Bloodline Paranoia
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2013/10/17/hominid-skull-spurs-radical-rewrite-of-human-evolution/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/early-africans-mated-with-mystery-species-of-humans/2012/07/26/gJQAxFzZBX_story.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/early-africans-mated-with-mystery-species-of-humans/2012/07/26/gJQAxFzZBX_story.html
The Mystery of Rh-Negative Blood
Authenticity and legitimacy are based on factual history and the mythic power of sacred history. Genetic mapping helps to show that a mutation from RH positive to RH negative occurred somewhere in the Basque area of Europe maybe as much as 40,000 years ago. So what happened then? Ice Age Polarity Reversal Was a Global Event: Extremely Brief Reversal of Geomagnetic Field, Climate Variability,
and Super Volcano.
Such a global event greatly increases the possibilities of mutations and turning off of genes -- gene conversion and gene deletion, normal genetic processes -- a change in molecular structure. A repressed gene is turned off. This process is not externally "introduced"; it is a natural molecular process. Pseudo-scientific confabulation about Rh- produce no credible sources, but merely repeat internet memes or Belief Systems (BS).
Most mammals only have one RH gene, whose position corresponds to the human RHCE gene. The RHD gene arose from the duplication of an ancestral RH gene during mammalian evolution. An RHD deletion occurred9 during the evolution of hominids, so that many modern humans completely lack the RHD gene. This haplotype (glossary) is the leading cause of the D negative phenotype worldwide.
The human genome—our complete set of genetic information—includes thousands of genes. Some of the very first human genes to be identified were those that control blood type.
ABO blood groups and the Rh blood groups.
The Rh blood group is determined by a single gene with two alleles—positive and negative.
The positive (Rh+) allele is dominant, so person with Rh+/Rh+ or Rh+/Rh− are Rh- positive.
Individuals with two Rh− alleles are Rh-negative.
The ABO blood group has three alleles IA, IB, and i. Alleles IA and IB are codominant.
These alleles produce molecules known as antigens on the surface of red blood cells.
The RH alleles can be grouped according to their molecular structure. For the most part, these groups show point mutations (SNP, single nucleotide polymorphisms) which cause missense, nonsense, frame shift or splice site mutations (glossary).
Let’s discuss the Rhesus blood group system first. This system has multiple antigens, but the most important is encoded by the RHD locus, and is called RhD or simply Rh factor. The phenotypes associated with the RHD locus are either the presence of Rh factor (Rh positive) or the absence of the Rh factor (Rh negative).
RHD-CE-D hybrid alleles are often formed by gene conversion. http://www.nature.com/scitable/popular-students-page/68
Active genes can turn other genes on or off, including themselves.
Human traits are not always controlled by a single gene; sometimes the environment [epigenetics] may “create” a trait.
The examples of molecular changes and their effects on the D antigen (Table I) show how the D antigen phenotype correlates with the molecular structure.
NO MONKEYS, NO ALIENS, NO ENKI
The genes for bloodtype and Rh factor are not even on the same chromosomes.
Rh factor has NOTHING to do with "monkey genes". but comes from the animals used to test the process.
Humans, chimpanzees and monkeys share DNA but not gene regulatory mechanisms. Up to 40 percent of the differences in the expression or activity patterns of genes between humans, chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys can be explained by regulatory mechanisms that determine whether and how a gene's recipe for a protein is transcribed to the RNA molecule that carries the recipe instructions to the sites in cells where proteins are manufactured.
A given gene, in almost all cases, codes for a protein. When that gene is present and unmutated, the protein is present and effective. In the case of Rh factor, the protein is present ("Rh-positive") or not ("Rh-negative"). If you have one copy of the gene, you've got the protein, so it doesn't matter if you have one or two -- that's dominance. Only if you have NO copies of the gene can you be Rh-negative. Recessive traits are those that require the absence of a certain protein (or mutation) to show up; blue eyes, for instance, are recessive because it's only possible to have blue eyes in the (near-total) absence of melanin, so if you have any genes for producing melanin, your eyes won't be blue.
The clinically essential difference between Rhesus positive and Rhesus negative hinges on the presence or absence of the RhD protein in the erythrocyte membrane (D positive resp. D negative).
It is unusual for erythrocyte or other cell proteins to be lacking entirely in many humans. This particular genetic feature contributes to the strong antigenicity of the RhD protein. During duplication of the ancestral RH gene, two DNA segments were formed, known as the Rhesus box (Figure 1)9. The RHD deletion resulted from an unequal crossover (figure 3), which occurs when two DNA segments are highly homologous, such as those of the Rhesus box. The RHD negative haplotype commonest among Europeans is characterized by a hybrid Rhesus box. Subtle molecular differences between the various forms of the Rhesus box are used for genetic testing.
Aside from lack of the RhD protein, the D negative phenotype is caused mainly by a series of changes in the RhD protein, which in turn change the phenotype of the D antigen.
The RhD protein traverses the erythrocyte membrane several times, leaving only part of the protein exposed at the surface (Figure 2). If an amino acid is substituted in a portion of the RhD protein which is located at the outer surface of the erythrocyte membrane, single epitopes of the D antigen can be lost or new antigens can be formed.
The structure of the RH gene site facilitates gene conversions (figure 4)10. In the RHD gene some homologous exons of the RHCE gene will be inserted, forming a hybrid Rhesus allele which expresses a corresponding hybrid protein. This is how the D categories III to VI arose. The changes usually affect a long string of amino acids, which is always located on the erythrocyte surface.
