Project Members whose father's family came from Calabria:
Y-DNA RESULTS
Some Interesting finds (see above chart):
1) From Gioiosa Ionica, there have been several families with the same last name, who thought they were unrelated, until they took a DNA test. What these tests have been showing is that most of the time, any 2 people from this small village who have the same surname, are related in the very recent past: Example #1: Two Ali men, who thought they were unrelated, match on all 12 markers. These tests show that they ARE part of the same family, even though they didn't know it (sharing a common ancestor sometime in the last 400 years)! Example 2#: Two Sansotta men, who thought they were unrelated, also match each other on all 12 markers. Again, they are the same family, but didn't know it. Example #3: I was surprised that my Loccisano Y-DNA matched a Sorbara male from the nearby village of Locri on all 12 markers! This shows that we came from the same male ancestor from this part of Calabria, but at some point in the last 400 years, our common ancestor's sons/grandsons took on two different last names.....it is only now from the DNA tests that I know the the Loccisano and Sorbara family is really the same family, with 2 different surnames!
2) From Martone, we have a similar situation: Two men with surname Papallo, who thought they were unrelated, matched exactly on all 12 markers, showing a common Papallo ancestor in the last 400 years--they are from the same family line. But, we have 2 Macri men, both from Martone, who did not match each other at all! Infact, based on their 12 marker DNA tests, they have not shared a common male ancestor in at least 30,000 years! I need to test more Macri families to see if this is a fluke, or if Macri was simply one of those surnames (like Smith) that a lot of people took on, because it was a profession or a description.
Ancient origins (see above chart):
Now, in addition to seeing who is related to who, we can also see the ancient origins of these different families. From these 2 small villages of Gioiosa Ionica and Martone, with a combined population of around 7000 people, it is amazing to see how diverse the origins of our male ancestors are: For example, the Ali family is Haplogroup J2, showing origins in the Fertile Crestent/Mediterranean. But the Sansotta family is Haplogroup I1a, showing origins in Northern Europe (possibly from the Norman presence in the Middle Ages). In addition, the Loccisano/Sorbara family is Haplogroup G2, showing origins in the Caucauses mountains (descendents of the Scythians is a current theory). And yet still different is the Papallo family, who tested as Haplogroup R1a, showing a definate Slavic origin. (This is in contrast to some parts of Europe---such as Ireland and the Basques---where about 95% of men are R1b, western European origin.) Further study of DNA and history combined should be able to answer the questions of exactly which historical groups each of our ancestors came from.
The more surnames we can test from Gioiosa Ionica and Martone, the more we can put together the history of these villages. If you are from one of these villages, please consider ordering a Y-DNA test to find the origin of your surname.
Project Members whose mother's family came from Calabria:
mtdna reSULTS
Some Interesting Finds:
1) I traced back two people's mother's ancestors back to about 1750, both from the village of Martone, and noticed the paper trail indicated they did NOT share a common maternal grandmother at all back to this time. However, when I got each of their mtDNA test results back, to my surprise, they matched exactly! This means that sometime BEFORE 1750, they shared the same maternal grandmother's line, from one of the "founding females" that settled in Martone. (I am referring to "E. Loccisano" and "C. Loccisano" in the chart above, who are not known to be related on their mother's lines, though both mother's families were from the village of Martone).
2) Latest Scientific find: European Jewish people (Ashkenazi Jews) seem to descend from very few females, according to this study by Dr. Doron Behar, which shows that almost half of European Jewish people descend from only 4 women! The results of this study are explained rather well by this BBC Article. This means, if you go back to when the European Jewish community started, maybe 1000 years ago, very few females --mostly converts from local European communities---gave rise to all present day Jewish people. Who are the "founding mothers" that gave rise to the present-day people in the villages of Martone, Gioiosa Ionica, and Grotteria (or more generally, Calabria)? If you are from one of these villages, please consider ordering an mtDNA test.
Return to the Calabria DNA Project Home Page