A Day Conference on Ancient Britons, Europe and Wales

A very interesting day conference is being held at the National Museum, Cardiff, on 4th June 2011. The subject of the conference is "Ancient Britons, Europe and Wales: New Research in Genetics, Archaeology, and Linguistics". The conference is sponsored by the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies and The Learned Society of Wales. The conference programme is as follows:

Professor Marc Clement (Vice Chancellor, University of Wales) Welcome 9.30

Professor John T. Koch (CAWCS) Wales, the ancient Iberian Peninsula, and the end of Celtic Studies as we know it 9.40

Professor Sir Walter Bodmer (Oxford) The genetic structure of the British populations and their surnames 10.25

Tea 11.20

Dr Stuart Needham (National Museum of Wales) Cultural Connections in the Maritime World of the Bronze Age 11.45

Dr Catriona Gibson (CAWCS) ‘Verging on Atlantic’: Bronze Age entanglements along the coastal zones of Ireland, Wales and Iberia 12.30

Lunch 13.10–14.25

Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe (Oxford) The Celts: our changing vision 14.30

Professor Mark Jobling (Leicester) Power and limitations of genetics in studying (pre)history 15.15

Discussion 16.00

Close 16.45

A flyer for the conference can be seen here [Link no longer available].

The registration form can be downloaded here [Link no longer available].

Professor Sir Walter Bodmer is the lead researcher on the People of the British Isles Project, whose results are eagerly anticipated. Professor Mark Jobling is the Professor of Genetics at Leicester University and is the co-author of some of the key papers on the Y-chromosome that have been published in the last decade.

I have booked to attend the conference along with some of my fellow ISOGG members and DNA project administrators. It promises to be a very interesting day.

The following press release was received from Family Tree DNA on 19th April 2011:

FAMILY TREE DNA ACQUIRES DNAHERITAGE.COM 

With acquisition, more options for UK customers

  

Houston-based Family Tree DNA, the world leader in genetic genealogy, announced today that it has acquired the domain DNAHeritage.com, Ybase.org and its corresponding data.

            With this acquisition, UK-based DNA Heritage will cease its operations and will start referring its visitors to Family Tree DNA. 

Family Tree DNA is exploring different options to incorporate DNA Heritage customers into its database. However, regardless of which option is adopted, Family Tree DNA will not incorporate DNA Heritage customers’ results without asking them to opt-in.

Family Tree DNA has been able to cement its position at the forefront of DNA testing for ancestry and genealogy by continually advancing the science that enables genealogists around the world to expand their families’ research, and to fill the gaps between genealogy and anthropology. 

Founded in April of 2000, Family Tree DNA launched the commercial application for DNA testing which, up until then, was only available for academic and scientific research. Family Tree DNA has a state of the art Genomics Research Center at its headquarters in Houston, Texas, where it develops and processes an extensive number of genetic tests.

Family Tree DNA has 330,000 individual entries in its DNA databases, making it the largest DNA databases for genealogical purposes in the world.  They also administer over 6300 individual surname projects comprising nearly 101,000 unique surnames. 

* * * * *

For further information, please check: www.familytreedna.com/landing/dna-heritage.aspx

DNA article and Family Finder competition in Family History Monthly

The May issue of Family History Monthly is out now and contains an article by yours truly entitled "Cousins reunited" which explains how to use the latest autosomal DNA tests to find matches with your close relatives. Family Tree DNA and 23andMe are currently the only companies which offer this test. The Family Tree DNA test is known as the Family Finder. 23andMe's Relative Finder feature is a part of its personal genomics service. There was no room to include screenshots from the tests in the article but if you are interested in learning more about these new tests you might like to read the reviews I wrote for this blog last year.  My four-part review of the 23andMe service can be found here. My Family Finder review can be found here.

There is also an exciting competition in the May issue to win a free Family Finder test, worth around £180, from Family Tree DNA. Further details of the competition can be found on the Family History Monthly website.

New 111-marker test from Family Tree DNA

The following announcement has been sent to all group administrators at Family Tree DNA.

Dear Group Administrator,

We are excited to announce the launch of our new Y-DNA 111 test!

This test includes a panel of 111 Y chromosome Short Tandem Repeat (STR) markers.* With 44 additional markers, Y-DNA111 is the highest resolution Y-DNA test offered by any company in the world.

The Y-DNA 111 test is recommended for customers who already have close matches at the 67 marker level and are looking to tighten the calculation for the time to Most Recent Common Ancestor (tMRCA).** Due to the specialized nature of this test and in order to evaluate the potential benefit of this type of upgrade, we ask that customers with Y-DNA 12, 25, or 37 results upgrade to 67 markers first before considering the 111 marker test.

With that in mind, this new test is now available as an upgrade for customers with existing Y-DNA67 results and also as a standalone test for individuals looking to prove a close relationship on the direct paternal line:

Y Refine 67 to 111 (Upgrade)  $101

Y-DNA111                                 $339

View our FAQ section to learn more about this new test.

Thank you,

Family Tree DNA

*This figure is based on the typical number of allele values we see for multi-copy markers. The number of allele values we observe and report for these markers may vary.
**Please note, both test-takers must have the 111 marker test to be compared at this level.


DK Note

A full list of the Y-STR markers available from Family Tree DNA can be found in their FAQ pages here.