R-DF27 and Pas de Calais

R-DF27 is a prolific lineage of R1b that formed 2500 BC.

Most modern descendants live in the British Isles and down the Atlantic coast of Europe to Iberia.

According to Sole-Morata, Villaescusa et alii, the origin is NE Iberia. The high percentage of DF27 within Basques (supposedly up to 70%) is explained as a founder effect due to the lower diversity of DF27 found there.

The Wikipedia article says the origin is NW Iberia - "It is estimated to have developed around 4,200 years ago in north-western Prehistoric Iberia as the Neolithic made way for the Atlantic Bronze Age."

PhyloGeographer algorithm version 3 computes the theoretical origin of R-DF27 as Pas de Calais.

PhyloGeographer arrived at Calais by taking the midpoint of P312's initial average location (computed recursively through its subclades) and the centroid formed by the directionality-refined computed origins of thirty-nine DF27 child clades along with five basal samples.

Keep in mind that a completely data-driven approach like this is not guaranteed to produce a result that is correct.

The algorithm is completely agnostic of coastlines and trends in human history. The inputs to the algorithm consist of a tree with formation and TMRCA dates at each branch and a set of geolocated, dated samples.

Description of how version 3 of the algorithm works

Some complicating factors are at play, including higher than average testing in the British Isles and the US, lack of regional specificity of many YFull samples, and the complexity of myriad, crisscrossing subsequent migrations in the 2500 years since DF27 formed.

A back of the envelope count I made of how many of the DF27 lineages have English Channel / Scandinavian / Canadian / US presence vs Iberian / Latin American / Pyrenees France was inconclusive at 30-30.

Given the aforementioned complications, I am unsure of the reliability of the computed result and am not advocating any specific migration theory.

However, something I find compelling about this result is that an algorithm that is agnostic of coastlines ends up at the closest spot to England on the continent.

I'm not an expert on the archaeology of Bell Beakers who supposedly migrated to the British Isles at this time and are associated with some haplogroups of R1b. It is conceivable to me that, whether Bell Beaker or not, some of the DF27 may have migrated to England from Pas de Calais.

In spite of the lack of certainty, I believe that we are starting to have enough data for some haplogroups to power data-driven calculations like PhyloGeographer. Let's keep watching DF27 and see how it evolves.

Eastern DF27, to make sure no one feels left out. FGC46541, Y42667, Y22183, V3476, Y41710 (unreliable position), FGC20816, Y23589, BY13492, V36330, Y17146, BY32599, Y125777, Y16854, PF6566

These posts are the opinion of Hunter Provyn, a haplogroup researcher in J-M241 and J-M102.

7 thoughts on “R-DF27 and Pas de Calais”

  1. My family originates from the North of France (Flandre) at least from the 16eme century.
    I have tested my paternal haplogroup and I am DF27 without unfortunately any sub haplogroup known in 2018 at YSeq.
    I am blocked!
    Your paper is interesting! Is it published? Do you have other members DF27* in your analyses?
    Thank you
    Alain

    1. Hi Alain,
      Thanks! I haven’t published anything so far. I only used YFull samples for the analysis. Wow, so they tested all subhaplogroups and you were negative for them all? My algorithm only used YFull samples and other ancient samples, so the only way to get a clearer picture is for more people to test. If you do a NGS test and get on the YFull tree then I can tag your sample with a more exact latitude longitude and also the birthdate of your most distant known ancestor.
      If you know a DF27 researcher interested to coordinate this for DF27 YFull samples please share them this link – https://phylogeographer.com/new-collaboration-system/

      Cheers,
      Hunter

    2. Hello Alain,
      I’m DF27* and all subhaplogroups went negative too.
      My most distant paternal ancester lived in Ostrevant during the 17th century.
      I tested YSEQ DF27 Panel in August 2018. Did u go for NGS Yfull Tree?
      Regards.

      Laurent

  2. Interesting article, I am DF27+ Z274 but am negative for M153.
    My earliest ancestor was from Berkshire south east England John Symons alias Harmsworth 1563.

  3. Bonjour,
    Très intéressant.
    Pour ma part mon haplogroupe est DF27 (sous-clades : R-Z195>R-Z198>R-ZS312>R-Y19152>R-A478>R-BY200100>R-BY200358).
    Mon ancêtre patrilinéaire le plus ancien est Jacques SANTERNE, originaire d’Hendecourt-lès-Ransart dans le Pas-de-Calais, né vers 1640.
    Salutations.
    Matthieu SANTERNE

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