WINDOVER ARCHAEOLOGY SITE BREVARD COUNTY, FL THIS WAS ONE OF THE MOST INTACT CEMETERIES OF 6,000 B.C. THAT HAD EVER BEEN DISCOVERED.
HAPLOGROUP X is found in approximately 7% of native Europeans, and 3% of all Native Americans from North America. Overall, haplogroup X is found in around 2% of the population of Europe, the Near East and North Africa. It is especially common among Egyptians inhabiting El-Hayez Oasis. (14.3%) References at Wikipedia
RADIOCARBON DATING over the three seasons of excavation indicated ages ranging from 6,990 years to 8,120 years, plus or minus 70 years.
What is the Controversy Surrounding DNA and the Book of Mormon? By Rod Meldrum
“If The Book of Mormon is true (and I believe it is) then it is a literal historical record of real people in addition to its primary purpose of testifying of Jesus Christ. Lehi and his family, who came from the Holy Land area, where descendants of Joseph that was sold into Egypt. (1 Nephi 5:14). The three primary races of the earth, Asian (Oriental), African (Black) and European (Caucasian) are quite easily distinguished from each other through specific DNA markers or ‘signatures’ that delineate their ancestry. The Book of Mormon tells us that the descendants of Lehi, (including his wife Sariah, Ishmael and his wife, and Zoram) lived and multiplied to a great extent somewhere in the America’s. Since it is highly probable that Sariah, Ishmael, and Zoram were also of the same genetic stock (not Asian or African), their genetic signatures today would most certainly be classified by present day geneticists as ‘European’ rather than Asian or African. We do not know the exact makeup of Lehi’s DNA, but that does not preclude us from being able to make a direct connection to his ‘European/Caucasian’ heritage.
Preliminary DNA studies, performed on thousands of individual Native Americans from the Aleuts in Alaska, through North, Central, and South America, were completed. They were tested, studied and classified into one of 4 primary genetic groups called haplogroups.
These four founding groups, designated Haplogroups A, B, C and D are all Asian-based groups found in modern populations of Siberia and Asia today, which supports the dominant theory of the peopling of the New World (the America’s) by an overland migration across the Bering Strait during an ice age epoch. Initial studies indicated that there were no European type genetic DNA markers, which would lead to the conclusion that no migration or population expansion of an ‘Israelite’ group occurred anywhere in the America’s as is indicated by the Book of Mormon. This led to some LDS scientists viewing this as the ‘final straw’ for their belief and some were subsequently excommunicated from the church after writing books contrary to the teachings and doctrine of the gospel, but based on these initial scientific findings.
DNA vs The Book of Mormon is created
A small ‘Christian ministry’ capitalized on this small group of LDS scholars and scientists who left or were excommunicated from the church and documented their feelings and findings, producing a very powerful anti-Mormon video documentary (Picture left). This DVD has sold tens of thousands of copies since its introduction in early 2003. The revenue produced by this documentary has funded other ‘anti-Mormon’ videos. While the producers of these videos have offered them on their websites for free, they continue to sell thousands of the ‘hard’ copies. Who are buying these, as they are available for free, and why? The answer is that other Christian denominations are buying these up by the pallet load for free distribution in the neighborhood after neighborhood. Entire cities have been ‘blanketed’ by different Christian groups in an effort to thwart the evangelical efforts of the LDS Church. Cities from Springville, Utah to Gilbert, Arizona, and hundreds of cities in the ‘Bible belt’ have come under this siege.
Why is this being done?
Because for the first time other Christian denominations have something for which we, the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have provided no conclusive answers, although the subject has been addressed by numerous articles from LDS apologetic organizations. The simple fact is that no DNA findings support the dominant theory of the geography of the Book of Mormon in Mesoamerica. Since there is no DNA evidence supporting the claims of the Book of Mormon in Central America, those who believe in this geography must explain why there is no evidence of European lineages there. While some have addressed the issue (including FAIRMormon, Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, and Book of Mormon Central) with well-reasoned research that is certainly plausible, their explanations fall short of providing a solid answer that both addresses the DNA issues and validates the claims of The Book of Mormon.
