Personal genomics can help an individual uncover their ancestral origins, but one private company is expanding on the mission to help discover the origins of an entire group of people, the Welsh. People living in Wales have a different cultural identity than those in the rest of Britain. How the Welsh people settled on the Western side of the island is still unknown, but it probably happened after the land first became habitable 9,000 years ago after the last ice age.
The origins of the Welsh have been hypothesized to be related to the French, Basque, Scandanavians, the leftover Romans that stayed when the rest of their countrymen fled the Anglo-Saxons and even some Arabians. But definitive proof has been lacking. The same company that plans to complete the Welsh project analyzed the genomes of Scotsmen in 2012 and found nearly 1percent of the population had descended from Saharan tribesmen.
The Welsh people commonly carry genetic variants for red hair (38 percent) and are very fair. But some Welshmen are dark hair and dark eyed. Their origins have always been rumored to be from shipwrecked Spanish pirates or Italian ice cream parlor owners. Alistair Moffat, who head the genetics search, said the Welsh project was even more exciting than others he’d undertaken because so little is known about the people’s origin:
“People from Wales are genetically relatively distinct, they look different genetically from much of the rest of mainland Britain, and actually people in north Wales look relatively distinct from people in south Wales.” Professor Peter Donnelly said.
They also might be the oldest lineage in Britain, because of the post ice-age migration. Immigrants likely took shelter in mountain caves between France and Spain, then migrated northwards after the ice sheets began to break up in search of better animal grazing ground.
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The Welsh genetics study is looking for more people to join. There is a fee of about $275.
Meredith Knight is editor of the human genetics section for Genetic Literacy Project and a freelance science and health writer in Austin, Texas. Follow her @meremereknight.
Additional Resources:
- Genetic testing to map Welsh ancestry to 9,000BC, Daily Post
- Genghis Khan and the role of power, wealth and behavior in human genetic ancestry, Genetic Literacy Project
- Taking ancestry into account with personalized medicine, Genetic Literacy Project
