A lot has happened since FamilytreeDNA started reporting the Y-haplogroups that are tested with the Family Finder. More than a thousand new I-L38 cousins have been found among the testers, who now have I-L38 or I-S2606 displayed in their Y-haplogroup badge. At the same time, some testers were found who belong to the Y-haplogroup I-S2599, but not to its subgroup I-L38. I was able to contact some of them and we were able to motivate them to upgrade to BigY 700. We have a total of three new BigY 700s in this area, two of which were financed with the help of our I-L38 project FTDNA Donation Fund. I would therefore like to thank everyone who upgraded their test to BigY 700 and those who donated and thus helped to gain new insights into I-S2599. Many, many thanks!
Questions are answered with each new test and it is not uncommon for several new questions to appear for each question answered. This is also the case here. That’s why I want to interpret the results as little as possible, if at all, but only show what new things have emerged. You are then welcome to interpret and discuss them yourselves.
I-S10728, a new Split between I-S2599 and I-S11321
I-S2599, one of two haplogroups below I-P214 (aka I-M436) can be considered our main Y-haplogroup, with I-L38 as its largest subgroup. In addition to I-L38, I-S2599 has a few small splits, some of which are based on ancient DNA and some of which have become visible due to modern tests. You can get a good overview at https://discover.familytreedna.com/y-dna/I-S2599/tree. Originally, I-S11321 was directly below I-S2599. A new tester with ancestors from Greece resulted in the new split I-S10728, so that this branch became visible.
I-S10728 lived around 15,000 years ago and now has a second known descendant I-FTG659 alongside I-S11321. This new subgroup was discovered thanks to the BigY upgrade by Anthony, an American with Greek roots. (I was very pleased with the tester’s first name, by the way, as Anthony is the English form of Antonios). Anthony is not alone on his newly discovered branch. Two old DNA samples from Central Europe could also be placed in this group. Šidelník 1 was found in the Czech Republic and Groß Fredenwalde 1 was found in Brandenburg, Germany. Based on all the ancient DNA of I-S2599 found so far, it can be assumed that S2599 originated together with M223 in the northern Mediterranean and later moved partly northwards. Initially I was of the opinion that the lineage of Anthony was one of the few, if not the only one, that remained in the Mediterranean, although I must confess that I was somewhat confused by the ancient DNA of I-FTG569 from Central Europe. Nevertheless, I would like to stick to my first impression that Anthony’s line is one of the few that remained faithful to the south.
In fact, Anthony is not the only tester who belongs to I-S10728 but not to I-S11321. In addition to his son, who can be recognised by the American flag, there are three other testers in the FTDNA database who have been assigned the Y-haplogroup I-S10728 by the Family Finder test. Unfortunately, these three testers have not set a ‘Country of Origin’, so we do not know where they come from. It’s a real pity that not everyone has indicated their ‘Country of Origin’.
I will keep an eye on this for a while and if necessary ask FamilytreeDNA to help me get in touch with these unknown testers.
News from the I-S11321 subclade I-Y63727
The I-S11321 subgroup I-Y63727 has been known for several years alongside the I-S2519 subgroup, to which I-L38 also belongs. For a long time, this consisted of only one modern test from a tester from Central America, whose ancestors probably came from France, and an old DNA sample from Scotland. Thanks to your donations, it has now been possible to add two more kits to this subgroup.
The Big Y700 is so called because, in addition to the millions of SNPs, around 700 Y-STRs are also read out and contains a complete Y111 STR test. Thanks to the matching system and public projects, it was possible to find further pure Y-STR testers that belong to I-Y63727. The testers found so far reported different Central and South American countries such as Bolivia, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Portugal as their origin. We were able to offer an upgrade to the tester from the Dominican Republic, which now forms the sub-branch BY132959 with the original tester. Almost all Family Finder testers that are assigned I-S11321 are likely to belong to this subgroup.
By chance, I discovered another tester with the Y-haplogroup I-Y63727 in a public surname project using the Y-STR markers. He was ready to upgrade his test to BigY 700. His male ancestor comes from Darmstadt, Germany and shares an ancestor with the Iberian cluster around the turn of the century. I-Y63482.
This clearly distinguishes the Iberian group from a second group that has its centre in Central Europe. Unfortunately, the tester with I-Y63482 only has relatives with the same surname and thus relatively close relatives in the list of matches. This makes it difficult to estimate how long this group has been in Central Europe. A total of twelve testers with the Y-haplogroup determination I-S11321, without further subgrouping, are in the FTDNA database. Most of them are based on the results of the Family Finder. As far as I could determine, almost all of them belong to the Iberian cluster, even if many of them did not specify a ‘Country of Origin’.
If you have found this article by chance, because you have received the Y-haplogroup determination I-S11321 or I-S10728 and have been looking for information about this haplogroup, I would like to ask you to join the I-L38 Project at FTDNA. There we can do further research together on the origin of I-S11321 and I-S10728.