The explanations fall into one of three primary categories.
- We don’t have DNA samples from any of Lehi’s party, so we don’t even know what types of DNA we are looking to find.
- Lehi’s group was small and as they intermingled with the existing Asian populations, their DNA was diluted to the point that it is no longer traceable.
- It is possible that a ‘genetic bottleneck’ occurred that extinguished the DNA markers found in the original Book of Mormon peoples.
These explanations are used to excuse the lack of DNA evidence in Central or Mesoamerica, in order to defend these geographical theories. This has lead LDS apologetic groups to claim that DNA research and findings cannot be used either to falsify the claims of the Book of Mormon, nor to provide evidence in it’s support. As a classic example of this argument read the Deseret News/Mormon Times article by Roger L. Hardy, and Daniel Petersen, a very vocal LDS apologist who is also a strong advocate of the Mesoamerican hypothesis. He mentions all three while promoting a new book on DNA which is actually mostly a collection of previously published articles, some of which are quite old in terms of the current DNA research field they are addressing. While each of these explanations have merit and are justifiably employed in defense of the Book of Mormon’s claims, there is another aspect that must be addressed. No less than seven times in the scriptures there are specific claims that in the latter days, there would remain on the Promised Land a “remnant” of the “House of Israel” or Lehi’s posterity which came through the lineage of Joseph of Egypt and his son Manasseh. Some LDS apologists have claimed that they ‘don’t expect to find” any DNA evidence in favor of the Book of Mormon. Why would any member of the church not expect to find evidence of the Book of Mormon’s claim that there will be a ‘remnant seed’ still in existence in the latter days? How can there be a ‘remnant’ if there is no actual genetic (DNA) connection to this lineage? This is the reason that I did not feel comfortable with the answers being provided by the LDS apologetic community, which created the desire for me to begin this research in 2003 and continue it today in 2021. Since the Book of Mormon is true (as previously admitted to as my bias) it stands to reason that it’s claims that Lehi’s seed would not be utterly destroyed must indicate that their genetics would still be found in order to fulfill the promises made by the Lord. If there is no genetic remnant, how can there be a differentiation between those who are actual descendants, and those who are Gentiles who are ‘grafted into’ the House of Israel? Why then would the Lord make that distinction?
Purchase Tickets Here Purchase Vendor Tables Here:
What is the Problem with those who say there is no DNA Evidence?
The problem is twofold. The anti-Mormon documentary producers were premature in their conclusions regarding DNA studies in the America’s as the research was not yet complete at the time of the release of their video. The second problem is that in order for DNA to be found relating to Book of Mormon people, we must be sure that we are looking for it in the correct location. What chance is there of finding supportive DNA or any other physical evidence for the truth of The Book of Mormon if we are looking for it in the wrong place?
Here is something also very prophetic:
When the Winter Olympic games were held in Salt Lake City in 2002, President Gordon B. Hinckley was asked by a reporter if he had a comment about the lack of DNA evidence for the Book of Mormon. He simply responded that all the information wasn’t in yet. Eleven years later, in 2013, National Geographic Magazine published an article titled: “Great Surprise”—Native Americans Have West Eurasian Origins.” The article presents data on a genome found that is related to present-day western Eurasian populations and modern Native Americans, not from East Asia—historically a puzzling finding. (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131120-science-native-american-people-migration-siberia-genetics/) In the article, ancient DNA researcher Eske Willerslev, of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. stated: “This [DNA] study changes this idea because it shows that a significant minority of Native American ancestry actually derives not from East Asia but from a people related to present-day western Eurasians.” Willerslev also said: “It’s approximately one-third of the genome, and that is a lot,” he added. “So in that regard I think it’s changing quite a bit of the history” – Published November 22, 2013.
