DNA PROJECT
| The Provinces of Calabria
|
| Click here to see a detailed map of Reggio Calabria! |
Studying the Family Histories and DNA of Calabrians,
especially of the people whose ancestors come from the villages of GIOIOSA IONICA , MARTONE, and GROTTERIA in the province of REGGIO CALABRIA.
I've been able to trace my ancestors back to about 1750.
My 4th-great grandfather, Saverio Loccisano, was born in 1752 in Gioiosa
Ionica.
But — what if . . . .
there was a way to see much further back in time, to discover the origins of my distant Loccisano grandfather, prior to reaching Italy?
What if I could do the same for my Papallo grandmother?
Since so many human groups have traveled through Calabria throughout history -- Greeks, Arabs, Vandals (a Germanic tribe), Normans, Spaniards, Mongols, Jews, Russians, French, etc. -- would it be possible to see which one of these groups my particular ancestors came from?
Until recently, there was no way to know. However, over the past few years, scientists have learned to analyze human DNA in order to shed light on these questions.
One of the first studies to attract a lot of attention looked at the Y chromosome DNA of Jewish men. It found that many men of the Cohen lineage, who are traditionally said to be descended from the biblical Aaron, do in fact, regardless of where they live in the world, share a common male ancestor, who originated in ancient times in the Middle East.
When Dr. Michael Hammer, a professor at the University of Arizona in the
USA, principal investigator in the Cohen research project, joined the team
at
to make these tests available to the public, I decided to delve into my ancestors'
distant past.
Here is what I've learned about my Calabrian ancestors:
National Geographic
Project Participants who want to join THIS project:
If you have already taken a DNA test through National Geographic's
Genograhic Project,
and would like to transfer your results to this project, simply login to
your National Geographic Account
here and you will be given the option to transfer to
Family Tree DNA, where you can choose the "Calabria DNA Project" as the group to
join. If you have any questions, just
email me.
Note: Recently, FamilyTreeDNA's
scientists have partnered with National Geographic
in an ambitious project called the
Genographic Project,
in hopes of analyzing DNA samples from around the world.
You can read about the partnership
here.