If an amino acid substitution is located within the erythrocyte membrane or the cytoplasm, this will result in a weak D phenotype (figure 2)11. Integration of the RhD protein into the membrane will be hindered, leading to quantitative weakening of the D antigen. There is usually no qualitative change, and hence no anti-D immunization. The weak D type 1 is the commonest in Europe. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2535884/
TARGET GENES CAN BE TURNED OFF BY RADIATION AND EPIGENETICS
Lowered Field Strength > Geomagnetic Excursion > Increased Cosmic Ray & Solar Bombardment > Genetic Mutation
ScienceDaily — Some 41,000 years ago, a complete and rapid reversal of the geomagnetic field occurred. Magnetic studies of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences on sediment cores from the Black Sea show that during this period, during the last ice age, a compass at the Black Sea would have pointed to the south instead of north. Moreover, data obtained by the research team formed around GFZ researchers Dr. Norbert Nowaczyk and Prof. Helge Arz, together with additional data from other studies in the North Atlantic, the South Pacific and Hawaii, prove that this polarity reversal was a global event. Their results are published in the latest issue of the scientific journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. What is remarkable is the speed of the reversal: "The field geometry of reversed polarity, with field lines pointing into the opposite direction when compared to today's configuration, lasted for only about 440 years, and it was associated with a field strength that was only one quarter of today's field," explains Norbert Nowaczyk. "The actual polarity changes lasted only 250 years. In terms of geological time scales, that is very fast." During this period, the field was even weaker, with only 5% of today's field strength. As a consequence, Earth nearly completely lost its protection shield against hard cosmic rays, leading to a significantly increased radiation exposure.
The human RH locus appears to consist of two structural genes, D and CE, which map on the short arm p34-36 of chromosome 1 and specify a most complex system of blood-group genetic polymorphisms. Here we describe a family study of the Evans (also known as "D..") phenotype, a codominant trait associated with both qualitative and quantitative changes in D-antigen expression. A cataract-causing mutation was also inherited in this family and was apparently cotransmitted with Evans, suggesting a chromosomal linkage of these two otherwise unrelated traits. Southern blot analysis and allele-specific PCR showed the linkage of Evans with a SphI RFLP marker and the presence of a hybrid gene in the RH locus. To delineate the pattern of gene expression, the composition and structure of Rh-polypeptide transcripts were characterized by reverse transcriptase-PCR and nucleotide sequencing. This resulted in the identification of a novel Rh transcript expressed only in the Evans-positive erythroid cells. Sequence analysis showed that the transcript maintained a normal open reading frame but occurred as a CE-D-CE composite in which exons 2-6 of the CE gene were replaced by the homologous counterpart of the D gene. This hybrid gene was predicted to encode a CE-D-CE fusion protein whose surface expression correlates with the Evans phenotype. The mode and consequence of such a recombination event suggest the occurrence, in the RH locus, of a segmental DNA transfer via the mechanism of gene conversion. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1914783/
Authenticity and legitimacy are based on factual history and the mythic power of sacred history. Genetic mapping helps to show that a mutation from RH positive to RH negative occurred somewhere in the Basque area of Europe maybe as much as 40,000 years ago. So what happened then? Ice Age Polarity Reversal Was a Global Event: Extremely Brief Reversal of Geomagnetic Field, Climate Variability,
and Super Volcano.
Such a global event greatly increases the possibilities of mutations and turning off of genes -- gene conversion and gene deletion, normal genetic processes -- a change in molecular structure. A repressed gene is turned off. This process is not externally "introduced"; it is a natural molecular process. Pseudo-scientific confabulation about Rh- produce no credible sources, but merely repeat internet memes or Belief Systems (BS).
Most mammals only have one RH gene, whose position corresponds to the human RHCE gene. The RHD gene arose from the duplication of an ancestral RH gene during mammalian evolution. An RHD deletion occurred9 during the evolution of hominids, so that many modern humans completely lack the RHD gene. This haplotype (glossary) is the leading cause of the D negative phenotype worldwide.
The human genome—our complete set of genetic information—includes thousands of genes. Some of the very first human genes to be identified were those that control blood type.
ABO blood groups and the Rh blood groups.
The Rh blood group is determined by a single gene with two alleles—positive and negative.
The positive (Rh+) allele is dominant, so person with Rh+/Rh+ or Rh+/Rh− are Rh- positive.
Individuals with two Rh− alleles are Rh-negative.
The ABO blood group has three alleles IA, IB, and i. Alleles IA and IB are codominant.
These alleles produce molecules known as antigens on the surface of red blood cells.
The RH alleles can be grouped according to their molecular structure. For the most part, these groups show point mutations (SNP, single nucleotide polymorphisms) which cause missense, nonsense, frame shift or splice site mutations (glossary).
Let’s discuss the Rhesus blood group system first. This system has multiple antigens, but the most important is encoded by the RHD locus, and is called RhD or simply Rh factor. The phenotypes associated with the RHD locus are either the presence of Rh factor (Rh positive) or the absence of the Rh factor (Rh negative).
RHD-CE-D hybrid alleles are often formed by gene conversion. http://www.nature.com/scitable/popular-students-page/68
Active genes can turn other genes on or off, including themselves.
Human traits are not always controlled by a single gene; sometimes the environment [epigenetics] may “create” a trait.
The examples of molecular changes and their effects on the D antigen (Table I) show how the D antigen phenotype correlates with the molecular structure.
NO MONKEYS, NO ALIENS, NO ENKI
The genes for bloodtype and Rh factor are not even on the same chromosomes.
Rh factor has NOTHING to do with "monkey genes". but comes from the animals used to test the process.
Humans, chimpanzees and monkeys share DNA but not gene regulatory mechanisms. Up to 40 percent of the differences in the expression or activity patterns of genes between humans, chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys can be explained by regulatory mechanisms that determine whether and how a gene's recipe for a protein is transcribed to the RNA molecule that carries the recipe instructions to the sites in cells where proteins are manufactured.
A given gene, in almost all cases, codes for a protein. When that gene is present and unmutated, the protein is present and effective. In the case of Rh factor, the protein is present ("Rh-positive") or not ("Rh-negative"). If you have one copy of the gene, you've got the protein, so it doesn't matter if you have one or two -- that's dominance. Only if you have NO copies of the gene can you be Rh-negative. Recessive traits are those that require the absence of a certain protein (or mutation) to show up; blue eyes, for instance, are recessive because it's only possible to have blue eyes in the (near-total) absence of melanin, so if you have any genes for producing melanin, your eyes won't be blue.
The clinically essential difference between Rhesus positive and Rhesus negative hinges on the presence or absence of the RhD protein in the erythrocyte membrane (D positive resp. D negative).