READ “Rediscovering the Book of Mormon Remnant through DNA“
This short version article is here and the long version may be downloaded here, titled “Rediscovering the Book of Mormon Remnant through DNA” by Rod Meldrum effectively and powerfully addresses, and provides supporting evidence that answers both of these fundamental questions above. In addition, it goes back to the very foundations of the geographical theories to bring to light the knowledge that Joseph Smith had on the subject as well as an in-depth study of the internal geographic indications from The Book of Mormon itself. All of this information has now, for the first time, been combined to produce a clear geographical picture that is exciting because of its solid foundation of evidence that supports the validity and truthfulness of this literal ancient record. You are invited to explore the information from this article for yourself and ask the source of all truth of its validity.” Rodney Meldrum Pres. FIRM Foundation
Pierce Mounds Apalachicola, Florida near where we believe Lehi landed.
Mounds at Turtle Harbor from Turtle Harbor Mounds on Vimeo.
Face of a Nephite
https://bookofmormonevidence.org/bookstore/product/face-of-a-nephite-new-book-by-david-read-jd-19-95/ Here is another excellent article by our friend Dr. David Read: https://www.bofm.blog/face-of-a-nephite/ Also Purchase Dr. Read’s book titled “Face of a Nephite” below:
X2a mtDNA – Ojibwe Origins in North America
Researching the ancient origins of Haplogroup X2a, maternal DNA
X2 mtDNA Distribution : Canada and the Galilee
Maps showing the Distribution and concentrated areas of X2a mtDNA (Maternal DNA Haplogroup) in the Ojibwe of North American and the Galilean Druze in present day Israel : Centered in and around Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario in Canada, and the area between Mt Carmel and the Sea of Galilee in Israel.
Ojibwe (X2a mtDNA) : are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the second-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree. In the United States, they had the fourth-largest population among Native American tribes, surpassed only by Navajo, Cherokee and the Lakota. Because many Ojibwe were historically formerly located mainly around the outlet of Lake Superior, which the French colonists called Sault Ste. Marie, they referred to the Ojibwe as Saulteurs. Ojibwe who subsequently moved to the prairie provinces of Canada have retained the name Saulteaux. Ojibwe who were originally located about the Mississagi River and made their way to southern Ontario are known as the Mississaugas.
The Ojibwe peoples are a major component group of the Anishinaabe-speaking peoples, a branch of the Algonquian language family which includes the Algonquin, Nipissing, Oji-Cree, Odawa and the Potawatomi. The Ojibwe peoples number over 56,440 in the U.S., living in an area stretching across the northern tier from Michigan west to Montana. Another 77,940 of main-line Ojibwe; 76,760 Saulteaux and 8,770 Mississaugas, in 125 bands, live in Canada, stretching from western Quebec to eastern British Columbia.[citation needed] They are historically known for their crafting of birch bark canoes, sacred birch bark scrolls, use of cowrie shells for trading, cultivation of wild rice, and use of copper arrow points. In 1745 they adopted guns from the British to use to defeat and push the Dakota nation of the Sioux to the south.
Galilean Druze (X2a mtDNA): are centered in the following areas of Northern Israel. (Population figures and percentage of overall population):
The Galilee Daliyat al-Karmel (15,000 – 96.9%) Yirka (14,750 – 98.9%) Maghar (11,600 – 57.8%) Beit Jann (10,600 – 99.8%) Isfiya (8,500 – 80%) Kisra-Sumei (7,000 – 94.5%) Julis (5,700 – 100%) Yanuh-Jat (5,300 – 100%) Hurfeish (5,250 – 95.8%) Shefa-‘Amr (5,150 – 14.1%) Peki’in (4,150 – 76.5%) Sajur (3,700 – 100%) Abu Sinan (3,450 – 27.6%) Rameh (2,200 – 30.4%)
In the Golan Heights: Majdal Shams (9,700 – 99.9%) Buq’ata (5,900 – 99.8%) Mas’ade (3,100 – 99.9%) Ein Qiniyye (1,735 – 98.9%)
The Druze revere the father-in-law of Moses, Jethro. According to the biblical narrative, Jethro joined and assisted the Israelites in the desert during the Exodus, accepted monotheism, but ultimately rejoined his own people. The tomb of Jethro near Tiberias is the most important religious site for the Druze community. The Druze conception of the deity is declared by them to be one of strict and uncompromising Unity. The main Druze doctrine states that God is both transcendent and immanent, in which he is above all attributes but at the same time he is present in all things. In God, there are no attributes distinct from his essence. He is wise, mighty, and just, not by wisdom, might and justice, but by his own essence. God is “the whole of existence”, rather than “above existence” or on his throne, which would make him “limited.” There is neither “how”, “when”, nor “where” about him; he is incomprehensible.
