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People have always been interested in their ancestry.  Where did I come from?  Who were my ancestors before there were any civilizations?  How far back can I trace my ancestry?  Where did they live?  Can I ever know?  For a long time the methods of history, archeology, study of languages, anthropology, etc, have been used to try to answer some of these questions.  However, there have been great gaps in our knowledge.  But now, in the last twenty years or so, there has come along a powerful new tool that is providing some astounding results – the direct analysis of our DNA is providing new insights into our ancient ancestry.  You, as an individual, can trace back your own mother’s line of mothers to an ancestral mother who may have lived 10,000 or 15,000 years ago.  Similarly for your father’s line of fathers.  Furthermore, the DNA studies can tell you the region of the planet where they lived.  And, incredibly, all this information is contained in every cell in your body, but it’s written in a code that we only recently have been able to decipher.  Countless scientific laboratories throughout the world are actively carrying out research using DNA methods to answer these very questions and the information is pouring out into scientific journals. 

 National Geographic is in the first year of a five year program, called the Genographic Project, to assemble the world’s largest collection of DNA samples from people throughout the world to establish the ancestry of the whole human race and trace the migration of humanity as they spread over the entire earth.  When this monumental work is published it will become the universal reference for human origins, relationships, and migrations.  It is imperative that Assyrians be represented in the Genographic database so that the place of Assyrians in the world community will be recognized.  This is what motivated us to establish the Assyrian Heritage DNA Project.  All Assyrians will have the chance to contribute their DNA and not only learn about their own individual ancestry but, along with other Assyrians, define for the world who Assyrians are. How often is one given the opportunity to become a part of history?

 “Everyone knows” that a mother and a father contribute genetic material (that is, DNA) equally to an embryo.  Every characteristic that the new child has is the result of an interplay between the genes from both parents.  In other words, the maternal and the paternal DNAs are mixed together at the time of conception. As a result, it is

extremely difficult to trace back for long periods of time the line of descent of only the mother or only the father. But, while the above statements are generally true, do the mother and father contribute all forms of DNA equally to the newborn?  Is there a form of DNA passed to the next generation only by the mother without any contribution by the father?  Similarly, is there another type passed to the next generation only by the father without any contribution by the mother?  The answer in both cases is yes!  That means that one type of DNA can be used to trace only your mother’s line of mothers backward in time, and the other type can be used to trace only your father’s line of fathers backward in time. This is all made possible by the fact that one parent passes a special type of DNA to the next generation without any interference from the other parent.  Taking advantage of this unique situation, scientists have made enormous strides recently in the study of our paternal and maternal ancestors, who they were and where they were and when.   We will be using the same scientific techniques in our Assyrian Heritage DNA Project that the research scientists use.  Let’s very briefly discuss in general terms these two special types of DNA and how they are used in ancestry research (those who wish to know more about certain technical details will find a discussion in the NOTES section at the end of the article).

The type of DNA that is passed to the next generation only by the mother is called mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA – think maternal DNA or mother’s DNA).  The mother gives it to all her children, both sons and daughters, but only her daughters can pass it on to the next generation (see NOTES section for explanation).  Her son has his mother’s mtDNA but cannot pass it on to his children.  Therefore, all human beings, both male and female, have their mtDNA given them by their mother.  Brothers and sisters (of the same mother) have the same mtDNA.   

Every ethnic or national group is made up of several different mtDNA groups.  Differences in the mtDNA are brought about by mutations (a mutation is a change from normal at a specific location in the DNA. Mutations in the mtDNA occur slowly over a long period of time - think thousands and tens of thousands of years.  The entire world’s population can be divided into different mtDNA groups, each member of a particular group having specific mutations at specific points on the DNA.  And, incredible as it may sound, all the people living today that belong to a specific mtDNA group (that may contain millions of people) are all descendants of a single female who may have lived 10,000 or 20,000 years ago, or longer (see NOTES for method of dating).  Mitochondrial DNA is a very powerful tool to clarify human ancestries.  A very good example is seen in how it was used to solve the question of the ancestral origins of the people of Europe.