It is unusual for erythrocyte or other cell proteins to be lacking entirely in many humans. This particular genetic feature contributes to the strong antigenicity of the RhD protein. During duplication of the ancestral RH gene, two DNA segments were formed, known as the Rhesus box (Figure 1)9. The RHD deletion resulted from an unequal crossover (figure 3), which occurs when two DNA segments are highly homologous, such as those of the Rhesus box. The RHD negative haplotype commonest among Europeans is characterized by a hybrid Rhesus box. Subtle molecular differences between the various forms of the Rhesus box are used for genetic testing.
Aside from lack of the RhD protein, the D negative phenotype is caused mainly by a series of changes in the RhD protein, which in turn change the phenotype of the D antigen.
The RhD protein traverses the erythrocyte membrane several times, leaving only part of the protein exposed at the surface (Figure 2). If an amino acid is substituted in a portion of the RhD protein which is located at the outer surface of the erythrocyte membrane, single epitopes of the D antigen can be lost or new antigens can be formed.
The structure of the RH gene site facilitates gene conversions (figure 4)10. In the RHD gene some homologous exons of the RHCE gene will be inserted, forming a hybrid Rhesus allele which expresses a corresponding hybrid protein. This is how the D categories III to VI arose. The changes usually affect a long string of amino acids, which is always located on the erythrocyte surface.
If an amino acid substitution is located within the erythrocyte membrane or the cytoplasm, this will result in a weak D phenotype (figure 2)11. Integration of the RhD protein into the membrane will be hindered, leading to quantitative weakening of the D antigen. There is usually no qualitative change, and hence no anti-D immunization. The weak D type 1 is the commonest in Europe. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2535884/
TARGET GENES CAN BE TURNED OFF BY RADIATION AND EPIGENETICS
Lowered Field Strength > Geomagnetic Excursion > Increased Cosmic Ray & Solar Bombardment > Genetic Mutation
ScienceDaily — Some 41,000 years ago, a complete and rapid reversal of the geomagnetic field occurred. Magnetic studies of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences on sediment cores from the Black Sea show that during this period, during the last ice age, a compass at the Black Sea would have pointed to the south instead of north. Moreover, data obtained by the research team formed around GFZ researchers Dr. Norbert Nowaczyk and Prof. Helge Arz, together with additional data from other studies in the North Atlantic, the South Pacific and Hawaii, prove that this polarity reversal was a global event. Their results are published in the latest issue of the scientific journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. What is remarkable is the speed of the reversal: "The field geometry of reversed polarity, with field lines pointing into the opposite direction when compared to today's configuration, lasted for only about 440 years, and it was associated with a field strength that was only one quarter of today's field," explains Norbert Nowaczyk. "The actual polarity changes lasted only 250 years. In terms of geological time scales, that is very fast." During this period, the field was even weaker, with only 5% of today's field strength. As a consequence, Earth nearly completely lost its protection shield against hard cosmic rays, leading to a significantly increased radiation exposure.
The human RH locus appears to consist of two structural genes, D and CE, which map on the short arm p34-36 of chromosome 1 and specify a most complex system of blood-group genetic polymorphisms. Here we describe a family study of the Evans (also known as "D..") phenotype, a codominant trait associated with both qualitative and quantitative changes in D-antigen expression. A cataract-causing mutation was also inherited in this family and was apparently cotransmitted with Evans, suggesting a chromosomal linkage of these two otherwise unrelated traits. Southern blot analysis and allele-specific PCR showed the linkage of Evans with a SphI RFLP marker and the presence of a hybrid gene in the RH locus. To delineate the pattern of gene expression, the composition and structure of Rh-polypeptide transcripts were characterized by reverse transcriptase-PCR and nucleotide sequencing. This resulted in the identification of a novel Rh transcript expressed only in the Evans-positive erythroid cells. Sequence analysis showed that the transcript maintained a normal open reading frame but occurred as a CE-D-CE composite in which exons 2-6 of the CE gene were replaced by the homologous counterpart of the D gene. This hybrid gene was predicted to encode a CE-D-CE fusion protein whose surface expression correlates with the Evans phenotype. The mode and consequence of such a recombination event suggest the occurrence, in the RH locus, of a segmental DNA transfer via the mechanism of gene conversion. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1914783/
The
grand revelation is that probably sixty percent or more of the
American people are descended from kings.
Such descent, shared by a majority of Americans with a sizable quantity of colonial ancestry, is usually derived through roughly 350 royally descended immigrants of the 17th and 18th centuries who have been well studied by various American scholars. They include David Faris (Plantagenet Ancestry of Seventeenth-Century Colonists, 2nd ed., NEHGS, 1999), myself (The Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants, GPC, 1993, 2nd ed. scheduled for 2002), Douglas Richardson, Paul C. Reed, Neil D. Thompson, Brice McAdoo Clagett, etc. A large number of these royal descents are adjusted every decade.
King Edward III has over 100 million living descendants. There are more than 30 million Americans with Royal or Noble ancestors, about one in ten, although most don't know it. Almost all of us have at least one ancestral line to Charlemagne or Charles Martel, and most of us have multiple lines. There are about the same number of Americans with documented Mayflower ancestors, and again, most don't know it.
Royal descent occurs, of course, because the younger sons and daughters of kings become or marry nobles; the younger sons and daughters of nobles become or marry landed gentry; the younger sons and daughters of landed gentry become bureaucrats or professionals (clerics, university fellows, lawyers, soldiers, etc.); and the younger sons and daughters of professional elites have become the middle-class citizenry of the Anglo-American and British-derived world, in the U.S., Canada, Australia, India, South Africa, etc. And kings and royal families, of course, were derived from barbarian chieftains who led the tribes that successfully invaded, and intermarried with the patriciate of, the late Roman Empire.
Most middle-class Americans with sizable colonial ancestry and many middle-class Europeans descend from a cluster of High Medieval kings - Plantagenets from England; Capetians from France; and Hohenstaufens from Germany. Because of various intermarriages with the families of Byzantine emperors, a large number of westerners can also trace kinship to the Safavid shahs of Persia and various Mughal princes of India. Speculative descents from many ancient world cultures have been the subject of much study in the last generation and are ably summarized by Don C. Stone in Ancient and Medieval Descents Project.