Druze citizens are prominent in the Israel Defense Forces and in politics. The bond between Jewish and Druze soldiers is commonly known by the term “a covenant of blood”
Galilean Druze X2 mtDNA
Lineage analysis within the mtDNA X-haplogroup of the Galilee Region is particularly enlightening. It should be noted that the estimated coalescence times for the major mtDNA X subhaplogroups X1 and X2 are 42,900±18,100 and 17,900±2,900 respectively. It is striking that those different lineages (from the same parental haplogroup) whose genetic divergence date back more than ten thousand years would remain so concentrated within such a small geographic region. Mutation rates for the mtDNA coding region, are not consistent with the possibility that this number of different coding region defined lineages within haplogroup X could have resulted from the recent expansion of a monophyletic clade within the past 1000 years.
Rather this combination among the Druze, of a large number of lineages, together with a high frequency of the haplogroup in which these lineages are found, suggests descent from an ancestral population, in which the X haplogroup was more abundant than it is in the contemporary Near East, and which reflects the prevailing Near East genetic landscape at that time, antedating the establishment of the Druze religion in 1017 A.C.E. This supports the notion that the Druze represent a refugium of the population genetic structure from the time period prior to the “Dawa”, and also confirms the hypothesis of high endogamy among the Druze. The refugium hypothesis based on mtDNA haplogroup X analysis was corroborated by the finding of high diversity for the Druze mtDNA haplogroups H and K, with the added finding of novel lineages not shared with nearby populations.
Furthermore, the formal rejection of the alternate hypothesis relating to immigration to the region of individuals sharing the same mtDNA haplogroup but with lineages that diverged in antiquity, further strengthens the Druze refugium model. Although, we cannot exclude the possibility that some ratio between non-random migration and colonization did occur during and following the “Dawa” period and generated the differences in haplogroup frequencies among the current Druze subregions, and between the Druze and other populations, this explanation is highly unlikely in face of the demographic modeling results.
The overall low migration rate between the Druze and all other nearby populations cannot explain the high diversity and high frequency of X haplogroup lineages in the Galilee region. Low migration rates were also evident between the Galilee Druze and Druze from other subregions. The finding of the enrichment of the NRY haplogroup K among the Galilee Druze with no detection in samples from other subregions, further supports the relative isolation of this region, even among the Druze. Taken together these findings support the hypothesis that the Galilee Druze are a further more isolated subpopulation of the Druze, who in turn represents a refugium of the population genetic architecture of the Near East in antiquity.
Demographic modeling can also provide estimates of divergence times for populations with shared ancestries. The demographic modeling in the current study indicates most recent divergence of the Druze from an ancestral population shared with Egyptians, Ashkenazi Jews, Adygeis and Greeks. The Egyptian shared ancestry is also consistent with Druze oral tradition. The migration rates of the Druze with these populations are exceedingly low, and this can be attributed to endogamy and geographic isolation following divergence.
It should be kept in mind however, that the computational algorithms used for the demographic modeling are designed for models involving an ancestral population which split and maintained constant migration rate among the two daughter populations. Such a simplified model does not take into account the effect of shared party migration, and therefore would tend to overestimate the migration rate, and underestimate the divergence time. Therefore the Druze would seem to have an even greater degree of genetic isolation, than indicated by these results of the demographic modeling.