 Until about 10,000 years ago the people of Europe and the Middle East and adjacent areas obtained their food by hunting animals and gathering foods like roots, berries, nuts, etc.  They were hunter/gatherers.  That meant they were at the mercy of the animal supplies and migrations and had to constantly move with the food sources.  Then, about 10,000 years ago, there occurred in the Middle East, in the Fertile Crescent, one of the most significant events in all of human history, one that changed forever the course of history in Europe and the world – the invention of farming.  The people of the Fertile Crescent learned how to grow crops such as barley and wheat and to domesticate animals.  The advantages were enormous.  For the first time humans gained full control of their food supply.  They could now settle into stable communities around the farms and establish villages and towns.  Food was more plentiful, so the population could increase.  Also, not everyone had to farm – the supply of food for the community could be provided by some, and others could become artisans and develop crafts and even have the luxury of following the stars.  It’s not surprising that the first civilizations developed here. 

 The advantages of farming were so great and obvious that it slowly spread from the Middle East across Europe, and after a few thousand years had spread to all of Europe.  The question that scholars argued about throughout most of the twentieth century was this:  Did the farmers of the Middle East move with the farming and displace the native population of Europe? That would mean that today’s European population is derived from the Middle East.  Or, was it the idea of farming that spread, but the people of the Middle East did not move with it?  The crucial evidence came only about ten years ago and it was provided by mtDNA analysis.  Scientists found that practically the entire population of Europe falls into one of seven mtDNA groups.  Each group has distinctive and specific mtDNA markers that separate the members of each group from all other groups. And each of the seven groups is descended from a single woman, as described by one of the leading scientists in this study, Bryan Sykes, Professor of Genetics at Oxford University, in his book “The Seven Daughters of Eve” (Ref. 1).  Six of the mtDNA groups were of native European ancestry, but the seventh originated in the Middle East.  It is estimated that about 20% of the modern native European population is descended from Middle East ancestors.  The mtDNA evidence was decisive in showing that although it was mostly the idea of farming that spread from the Middle East through Europe, a significant number of Middle East farmers also entered and spread through Europe.

Males possess a unique DNA that is not found in females.  It is called the Y chromosome (a chromosome is a large bundle of DNA).  The Y chromosome carries the genes that cause the embryo to develop into a male, so naturally it is not found in females.  Because it is present only in males it is transmitted exclusively from father to son.  Therefore, a male can trace his father’s line of fathers backward in time for thousands of years by analyzing Y chromosome characteristics, using the same principles as mtDNA for the female line.  Because of the unique characteristics in the transmission from generation to generation of mtDNA by the female and Y chromosome by the male, we can now trace the ancestry of both our fathers and our mothers in time.  An example of how Y chromosome studies were used to reveal the hidden characteristics of a population will now be described.

About a thousand years ago, migrating tribes from the Turkic speaking areas of central Asia, Moslem in religion, arrived in Asia Minor and began to conquer it.  There was a large, mostly Christian population living there at the time.  There was no large scale genocide or wholesale massacre of that population.  Either by force or by offering advantages, many of the people became Moslems, adopted the Turkish language, took on Turkish names, identified themselves as being Turks and part of a growing Turkish nation.  In short, they “became Turks.”  After three, four or five generations, the memory of having been something other than Turkish was completely forgotten.  However, although people may forget their origins, their DNA never forgets.  Its memory lasts forever.  Every cell in our body contains the message of where we came from.  The message is in code but now we can read it.  When the present Turkish population in Asia Minor is analyzed for their Y chromosome characteristics, it is found that only a small minority of the males, 10% or less in most studies, have the identifying markers of the present Turkic speaking tribes in central Asia (Ref. 2).  The majority of Turks have the Y chromosome markers of the other people of the Middle East.  This almost certainly means that a relatively small group of invaders conquered a much larger population that was already living in Asia Minor and assimilated it into the Turkish population and nation  (Ref. 3, page 243).  The ancestry of the great majority of Turks, therefore, is Middle Eastern in origin, even though their language was brought into the Middle East from a distant site - central Asia. The studies not only show which Y chromosome groups make up the Turkish population but the proportion of each. 