Eleventh cousins share on average 60-parts-per-billion of DNA, or about 180bp (although with wide variation due to the spotty nature of meiotic recombination: in fact, 99.5% of 11th cousins will share no stretches of DNA through recent descent at all, while the remaining 0.5% will typically share tens of thousands of bases). A study of inbreeding in European populations found that couples from the UK are, on average, as genetically related as 6th cousins. The study looked at inbreeding in Scots, and in children of one Orkadian and one non-Orkadian.
Such descent, shared by a majority of Americans with a sizable quantity of colonial ancestry, is usually derived through roughly 350 royally descended immigrants of the 17th and 18th centuries who have been well studied by various American scholars. They include David Faris (Plantagenet Ancestry of Seventeenth-Century Colonists, 2nd ed., NEHGS, 1999), myself (The Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants, GPC, 1993, 2nd ed. scheduled for 2002), Douglas Richardson, Paul C. Reed, Neil D. Thompson, Brice McAdoo Clagett, etc. A large number of these royal descents are adjusted every decade.
King Edward III has over 100 million living descendants. There are more than 30 million Americans with Royal or Noble ancestors, about one in ten, although most don't know it. Almost all of us have at least one ancestral line to Charlemagne or Charles Martel, and most of us have multiple lines. There are about the same number of Americans with documented Mayflower ancestors, and again, most don't know it.
Royal descent occurs, of course, because the younger sons and daughters of kings become or marry nobles; the younger sons and daughters of nobles become or marry landed gentry; the younger sons and daughters of landed gentry become bureaucrats or professionals (clerics, university fellows, lawyers, soldiers, etc.); and the younger sons and daughters of professional elites have become the middle-class citizenry of the Anglo-American and British-derived world, in the U.S., Canada, Australia, India, South Africa, etc. And kings and royal families, of course, were derived from barbarian chieftains who led the tribes that successfully invaded, and intermarried with the patriciate of, the late Roman Empire.
Most middle-class Americans with sizable colonial ancestry and many middle-class Europeans descend from a cluster of High Medieval kings - Plantagenets from England; Capetians from France; and Hohenstaufens from Germany. Because of various intermarriages with the families of Byzantine emperors, a large number of westerners can also trace kinship to the Safavid shahs of Persia and various Mughal princes of India. Speculative descents from many ancient world cultures have been the subject of much study in the last generation and are ably summarized by Don C. Stone in Ancient and Medieval Descents Project.
Eleventh cousins share on average 60-parts-per-billion of DNA, or about 180bp (although with wide variation due to the spotty nature of meiotic recombination: in fact, 99.5% of 11th cousins will share no stretches of DNA through recent descent at all, while the remaining 0.5% will typically share tens of thousands of bases). A study of inbreeding in European populations found that couples from the UK are, on average, as genetically related as 6th cousins. The study looked at inbreeding in Scots, and in children of one Orkadian and one non-Orkadian.
The Bloodline
Myths and Memes of the Genetic Matrix and Royal Lines
by Iona Miller, 12/2013
for Paranoia Magazine
Myths and Memes of the Genetic Matrix and Royal Lines
by Iona Miller, 12/2013
for Paranoia Magazine
Genealogy—the study of families and tracing their lineage through history—has become the world's biggest hobby, second only to sex online. What is little known is that the underground stream itself has spawned many underground scenes of varying credibility. Thus, before leaping to Web-generated memes about Reptilians, Anunnaki, Merovingians, Templars, Gnostics, Illuminati, Pendragons, Vampires, ancient aliens, holy blood, grail lines, god-kings, or "Luciferian consciousness," you might want to find out if you carry remnants in your own genes. Indeed, you may be strangling in your own roots.
To transcend our small selves, we need ever bigger stories. Conspiracy fans project their fascination for (or animosity toward) the Bloodline meme onto individuals and groups while the psyche fills in the blanks of our conscious understanding with imaginal, mythic material that is symbolic or metaphoric, not literal.
The gullible are increasing, preferring mythic confabulations, misconceptions, and self-delusion to pragmatic truth or statistical data. The appeal of unsubstantiated daisy chains of evidence is largely due to the need for emotional confirmation. Many seek evidence that will corroborate and ignore that which doesn't fit. For example, most Presidential candidates trace to colonial or revolutionary families, but so do millions of others. This is no "plot": an enormous number of tertiary people carry the bloodline with or without any knowledge or privilege.
The widely misunderstood "bloodline conspiracy" looks different from inside its own culture than it does outside. The best and perhaps only way to truly grasp its deeper meaning is from the inside out. For example, those who disbelieve the Grail paradigm might be surprised to find it turning up in their family tree. In fact, you might be able to read the history of the world in your own genealogical lines, in the lives of your great-grandparents. Find four to five generations and you plug into the World Tree.
Those actively pursuing their royal genealogies or involved in numerous organizations and loose-knit heritage groups often hold radically different viewpoints on the subject than the sensationalistic articles generated and endlessly recycled online. Seekers tend to be spiritual, metaphysical, or deeply religious and fascinated with certain eras, issues, or philosophies filled with magical personas, illustrious or nefarious ancestors, alternative lifestyles, etc. Most tend to be “lone wolves,” finding meaning only they value. Detractors tend to be profoundly skeptical, antagonistic, even political in that they believe "bloodlines" are malignant and controlling, perhaps even a nonhuman cabal of evil intent.
Clearly, bloodlines mean many things to many people.
Tired Memes
Interest in bloodlines is generally accompanied by a theory like ancient aliens or hybridization, like Zecharia Sitchin's Sumerian story, despite the fact that Sumerian bilingual dictionaries translate words in ways that totally contradict Sitchin. Take the meaning of Anunnaki. It is more like First Born, "those who unite heaven and earth," the living embodiment of “as above, so below,” much like The Magus in the Tarot. The source family is self-arising First Family, a fount of self-generation and self-knowledge.
Political viewpoints range from monarchist to anarchist theories about ruling elites who have a stranglehold on social control and bloodline. David Icke aggressively promotes his theory that elites are shape-shifting Reptilians, even accusing his ex-wife of being the same. His hysteria has earned him big money. Salacious stories may sell, but they are simply demonization and projection.
It is the effects, not the content, that tell the tale. Ongoing human oppression doesn't need aliens in order to exist, nor do ‘aliens’ absolve government and industry sociopaths. Highly placed scions of dynastic houses mostly deny alien influence anyway, though some are seduced by the notion. Icke himself is a pot calling the kettle black, given that he himself exploits the public. If he really cared about humanity, would he be charging for his so-called wisdom in the spiritual supermarket like other duplicitous, charismatic tricksters do?