The historical events and time frame for the loss or dilution of haplogroup X individuals is consistent with the population upheavals and patterns of migration that have characterized the Near East during the past two millennia at least. The preservation of this refugium of mtDNA lineage diversity among the Druze, mainly due to genetic isolation may be the result of their location in relatively more defensible mountainous regions, and the practice of conciliation with governing authorities and dissimulation called the “Taqiyya”, or due to other factors which facilitated preservation of societal integrity during periods of demographic and political change in the region.
Conclusions : The findings suggest that the Near East maternal genetic landscape differed substantially in the past from its current structure, and was enriched in diverse lineages of the mtDNA X haplogroup. These findings have been uncovered due to the unique demographic features of the Druze population, and the adjusted sampling method employed in the current study. The combination of a high frequency and diversity of the Druze mtDNA haplogroup X lineages, in a confined geographic region, and the low migration rate with nearby populations make it unlikely that this diversity was imported.
It is thus likely that the global diversity of this haplogroup evolved in the Near East and adjacent regions of western Eurasia, during a long incubation period coinciding with and following the most recent out of Africa expansion as dated by mtDNA coalescence simulations[44]. The Druze population of the Galilee represents a contemporary refugium of this past genetic landscape.
Cherokee, Ojibwe and the Phoenicians ? X2A mtDNA
The absence of Haplogroup X in Mongolia and Siberia and a recently proven center of diffusion in Israel (Brown et al. 1998, Malhi and Smith 2002; Smith et al. 1999; Reidla 2003; Shlush et al. 2009) pose problems for the standard account of the peopling of the Americas. DNA Consultants Cherokee-descended customers include seven instances of haplogroup X. David E. Lewis (whose Cherokee name is Wayauwetsi) traces his unmatched X haplotype back to Seyinus, a Cherokee woman of the Wolf Clan born on or near the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina in 1862. Two cases represent descendants (unknown to each other, incidentally) of the Cherokee woman called Polly who was the namesake for the Qualla reservation (the sound p lacking in the Cherokee language and being rendered with qu).
Phoenicians: On the Y chromosome side of Shlush et al.’s study, male haplogroup K was found to have a relatively high frequency of 11% in the Galilee region (2008:2). K (renamed T in the revised YCC nomenclature) has long been suspected to be the genetic signature of the Phoenicians. A TV show by National Geographic appeared about a year ago titled Who Were the Phoenicians?, in which Spencer Wells of the National Genographic Project, unveiled this theory. Without a doubt it was the Phoenicians, whose name among themselves was Cana’ni or KHNAI ‘Canaanites’, not Phoenikoi ‘red paint people’ (Aubet 2001:9-12; cf. Oxford Classical Dictionary s.v. “Phoenicians” ), who are referenced by James Adair when he observes that “several old American towns are called Kan?ai,” and suggests that the Conoy Indians of Pennsylvania and Maryland were Canaanites and their tribal name a corruption of the word Canaan. The Conoy Indians are the same Indians William Penn around 1700 described as resembling Italians, Jews and Greeks. By about 1735 they had dwindled to a “remnant of a nation, or subdivided tribe, of Indians,” according to Adair (1930:56, 67, 68). One of the oldest Cherokee clans is called Red Paint Clan (Ani-wodi).
So do the two subclades of X and other haplogroups represent Old World and New World branches diverging from each other as long ago as 30,000 years, or do the Native American “anomalous” haplotypes come more recently from the same source in the East Mediterranean? DNA Consultants
Ojibwe and the X2a mtDNA Enigma
The North American sub-clade X2a usually has C-T transitions np 16278 and np 16223,with the presence of DdeI sites np 1715 and np 10394.X2b varies from all its sister lineages [X2b-h] in Eurasia and Africa. The Vantage specimen” is the oldest human in North America to test for X2a. It predates the Norse settlement in Newfoundland, Canada.
