Overview of all aDNA samples of the Y-haplogroup I-L38 to I-S2599

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In 1980, 3000-year-old skeletons of forty individuals were found in the Lichtenstein Cave near Osterode in the Harz Mountains. In the dissertation “Molekulargenetische Verwandtschaftsanalysen am prähistorischen Skelettkollektiv der Lichtensteinhöhle” (‘Molecular genetic kinship analyses on the prehistoric skeletal collective of the Lichtenstein Cave’) by Felix Schilz in 2006, the Y-DNA was analysed using Y-STR. Twenty-one of them were males and thirteen of them belonged to the Y-haplogroup I-L38. This led to the carriers of I-L38 being nicknamed ‘Lichtensteiner’. Until 2015, these were the only known aDNA samples (old DNA) of I-L38. Since then, due to a large number of studies, several dozen samples have been added, the ‘uncles and nephews’ of the Lichtensteins, so to speak. By the way – ‘uncle’ Cheddar man, Britain’s oldest almost complete 10,000-year-old skeleton, is also the ‘uncle’ of the Lichtensteins, as well as all other I-L38 cousins.

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I-L38 – FigUre Tree – 12-2024

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A few years ago I saw an interesting graphic of a Y-tree, which I found very illustrative, so I wanted to create such a tree for our Y-haplogroup I-L38, i.e. the Y-haplogroup I-S2599. The aim was to present a complete I-L38 Y-haplogroup tree from the combination of the Y-trees from FamilytreeDNA.com and YFull.com on just one page. The first version was from September 2018 and was published in our I-L38 Facebook group, to which you are warmly invited if you belong to the I-L38 family. A Y-cousin said it would look like an olive tree. I thought “fig tree” would fit better, made a play on words and called the illustration “FigUre Tree”. I update it once or twice a year, so that several versions have already been created.

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Statistics for the I-M170 Y-haplogroup I-L38 and subgroup I-S2606 (End of 2024)

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The I-L38 tree is growing and new testers are constantly being added. In the past, the standard test for Y-DNA at FTDNA was the STR test, with 12, 25, 37, 67 and 111 markers, and the Y-haplogroup was and is only predicted with I-M170. Other suppliers also had and still have panels with a different number of markers, e.g. the PowerPlex® Y23 or the Y-STR panels from YSEQ. Even Ancestry.com initially offered Y-STR tests that could be uploaded to FTDNA. With adequate Y-STRs and some experience, you can predict the Y-haplogroup a little deeper than with FTDNA (I-M170) and for a while it was common to verify this with single SNP tests or SNP packs. Nowadays you can choose the same procedure, but in my opinion it is more reasonable to buy an NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) test, which is now affordable. At FTDNA this is called Big Y700, with other providers you can do a WGS and upload the relevant data to YFull.com.
For my research, but also for the FigUre tree, I have collected our I-L38 cousins from all possible databases and want to show a few statistics here. Sometimes you have to add apples and oranges together, as it is not easy to summarise data with different levels of information, but you still get a small overview.

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BigY 700 upgrades for three testers of I-S2599, ancestor of I-L38 – Many thanks for the donations

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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!

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First fruits from Greece of the Family Finder Y haplogroups destination for I-S11321, ancestor of I-L38

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In the middle of last year, FTDNA announced that they had decided to directly report the Y haplogroup using the Y-SNPs tested in the Family Finder. After the first results also came for I-L38, I wrote the article Family Finder Y-DNA Haplogroups, in which I showed what this could mean for our Y-haplogroup. Now the time has come.
In addition to a known tester from Portugal (already a member of the I-L38 project) and a few unknowns, a tester from Greece has appeared in FTDNA’s Y-DNA haplotree. This is the great advantage of the Y-haplogroup determination of the autosomal test Family Finder. In contrast to 23andme and LivingDNA, where such testers disappear without a trace, with FTDNA they are also shown in the Y-tree. Unfortunately, you can only see them and have no way of contacting them. An internal FTDNA messaging function would be an advantage here.

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I-L38 – FigUre Tree – 12-2023

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The I-L38 tree is growing and new testers are constantly joining, upgrading their existing test to a Big Y or directly purchasing a Big Y from FTDNA or a competitive NGS test from another provider and uploading it to YFull.com. Sales in recent months have resulted in many orders for NGS tests. Of these, most have been completed so that I could add them to the current version of the FigUre tree.

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Family Finder Y-DNA Haplogroups

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In the autosomal tests from 23andme and Living DNA, the Y-haplogroups have always been displayed directly, whereas in the autosomal tests from My Heritage and Ancestry, the Y-haplogroup can only be extracted from the raw data using tools such as the Morley Predictor or the YSEQ Clade Finder. This was not previously possible with FamilytreeDNA’s Family Finder, as the Y-SNPs were removed from the raw data, making it the only autosomal test that did not contain any information on the Y-haplogroup. I had already described this in the article Y-haplogroup from atDNA raw data. This is now changing, as FamilytreeDNA has decided to directly report the Y-haplogroup using the Y-SNPs, tested in the Family Finder. In this article, I will use my own Y-haplogroup I-L38 to show what this means and what advantages I hope to gain from it.

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Statistics for the I-M170 Y-haplogroup I-L38 (End of 2023)

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For my research, but also for the FigUre tree, I have collected our I-L38 cousins from all possible databases and want to show a few statistics here. Sometimes you have to add apples and oranges together, as it is not easy to summarise data with different levels of information, but you still get a small overview.

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