Linking aliens, UFOs, and gov-crime with catastrophobia conveniently expands the potential audience, the irony being that such appeals probably do ignite the reptilian brainstem's deer-in- the-headlights primal fears.
Different memes (popular disinformation, viral ideas) capture our attention, sometimes to the point of obsession when symbolism mobilizes into a fugue that overwhelms the ego. Many claim they are the reincarnation of Mary Magdalene, Jesus, Crowley, the Antichrist, the "Men Who Would Be King," or various archetypal characters; others bury themselves in deciphering hidden codes or taking endless pilgrimages to search for treasure, relics, etc.
Tired memes are repeated over and over again as if mere repetition validates them. They cluster around wild tales of the Anunnaki and mythic beings, Rh negative blood, and allegations of racial difference, etc. Such notions originate from those unfamiliar with genealogy, their historical descent, or the basics of biology.
Rational facts are unlikely to dissuade anyone in a mystic marriage with mythic and emotional appeals. They don't want to hear evidence to the contrary because they are highly invested in their own identities and narratives, right or wrong. Those who are ego-invested have an even higher stake in being somehow "special."
Most views about bloodlines miss the point. Rather than an outside theory or opinion, the bloodline is a deeply integrative experience. Because it is experiential, it appears as a "calling" or mission unfolding like Joseph Campbell’s hero motif. The deep context of our global heritage is a mythic perspective suited to our age, culture, and sensibilities, symbols being the currency of consciousness. The highest symbol and value of our era is the Grail because it carries a different meaning for each individual in their quest for self-knowledge. So the reference to the Rose Line in The Da Vinci Code points to royal genealogies, and the Grail to the source of life or generativity.
It's All Relative
All of humanity is related many times over. Ancestors are the people you directly descend from, i.e. a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent, etc.--not extended family members. The more generations that people are separated by, the more their genetic relatedness exponentially plummets. With 25 years per generation, you had around 3 billion ancestors at the signing of the Magna Carta, 100 billion during the Norman invasion, and 2 quintillion (1018) when the Roman Empire fell. Earth did not contain a fraction of that population then, so we must be related to everyone on Earth many times over.
In fact, after only a few generations, a personal genealogy links to the World Tree, or as Dr. Carl Jung calls it the deeper collective unconscious in which the personal unconscious is embedded. This is the genetic matrix that holds a complete set of instincts and response patterns responsible for the survival of your two genetic streams.
Knowing your genealogy brings that invisible information into consciousness. Sometimes the knowledge is shocking, destabilizing, or permanently alters one's sense of self. Relatively speaking, there is something about knowing exactly who you are and where you come from.
Later monarchs descend many times over from earlier ones. Research suggests that everyone in the West is descended from Charlemagne, the entire world from the Ancient Egyptian royal house, and almost everyone from Confucius and Genghis Khan. Probably 60 percent or more Americans are descended from kings. Anthropologists claim that everyone on earth is a 40th cousin, and that any two people can find at least one common ancestor from about 800CE.
These findings do not necessarily bear any implications for our DNA. Genetic genealogy is the application of genetics to traditional genealogy and involves the use of genealogical DNA testing to determine the level of genetic relationship between individuals and archaic tribes. It provides evidence of tribal migrations, but none about the actual people in genealogical lines, much less their names or history.
Thus descent from someone does not mean you necessarily inherit any DNA from them. These findings do not conflict with the idea that most of your DNA is inherited from your local area. Descending from the Pharaohs does not mean it will be detected in your DNA. In fact, there may be no evidence at all of genealogical findings in humanity's DNA, and yet the findings can still be true.
Genetics, Not Genealogy
Genome sequencing indicates that modern humans interbred with other now-extinct species, including Neanderthal, Denisovian, and an unknown Asian species, possibly Homo heidelbergensis. Neanderthal relative Homo heidelbergensis were found in Spain and are over 500,000 years old. The relic biology of other hominids remains part of our genome (Nature). Western European DNA has shown up in Siberians and Native Americans.
Our early ancestors had only Type O blood. Around 40,000 years ago, mutations likely occurred and created A and B blood types, including a mutation from Rh positive to Rh negative in the Basque area of Europe—a mutation that probably ended in Types A and B from dominant genes that rapidly spread through the population.
What could cause such mutations in the Upper Paleolithic era? The Laschamp event was a short reversal of the Earth’s geomagnetic field 41,000 years ago with our magnetic shield decreasing to 5% and exposing humanity to unusual amounts of cosmic radiation. (During the last Ice Age ending 11,700 years ago, a compass at the Black Sea would have pointed south instead of north.) The transition lasted 250 years. Greater radiation meant a warm spell followed by a population explosion.
Genes mutate all the time; sometimes, a gene is "turned off." In large populations, even helpful mutations tend to get “swamped” by non-mutant genes and vanish over time. We determine genetic relationships among people by comparing sequences of nucleotides in their DNA.
DNA tells the stories of our forebears, from the first human who walked on the earth to YOU—whether our ancestors interbred with Neanderthals or took migratory paths. It all depends on what you want to know and your ability to interpret the genetic code. For example, the University of Arizona geneticists discovered that the oldest known branch of the human Y (male) chromosome is 300,000 years old, and yet scientific definitions of genetic ethnicity are not universally accepted. Even with both a pedigree and genetic genealogy tests, the results still need interpretation, given that different members of the same family can display different features: Scythians, Saxons, Gauls, Picts, Franks, Nordics, Iberians, and Celts tend to merge in the melding pot.
Two Y chromosomes that carry the same mutation share a common paternal ancestor at some point in the past. The more mutations that differ between two Y chromosomes, the further back in time that common ancestor lived. Mitochondrial DNA is passed only through the female line. Mitochondria are a symbiotic organism, a separate life form from ourselves that can live 15 generations. The living cells of your 15th great-grandparents are alive in you.
Even siblings may or may not inherit the slightest bit of any given ancestor or line. Thus, there is no single haplotype for the royal lines, nor any single identifying gene of that inheritance. Those with a royal genealogy may not have a single royal gene in their genome, making any claims of extraordinary inheritance moot.