However it does not predate the “possible speculative” arrival of a Phoenician or Carthagian woman with Hg X on board a vessel that could have been accidently blown across the Atlantic Ocean in a storm.
Kemp [2010] identified 7 Jemes individuals from New Mexico,who shared X2a1a1 genes and who probably had an affinity with the Sioux/Cheyenne. With the exception of one Ojibwa sample all of the Hg X specimens analysed by U Perago [2009] have the coding motif 8913-12397-14302.The anomalous Ojibwa did not cluster with any known X2a branches in North America or sister sub-clades in Eurasia. It “could” be another very rare founder. It has been designated assubgroup X2g.Private control region mutations distinguish two internal X2a branches ,which are X2a1 [143-16093] and X2a2 [225-16254C].X2a1 tends to be concentrated in the Great Lakes and Great Plains region X2a2 is less common [X2a1,19; X2a2,3; X2/,1].Some western fringe X2a specimens [eg: Nuu-Chah-Nuth,Yakima] lack characteristic X2a1 and X2a2 mutations [Ibid].
The current North American distribution of X2a tends to be concentrated in the vicinity of the Great Lakes/Great Plains with frequencies as high as 25% among some Algonquian people [eg: Ojibwa] with diminishing clines to the west and south. Frequency estimates range from Sioux ca 15%, Nuu-Chah-Nuth ca 13.5%,Navajo ca 6.5%,and Yakuma ca 4.8% [M Brown,1998]. There are a few single or very frequency occurrences of X2a lineages distal to the “Ojibwa core”. One X2a individual was identified among the Shuswap in the Caribou country of British Columbia and 5 0f 63 [7.9%] Nuu-Chah-Nuth samples off the west coast of British Columbia are probably X2a [there is not sufficient definitive data to substantiate this premise]. The above tend to support the theory that X2a was introduced to North America from NE Siberia and that a number of intermediate Hg X lineages have been lost. A Nonosabasat sample from Newfoundland, eastern Canada, had X2a[10693C,16189C, 16213A,16223T,!6278T].A number of single occurrences have been reported from the Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec Province, but the data has not been sighted. G Horvati [2011] stated that X2a was identified in 3 of 6 MicMac sequences.
The dearth of indigenous mtDNA samples from the Maritime Provines of Canada, Quebec and British Columbia severely detract from endeavours to reconstruct the migration paths of the initial X2a colonists to North America. Consequently there has been a significant degree of speculation about the entry point to North America and the coalescence dates of X2a.Its apparent, current concentration in the Great Lakes/Great Plains region is an anomaly, which can not be confidently reconciled with an Alaskan entry point. This genetic founding lineage was probably introduced to North America from NE Siberia after the glacial era, but the current dispersal pattern of X2a is not in total accord with this supposition. “If” the Ojibwa did move from Nova Scotia to the Great Lakes region ca 1400 ADE, the enigma gains in complexity.
M Kujanova [2009] identified three subgroup X2j specimens in North Africa. V Fernandes [2012] noted that X2j shared a mutation at position 12397 with the North American subgroup X2a.She cautioned that the mutation could be a recurrence and that X2j appears to have evolved recently. The rare North American X2g lineage is compatible with the spread of of Hg X from the Near East towards the New World as early as the emergence of the X2+225 clade [ibid].
X2 mtDNA from Near East. 20,000 years ago
The relative absence of haplogroup X2 in Asia is one of the major factors causing the current rethinking of the peopling of the Americas. However, the New World haplogroup X2a is as different from any of the Old World X2b, X2c, X2d, X2e, and X2f lineages as they are from each other, indicating an early origin “likely at the very beginning of their expansion and spread from the Near East”
The Solutrean Hypothesis postulates that haplogroup X reached North America with a wave of European migration about 20,000 BP by the Solutreans, a stone-age culture in south-western France and in Spain, by boat around the southern edge of the Arctic ice pack.
