxons. Some spokes have the same labels. Ten are labeled "Celt"; five, "Saxon." Two of them are labeled with question marks.

The strands of the web connecting the spokes seem to represent different measurements, depending on the filter applied. Mousing over a vertex, represented by a dot where a vertex lies along a spoke, causes a window to pop up, with an explanation of what is represented by that vertex. Distances are given for genetic and civilization closeness, with the most distant at the center of the web, and the closest near the outer edge of the web. The Sample Age filter has vertices which represent calendar years, such as 2350 B.C.; the most recent years are near the center of the web; the most ancient, near the outer edge. The Longest SNP filter has vertices which represent the numbers of matching SNP's, with the lowest numbers nearest the center; the highest, near the edge. The Total SNP is measured in a similar fashion. The "Total number of SNPs compared to matching Users" shows percentages, with 0% at the center of the web, and higher percentages closer to the edge.

        4.  Modern Populations

MyTrueAncestry's Modern Populations page lists the following eight groups of people and their genetic distance from me:
  1. Southeast_English (4.290)
  2. Southwest_English (4.434)
  3. West_Scottish (4.983)
  4. Danish (5.022)
  5. North_Dutch (5.059)
  6. Irish (5.118)
  7. Orcadian (5.260)
  8. North_German (6.524)
Below the above list, is a chart with a red star in the middle, which represents me. Eight cyan dots represent the modern populations listed above; more than a dozen gray dots represent other modern populations who are at genetically greater distances from me, but still worth mentioning, or charting, apparently.
 
Next, I discuss Maps.
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*To get to Results, login to MyTrueAncestry. See a page with their logo (see above) near the upper, left corner, and a row of six tabs across the top:
  1. Results
  2. Civilizations
  3. Populations
  4. Royalty
  5. DNA Testing
  6. FAQ

To get to "Analysis Summary"...

  1. Analysis Summary
  2. Maps
  3. Regional Archaeogenetics
  4. Haplogroup Analytics
  5. DNA Spotlight
  6. Timelines
  7. PCA Plots
  8. Genetic Social Groups
  9. Additional Features

Blog post by William Mortensen Vaughan

Friday, May 20, 2022

MyTrueAncestry: Walkthrough and Review: Part 5: DNA Testing & FAQ

DNA Testing

MyTrueAncestry's DNA Testing page lists links to other websites, which have instructions on downloading DNA data files which can be uploaded to MyTrueAncestry.

 FAQ

MyTrueAncestry's FAQ is a list of approximately thirty questions. If I click on one of these questions, the answer appears below the question.

One of my favorite answers is the explanation that "You only pay the difference in cost between levels - e.g. you receive full credit for the base price of any access level you currently have." I can vouch for this. The only level I paid full price for was "Footman." The rest of the levels I paid for only cost me the price of the level minus all previous payments.
 
Next, I discuss "Results."

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*To get to Civilizations, login to MyTrueAncestry. See a page with their logo (see above) near the upper, left corner, and a row of six tabs across the top:
  1. Results
  2. Civilizations
  3. Populations
  4. Royalty
  5. DNA Testing
  6. FAQ
Blog post by William Mortensen Vaughan