From 15,000-7,500 years ago, most British ancestors were hunter-gatherers. Basque STRs (genetic markers used to identify a DNA sequence) reveal 21 founding clusters, which could only have arrived directly from Basque country, given that their descendant twigs are unique to the British Isles.
A single DNA change led to the blue, green, hazel, and other "mood eye" colors. While the “red gene” is significant, it may or may not distinguish noble ancestors. Neanderthals also had red hair, but studies show that the mutation responsible differs from the cause of red hair in modern humans. Genetic drift favors the fair skinned because they can absorb more Vitamin D in less-sunny northern climes, and it helps to retain heat.
Genetics demonstrates that traits are not preferentially inherited from the ancestral matrix. While you may have a demonstrable royal line, you inherit far more genetics from commoners whose lines were not recorded. While it is true that the Y-haplotype is passed directly from father to son, generation after generation, we all also inherit the even more persistent mitochondrial DNA from our maternal ancestors—up to 400 generations or so.
With mtDNA, the surname changes each generation. Every once in a while a mutation—a random, natural (and usually harmless) change—occurs in that sequence like a spelling mistake. After one of these mutations occurs, a woman passes it on to her daughters, and her daughters' daughters, and so on. Sons also inherit mtDNA, but the sons do not pass it on. Geneticists use these markers to construct one global mitochondrial family tree.
No one knows where Rhesus negative blood (Rh-) originates. It simply means that the blood doesn't have any Rhesus antigens on the surface of the red blood cells. Absence of a protein does not have to originate from anywhere. Rh+ has the antigen; Rh- does not. The gene quit working.
There is nothing alien here. Actually the absence of our own genes produces the RhD antigen. Transport of CO2 is the ancestral function of Rh proteins; it potentially helped breathing in northern climes. The role of RhD is to help maintain the flexible, flattened shape of the red cell.
Plausibly, a mutation on the first chromosome rendered Rh- individuals incapable of producing functional Rhesus proteins. Few have it because it is a recessive trait. Five percent of the global population is currently Rh-. It rises to 15% in the UK and USA, and 50% in the Basques descending from indigenous Paleolithic inhabitants.
Conceivably, only one sibling in a dozen might be Rh-, descended from Rh+ parents. Even siblings get varied genetic packages and may not have genes from all the ethnicities or ancestors of their genealogical lines. There are different ethnic signatures. Some siblings might carry the signature of Native ancestry, others not.
As a recessive trait, Rh- blood may or may not express in a family. It could be ten or more generations since anyone had Rh negative blood in his/her family. To express it, both parents must carry the recessive gene. Two parents who have O+ blood could easily have an O- child. Most O- children have parents who are positive. Some or perhaps none of a couple's children will inherit the trait. Siblings can be mixed Rh- with other blood types that are dominant.
Some people wrongly believe that O- blood is "pure" or "alien” when the truth is that every group genetically overlaps with every other. There is no singular gene, mutation, allele, STR or SNP that tells the whole story. Clusters of mutations show deep relationship patterns of regional origin in some individuals. No DNA report is 100% conclusive; it is a statistical “educated guess,” and many families conduct their own DNA research projects.
The Scourge of In-Breeding
Certain diseases, like hemophilia, run in the royal lines. Symptoms of porphyria, a genetic blood disease, gave rise to folktales of vampirism. Like the First Born, porphyria began at the beginning of time not as one condition but as a group of diseases, sometimes including psychiatric symptoms, psychotic breaks, coma and catatonia, bipolar and schizophrenic disorders.
The Great Rite of sexual magic included brother-sister marriage. The "Sacred Marriage," hieros gamos, of ancient Sumer was the origin of all such rites found in later civilizations. It ensured continuation and renewal and conserved sovereignty, wealth and social control in the same families; they bred their horses and themselves in the same way. Modern research reveals that inbreeding changes the shape of the genetic covariance matrix.
Porphyria sufferers have pallid skin color and diseased receding gums that make their teeth appear larger than normal. Given their severe anemia, the traditional treatment would have been to drink (animal) blood. Suggestions that porphyria sufferers crave heme in human blood or that consuming blood might ease symptoms, is based on misunderstanding and medically ignorant superstition. Phlebotomy or bloodletting was the treatment of choice for many disorders.
Roughly 1,000 years ago, porphyria was more common than elsewhere in small Transylvanian villages where inbreeding probably occurred. Ironically, it arose in ancient Sun-worshipping cultures. The heme groups in porphyria sufferers cause uncontrollable tissue, bone and blistering skin damage, made worse under sunlight.
Vampire legends trace back at least 4,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia, the root of all Western royal lines. The Greeks and Celts had similar creatures in their folklore, and Indian mythology featured shape-shifter vampires who took over dead bodies for their own use. Nomads carried vampire legends to the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. Symptoms were thus overlaid with myth; photosensitivity and personality change created a daunting specter, especially in rulers.
Porphyria was introduced into the House of Stuart via Henry VIII’s sister, Margaret Tudor, who married James IV of Scotland. The Stuarts and Hanoverians carried the disorder into Europe through various alliances, and subsequent intermarriages increased the likelihood of passing it down through the generations. Porphyria can be traced through the Stuarts, Tudors, and Hanovers. Katherine of Valois probably brought it from France since her father Charles VI was a "typical porph." Some Scots families went from Brittany to England to Scotland with the Stewarts, picking up the porphyria gene.
Genealogy, Not Genetics
Life and consciousness are the ultimate emergent phenomena, but their real origin remains veiled in mystery. We are cosmic psychophysical beings whose core reaches into the microcosm of quantum dynamics and the still center of Zero-Point.
Genealogy, not genetics, can function as a therapeutic portal much like dreams or symptoms, allowing us to enter the imaginal dimension. Genealogy is about identity, not identification. It is an art, a quest for truth within, mobilizing the soul for creative self-expression, self-discovery and self-healing.
In imaginal dialogues it doesn’t matter what you say, but what they say back. Much benefit and fulfillment comes simply by remembering, writing, recording, sharing, painting, enacting or otherwise birthing into the physical world. Genealogy takes tremendous effort, affecting the psyche with both known and unknown historical and imaginal elements. It has its own magic, alchemy, and synchronicities.