In 2008 a team of genetic scientists published the following: “Here we show, by using 86 complete mitochondrial genomes, that all Native American haplogroups, including haplogroup X, were part of a single founding population, thereby refuting multiple-migration models.” – Fagundes NJ, Kanitz R, Eckert R, et al. (March 2008). “Mitochondrial Population Genomics Supports a Single Pre-Clovis Origin with a Coastal Route for the Peopling of the Americas” Am. J. Hum. Genet. 82 (3): 583–92. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2007.11.013. PMC 2427228. PMID 18313026.
The Middle Eastern or Canadian origins of X2a mtDNA
Did the maternal Haplogroup X2a originate in the Middle East 20,000 years ago or much much earlier in Canada ?
Soon we will know that the Ojibwe are truly Ani-Shin-Abe. Original and 1st peoples who have existed since the very beginning, in Canada and migrated much much later to Asia and the Middle East.
Distribution maps are worth 1000 words. Looking at the above concentrations it is clear that the areas of Central and North East Canada and the Middle East are connected via the maternal X DNA distribution. In human mitochondrial genetics, Haplogroup X is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup. It has a widespread global distribution but no major regions of distinct localization.
Origin : mtDNA-based chart of possible large human migrations. The genetic sequences of haplogroup X diverged originally from haplogroup N, and subsequently further diverged about 30,000 years ago to give two sub-groups, X1 and X2.
Distribution : Overall haplogroup X accounts for about 2% of the population of Europe, the Near East, and North Africa. Sub-group X1 is much less numerous, and is largely restricted to North and East Africa, and also the Near East. Sub-group X2 appears to have undergone extensive population expansion and dispersal around or soon after the last glacial maximum, about 21,000 years ago. It is more strongly present in the Near East, the Caucasus, and Mediterranean Europe; and somewhat less strongly present in the rest of Europe. Particular concentrations appear in Georgia (8%), the Orkney Islands (in Scotland), (7%) and amongst the Israeli Druze community (27%). Subclades X2a and X2g are found in North America, but are not present in native South Americans
Druze: The greatest frequency of haplogroup X is observed in the Druze, a minority population in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, as much in X1 (16%) as in X2 (11%). The Druze also have much diversity of X lineages. This pattern of heterogeneous parental origins is consistent with Druze oral tradition. The Galilee Druze represent a population isolate, so their combination of a high frequency and diversity of X signifies a phylogenetic refugium, providing a sample snapshot of the genetic landscape of the Near East prior to the modern age.
North America : Haplogroup X is also one of the five haplogroups found in the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Although it occurs only at a frequency of about 3% for the total current indigenous population of the Americas, it is a bigger haplogroup in northern North America, where among the Algonquin peoples (Ojibwe) it comprises up to 25% of mtDNA types. It is also present in lesser percentages to the west and south of this area—among the Sioux (15%), the Nuu-Chah-Nulth (11%–13%), the Navajo (7%), and the Yakama (5%) – Wikipedia
X2 mtDNA of the Canadian Ojibwe(a) and Israeli Druze(b)
Haplogroup X descends from the N Haplogroup, which dates to approximately 65,000 years ago. The origin of haplogroup X dates to approximately 30,000 years.
“Originally found in Europe and thought to be only distributed regionally, the finding of haplogroup X in the Americas startled the human population genetics community.” -FTDNA
Recently, it has been discovered that there are two major sub-lineages within haplogroup X, being X1 and X2.
This blog will discuss the origins of the X2 Haplogroup which appears predominantly in both North American Ojibwe and Israeli Druze.
Since these 2 distinct areas, the Great Lakes Region of Canada and the Sea of Galilee in Northern Israel are linked via maternal DNA,….
So then, did X mtDNA originate in the Near East (ie: Israel) or did it originate much earlier in the area of Lake Superior in Canada ?
It is likely that the Ojibwe people, the Anishinabe are actually the ancient ancestors to those living in Israel 21,000 years ago.
Galilean Druze and Miss Israel contestant Angelina Duah Fares (Pic Right)
Source: http://x2a-mtdna.blogspot.com/2013_01_01_archive.html