Another fascinating example of knowledge gained by Y chromosome studies was published in 2000 (Ref. 4).  A team of scientists analyzed the Y chromosome characteristics of a number of Jewish groups as well as different peoples of the Middle East.   Surprisingly, they found that Palestinians and Syrians were as close or closer to some of the Jewish groups as the Jewish groups were to each other.  They concluded that: “The extremely close affinity of Jewish and non-Jewish Middle Eastern populations observed here supports the hypothesis of a common Middle Eastern origin.  Of the Middle Eastern populations included in this study, only the Syrian and Palestinian samples mapped within the central cluster of Jewish populations.”  The common Middle Eastern source population was estimated to have existed several thousand years ago, a time that would “predate the origin of Jewish populations.”  

The studies described in the previous paragraphs emphasize an important point.  Every national or ethnic group in the world is made up of multiple mtDNA and Y chromosome groups. Considering the migrations of people over the many thousands of years before any civilizations came into being and the number of DNA groups that developed and were carried by them, it becomes clear that the normal state of a national or ethnic group today is one of a population of individuals of different DNA groups.  The Assyrian Empire had a very clever strategic program for reducing rebellion among conquered people and controlling them.  As described by Professor Simo Parpola (Ref. 5a), the eminent Assyriologist of the University of Helsinki, the conquered people were moved en masse from their location, placed inside the Assyrian Empire and encouraged to “become Assyrians.”  He describes how within a few generations they became assimilated as loyal Assyrians in the Empire.  The result was that “the Neo-Assyrian Empire was a multi-ethnic state composed of many peoples and tribes of different origins.”  “It ….. was a unified whole, whose inhabitants were unhesitatingly identified as Assyrians regardless of their ethnic backgrounds.”   

Over the thousands of years since the beginning of the Assyrian Empire many interactions with neighboring people must have taken place.  Prof. Parpola shows that after the fall of the empire in 612 B. C. the Assyrians maintained their continuing identity in the Middle East even though the empire did not exist (Ref. 5b).  In the last two thousand years the Christian Assyrians have always lived in lands of the Middle East as a religious minority.  Through all the persecutions they kept their religion and language and with them their identity.  They did not melt into the majority cultures of other religions (Ref. 6).  In the work by Cavalli-Sforza (Ref. 3, pages 242-244), he shows that the Assyrian population of the Middle East has a genetic makeup that, on the one hand, distinguishes it from the other populations of the Middle East and, on the other, shows the relationships of the different people in this area to each other.  We are part of the Middle East and we also have a unique story to tell.

The questions that people all over the world are asking and trying to answer are the same ones that the Assyrian Heritage DNA Project is trying to answer. What is the makeup of modern Assyrians in terms of our mtDNA and Y chromosome groups?  How many of these groups are found in today’s Assyrians and in what proportions?   What does that tell us about our ancient (pre-history) ancestors?  Is there a characteristic formula that defines us?  What other people do we most closely resemble?  How do we differ from other groups?   We don’t know what we’ll find when we begin to uncover the hidden messages buried in our DNA.  We have launched an adventure that seeks to bring light to what is now in darkness; we seek to know the truth about ourselves.  Please join us on this great voyage of discovering our Assyrian roots. Contribute your DNA, find out who you are, make sure that Assyrians will have their important place “on the human map.”

 What Company Is Analyzing The DNA Results for the Assyrian Heritage DNA Project?

Until recently, ancestry work using DNA was done primarily in university and other scientific research laboratories.  But there was so much interest among people in learning about their ancestry that the Family Tree DNA Company (FTDNA) was formed and in 2000 began offering DNA ancestry analysis to the public.  FTDNA  is the company that is analyzing the DNA samples for our DNA Project. The company is located in the United States, but they can mail their kits to any place in the world.  The Arizona Research Labs located at the University of Arizona in Tucson perform the scientific analysis of the DNA samples for FTDNA using the most modern scientific methods. FTDNA continues to expand the database of DNA test results that will help participants to achieve the goals of our Assyrian Heritage DNA Project.

What DNA Tests Are Available and What Do They Cost?

FTDNA is offering at reduced prices a variety of tests to registered groups like our Assyrian Heritage DNA Project.  The following is our recommendation of tests that would be most helpful to Assyrians who want to learn more about their ancestry.                    