You have ancestors from whom you have no DNA. Your individual DNA fingerprint depends on how the chromosomes line up at conception, with some traits from both parents’ potentials there and some excluded. Two siblings can be redheads, others not; two can have family medical problems, others not; two Rh negative, others not. We may find things we never imagined and find no evidence for known traits in our lineage.
In genealogy, direct line refers to parent to child, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. Direct-line research is genealogy focusing on one's direct-line ancestors. Proving a direct line of descent is generally required for membership in heritage societies. Blood relations refers to the Underground Stream, the Red River of Memories flowing within us. The Blood is real and fresh, flowing in our veins.
By contrast, collateral line describes family relationships not in direct descent: siblings, spouses, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Just seven generations back, we have over 200 people in our immediate father-mother, grandfather-grandmother line.
Epigenetics is the heritable changes in gene activity not caused by changes in the DNA sequence but instead rooted in our ancestors' experience. Genes are expressed or silenced, depending on famine or fortune.
Some seek social status through their genealogies when other avenues elude them; in quest of identity, they wind up finding the Shadow. Others use the genealogy to build a persona or mystique to be their main way of connecting in the world, an excessive commitment to a social mask or psychological armor. Recovery—the aim of individuation—means re-adapting to outer life.
As previously indicated, many who discover their noble lines leap to royal ego trips, declaring themselves princes of imaginal realms, seeking spurious titles. The unconscious psyche can either produce material for great wisdom or churn out endless rubbish and trickster distortions. Ego inflation by identifying with an archetype or, in pathological cases, with a historical or religious figure is merely overexpansion attempting to reach beyond individual limitations.
No credible DNA experts support such memes or mystification. An individual living today carries only 3/1000 of 1% of an ancestor's "pure" DNA of 15 generations (360 years) ago. Even with today’s technology, the line is simply untraceable in autosomal DNA. (Miller)
Grail houses can have different Y haplogroups (paternal) as well as different mtDNA (maternal) signatures, and typical medical problems of a line don’t all appear in one individual. And yet while the hereditary factor determining male sex passes unchanged from father to son, there is no exclusive or conclusive DNA signature for Grail lineage or unbroken dynastic Houses. Gaps in the legends, histories, and pedigrees still require interpretation, if not leaps of imagination. Dynastic Houses and "mixed blood" both refer to the same recognized source material.
Flaws in statistical sampling can lead to misinterpretations, especially in small samplings and comparison studies. Our conclusions about our own DNA tests are, in part, interpretations of an interpretation. We can only draw inferences about the past based on the patterns observed in human DNA. And this is what keeps our quest alive.
Curated Lines
Any viable genealogy must be curated with citations and evidence at every stage. But again, it is a matter of interpretation. Once you locate a gateway ancestor—one who links your family to a known noble ancestry—the door opens to a world of recorded and published pedigrees that can lead back to royalty. These gateways provide a personal link to the highly inbred medieval world in the form of descents from medieval kings, queens, popes, crusaders, troubadours, heroes, villains, and saints.
Genealogy without proofs is speculative, and even those lines accepted as "best practice" in genealogy have gaps and presumptions that ultimately lead back to mythical progenitors like Wotan, Hercules, or Aphrodite—and yes, even Cain.
Early immigrants with traceable royal ancestry are the best gateways, but not really out of any class-oriented prejudice. Most Europeans descend largely from farmers who migrated out of the Middle East 9,000 years ago. As offspring left their parents’ farms and moved into new territory, they interbred with existing hunter-gatherer populations. This produced gradients of genetic change radiating from the Middle East. The genes of indigenous people remained intact only in mountainous areas like the Pyrenees of the Basque. Other historical events influenced the European gene pool, like the genetic trail leading from the area north of the Black and Caspian Seas into the rest of Europe—a trail that helped spread the descendants of nomadic warriors and herders who first domesticated the horse about 4,000BCE.
Among the early European immigrants of the Americas, individuals with noble connections are likely to be traceable to a far larger number of ancestors. Chances are that the line from your gateway ancestor leads to Charlemagne. Most of these ascents go through English or French kings, such as Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, back to the Merovingians.
Do the Math and Get Over It
Most Americans with sizable New England Yankee, mid-Atlantic Quaker, or Southern "planter" ancestry are descended from medieval royals, especially kings of England, Scotland, and France. Follow those lines back into the mists of pre-history and you will find direct links to all so-called racial divisions, though most of our ancestors will remain "invisible."
Among direct ancestors, ancient royal lines include Asian Siberians and Han Chinese dynasties, sub-Saharan African, Jewish, and Muslim lines. Some have Turkish, Persian, and Indian lines. Ultimately, this means "race" is an illusion, excepting the human race. The math backs this up, indicating we are all related within perhaps forty generations.
So you find you come from royalty—get over it! The Pyramid Theory, a doubling of ancestors each generation back, claims you have 2,048 ancestors by the 12th generation past, and possibly 60,000 direct ancestors going back to the Crusades. By Generation 40, you would have more than one trillion ancestors!
We are at the temporary end of a long and winding genetic journey that continues after and through us. We are probably all connected by 25th great-grandparents and descendants (or related) of almost everyone alive some 700 years ago. Genealogical evidence shows that many families intermarried for generations. You have possibly 60,000 direct ancestors going back to the Crusades.
When a determined gene survives intact through all those descendants and becomes a particle of memory, it may give you a dejá vu once in a while. Ancestral memories may not be of actual events—not to be confused with the idea of past lives or reincarnation—but of reactive response patterns and emotional states brought about by environment. The past has gone and the future has yet to come. All we ever have is the present.
So how do we relate to those we perceive as kin? Anthropologist Nancy Thornhill contends that the prohibitions against incestuous marriages in most societies are not public-health measures to reduce birth defects, but are the society's way of fighting back against extended families and elitism.
Successful coalitions and charlatans may pose as "kin.” Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker warns that misperceived kinship makes people vulnerable to manipulation and cultish mind control, kinship being in the mind of the beholder.
It isn't merely our noble genealogy shared with millions that makes us who we are. What is unique is our personal reaction to such knowledge and how our relationship with it evolves as we assimilate and integrate that expanded awareness—the Mystery of the whole matter that we are all in it together.