Tests for a man to consider if he ONLY wants to test his Assyrian father’s line: (Choose only one)

(1)   25 Marker Y-DNA test which tests the paternal line ONLY--$148 (US dollars)

(2)    37 Marker Y-DNA test which tests the paternal line ONLY--$189 (US dollars)

(3)  12 Marker Y-DNA test for $99 (US dollars) {note:  The 12 marker test will fulfill the requirements for the Genographic Project, but you will learn more about your paternal Assyrian heritage by ordering the 37 or 25 Marker test.}

Combined Tests for a man to consider if he wants to test BOTH his Assyrian father’s line and his Assyrian mother’s line: (Choose only one)

(1)   Y37-marker + mtDNAPlus which includes BOTH the 37 marker paternal and the high resolution maternal line DNA tests--$339 (US dollars)

(2)   12 marker Y-DNA + the low resolution mtDNA test for $199 (US dollars) {note:  The 12 marker Y-DNA + the low resolution mtDNA test will fulfill the requirements for the Genographic Project, but you will learn more than twice as much information about your paternal and maternal Assyrian heritage by ordering the  Y37-marker + mtDNAPlus test.)

Maternal Line Tests that a man or a woman can order to test his or her Assyrian mother’s line ONLY: (Choose only one)

(1)   mtDNAPlus Test which analyzes the high resolution maternal line DNA --$189 (US dollars)

(2)   Low resolution mtDNA - $129 (US dollars) {note: The Low resolution mtDNA test will fulfill the requirements for the Genographic Project, but the mtDNAPlus test will provide twice as much information about your maternal ancestry.}

(Since women inherit ONLY their mother’s mtDNA, this is the only test that a woman can order and it will test her maternal line DNA. Women do not inherit Y-DNA, so they would need to recruit a male relative of their father’s line to take a Y_DNA test to analyze the paternal line DNA.)

To reduce costs, one brother can test both his maternal and paternal lines and his sisters (and brothers) can share the cost.

It is necessary to add $2 shipping within the USA or $4 international shipping cost to whichever DNA test you order.

Why Should I Join the Assyrian Heritage DNA Project?

This  is a once in a lifetime opportunity for you, as an Assyrian, to rise to the challenge  of ordering a DNA test kit and expanding the Assyrian DNA database.  By doing so, you will help to make sure that the genetic and historical past of Assyrians, which has been overlooked for too long, will begin to achieve its deserved recognition by the world.  Participation in the Assyrian Heritage DNA Project by many Assyrians will raise our visibility as a significant Middle Eastern ethnic group that continues to thrive in the twenty-first century.

 How Do I Join the Assyrian Heritage DNA Project?

You may join the Assyrian Heritage DNA Project in one of these four ways:

(1) Fill out an online Join Form at:

http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.asp?code=U31042&special=True&projecttype=G

(Note: There is an underline_ between “surname” and “join” in the above URL.)

A participant will need to submit his/her name, mailing address, e-mail address,
etc. to order a DNA sample kit to be mailed to him/her. 

(2)You can order a kit by mail by writing a letter to FTDNA indicating the test you wish to order and  include the payment for that test. Mail your letter  to:

Family Tree DNA - Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd. World Headquarters
1919 North Loop West, Suite 110

Houston, Texas 77008, USA

(3)  You can order by phone directly from FTDNA at:

Telephone:  (713) 868-1438 | Fax: (832) 201-7147

If you choose options 2 or 3, be sure to say that you are a member of the Assyrian Heritage DNA Project.  This will ensure that you receive the discounted price for your DNA test.

(4)  You can send an e-mail to either of the co-administrators of the Assyrian Heritage DNA Project and ask for more information or for assistance in placing your order:  

Joel Elias  joandjoa@pacbell.net

Mary Yonan  yonan@fgi.net

What Is Involved In Taking The Test?

A few days after ordering the test kit, you will receive a small package in the mail. It contains two small vials with preservation fluid, two “mini toothbrushes”, and easy to follow instructions. You scrape the inside of the cheek with each brush, place them into the vial, and drop the package in the mail. It’s that simple. No pain. No blood.

Included with your DNA Kit will be a Release Form which you must sign because it will give FTDNA permission to inform other participants in the DNA Project who may match your DNA scores and enable you to communicate with each other.  The form will ask you to indicate your Paternal Ancestry's Country of Origin and your Maternal Ancestry's Country of Origin.  These countries should be the country where your paternal and maternal ancestors came from.  If you can trace the ancestry of your Assyrian  parent(s) back to Urmia, enter "Iran"; if Hakkari Mountains, enter "Turkey"; if Nineveh Plain, enter "Iraq"; or if your earliest known Assyrian ancestors were from another country, give the name of that country.  Your paternal and maternal countries of origin may be the same or they may be different.

What Do The Results Look Like?  

The results are a series of numbers that indicate the composition of the DNA at a specific location (marker).  When two participants compare their results with each other - the more numbers that match - the better the chance that the two participants have a common ancestor. The more markers tested, the more precise we can be in finding that ancestor. 

Will I Receive Help Interpreting The Results? 

Absolutely. Your results are important to us all. The more participants, the better we can understand how we are all related. The project administrators will assist you in every step along the way in your new adventure.

Joel Elias is Professor (Emeritus), University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco and is the co-administrator of the Assyrian Heritage DNA Project.

Mary Yonan is a genetic genealogist and started the Assyrian Heritage DNA Project in December, 2005.  She is a retired professional librarian.

NOTES

Why is mitochondrial DNA passed to the next generation only by the mother and not the father?  A cell consists of a nucleus surrounded by cytoplasm.  The nucleus contains the genes (DNA) that carry the code for the structure and function of a human being.  The egg cell in the human female is a very large cell because it contains a very large amount of cytoplasm.  Mitochondria are tiny structures located in the cytoplasm of all cells (they supply the energy for the cell’s activities) and the egg cell has very large numbers of them.  The mitochondria possess their own DNA, which is the only DNA outside of the nucleus.  The sperm cell is an extremely small cell.  At the time of fertilization, only the nucleus of the sperm enters the egg cell.  No mitochondria enter with the sperm.  The sperm nucleus (DNA) fuses with the egg nucleus (DNA) and a new cell is created.  Countless divisions of this cell result in the formation of a new individual.  With each cell division the mitochondria also divide to maintain their numbers. But the mitochondria of every cell of this new individual are derived only from those that were originally present in the mother’s egg cell cytoplasm.

The widely used method of dating when the ancestor of a specific mtDNA group or a specific Y-chromosome group originated may be called the “mutational clock” or the “molecular clock.”  Each of these DNA groups is defined by the number and specific location on the DNA molecule of the mutations or markers characteristic of that group. The approximate rate at which these mutations occur in different DNA groups can be estimated. Therefore, one can make an educated guess as to the approximate time of the origin of that ancestor.  It is an approximation but, nevertheless, an educated approximation. 

REFERENCES

1. Sykes, Bryan.  The Seven Daughters of Eve.   W .W. Norton & Co.  2001.   See his story of

   “Jasmine”, a fictional woman representing the ancestor of mtDNA group J - the Middle East group

   that moved into Europe with the agriculture.

2. Cinnioglu, Cengiz, et al.  Excavating Y-chromosome Haplotype Strata in Anatolia.  Human Genetics,

     vol. 114, pages 127-148.  2004.

             
3. Cavalli-Sforza, L. L., et al.  The History and Geography of Human Genes (Paperback edition, 1996). 

    Princeton University Press. 

4. Hammer, M. F., et al.  Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of

    Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, vol. 97,

     no.12, pages 6769-6774.  2000.  Online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/97/12/6769

5a. Parpola, Simo.  Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today.   Online article at:

      www.nineveh.com/parpola_eng.pdf      

5b. Parpola, Simo.  Assyrians after Assyria.  Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society, vol. 12, no. 2,

      pages 1-16.  2000.

6. Elias, Joel J.  The Genetics of Modern Assyrians and their Relationship to Other People of the Middle

    East.  Nineveh Magazine, First/Second Quarter, 2000.  Online at www.assyrianfoundation.org.