We need to know genealogy much like we need to know physics and psychology: to comprehend what matter is as well as what makes us matter. We have thousands of unpreserved ancestor lines, making the small slice of royal descent largely archetypal and material. The part stands for the Whole—this embodies the cosmic process of Big History.
References
The Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/04/the-genetic-archaeology-of-race/2180/
Banyan, Will, Paranoia Magazine, http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/2013/01/the-tangled-web-icke-weaves-who-is-behind-david-ickes-freedom-foundation/
Bryner, Jeanna, One Common Ancestor Behind Blue Eyes, January 31, 2008. http://www.livescience.com/9578-common-ancestor-blue-eyes.html
“Cosmic rays reveal event in Earth's magnetic field history,” Nov 29, 2012, Journal of Geophysical Research, http://phys.org/news/2012-11-cosmic-rays-reveal-event-earth.html
Miller, Iona, 2013, “Jungian Genealogy,” http://jungiangenealogy.weebly.com/
Miller, Iona, 2013, “Sangreality Now,” http://sangreality.weebly.com/index.html
Miller, Iona, 2013, Porphyria Theory”, http://trianglebook.weebly.com/porphyria-theory.html
Nowaczyk, Dr. Norbert and Prof. Helge Arz, Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
Oppenheimer, Stephen, “Myths of British ancestry,” October 2006, Prospect, https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/mythsofbritishancestryrevisited/#.Uo1R5HcvY_M
Pinker, Steven, 2007, “Strangled by Roots,” http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2007.06.08_thenewrepublic.pdf
Stolte, Daniel, "Human Y chromosome much older than previously thought,” American Journal of Human Genetics, March 4, 2013 http://phys.org/news/2013-03-human-chromosome-older-previously-thought.html#jCp
Yong, Ed, “Americas’ natives have European roots The oldest known genome of a modern human solves long-standing puzzles about the New World's genetic heritage,” Nature, 20 November 2013, www.nature.com/news/americas-natives-have-european-roots-1.14213
http://bloodjournal.org/content/95/12/3662?ck=nck&variant=full-text
RHD gene deletion occurred in the Rhesus box
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/29/1021233/-Khazars-and-Jews
About the Author Iona Miller has traced her own bloodline back to Sumeria, been in many so-called Dragon groups, and is an advisor to the peer-reviewed DNA Decipher Journal and other scientific journals. She is a clinical hypnotherapist, multimedia artist, and nonfiction writer for academic and popular presses. Her main site is http://ionamiller.weebly.com.
To transcend our small selves, we need ever bigger stories. Conspiracy fans project their fascination for (or animosity toward) the Bloodline meme onto individuals and groups while the psyche fills in the blanks of our conscious understanding with imaginal, mythic material that is symbolic or metaphoric, not literal.
The gullible are increasing, preferring mythic confabulations, misconceptions, and self-delusion to pragmatic truth or statistical data. The appeal of unsubstantiated daisy chains of evidence is largely due to the need for emotional confirmation. Many seek evidence that will corroborate and ignore that which doesn't fit. For example, most Presidential candidates trace to colonial or revolutionary families, but so do millions of others. This is no "plot": an enormous number of tertiary people carry the bloodline with or without any knowledge or privilege.
The widely misunderstood "bloodline conspiracy" looks different from inside its own culture than it does outside. The best and perhaps only way to truly grasp its deeper meaning is from the inside out. For example, those who disbelieve the Grail paradigm might be surprised to find it turning up in their family tree. In fact, you might be able to read the history of the world in your own genealogical lines, in the lives of your great-grandparents. Find four to five generations and you plug into the World Tree.
Those actively pursuing their royal genealogies or involved in numerous organizations and loose-knit heritage groups often hold radically different viewpoints on the subject than the sensationalistic articles generated and endlessly recycled online. Seekers tend to be spiritual, metaphysical, or deeply religious and fascinated with certain eras, issues, or philosophies filled with magical personas, illustrious or nefarious ancestors, alternative lifestyles, etc. Most tend to be “lone wolves,” finding meaning only they value. Detractors tend to be profoundly skeptical, antagonistic, even political in that they believe "bloodlines" are malignant and controlling, perhaps even a nonhuman cabal of evil intent.
Clearly, bloodlines mean many things to many people.
Tired Memes
Interest in bloodlines is generally accompanied by a theory like ancient aliens or hybridization, like Zecharia Sitchin's Sumerian story, despite the fact that Sumerian bilingual dictionaries translate words in ways that totally contradict Sitchin. Take the meaning of Anunnaki. It is more like First Born, "those who unite heaven and earth," the living embodiment of “as above, so below,” much like The Magus in the Tarot. The source family is self-arising First Family, a fount of self-generation and self-knowledge.
Political viewpoints range from monarchist to anarchist theories about ruling elites who have a stranglehold on social control and bloodline. David Icke aggressively promotes his theory that elites are shape-shifting Reptilians, even accusing his ex-wife of being the same. His hysteria has earned him big money. Salacious stories may sell, but they are simply demonization and projection.
It is the effects, not the content, that tell the tale. Ongoing human oppression doesn't need aliens in order to exist, nor do ‘aliens’ absolve government and industry sociopaths. Highly placed scions of dynastic houses mostly deny alien influence anyway, though some are seduced by the notion. Icke himself is a pot calling the kettle black, given that he himself exploits the public. If he really cared about humanity, would he be charging for his so-called wisdom in the spiritual supermarket like other duplicitous, charismatic tricksters do?
Linking aliens, UFOs, and gov-crime with catastrophobia conveniently expands the potential audience, the irony being that such appeals probably do ignite the reptilian brainstem's deer-in- the-headlights primal fears.
Different memes (popular disinformation, viral ideas) capture our attention, sometimes to the point of obsession when symbolism mobilizes into a fugue that overwhelms the ego. Many claim they are the reincarnation of Mary Magdalene, Jesus, Crowley, the Antichrist, the "Men Who Would Be King," or various archetypal characters; others bury themselves in deciphering hidden codes or taking endless pilgrimages to search for treasure, relics, etc.
Tired memes are repeated over and over again as if mere repetition validates them. They cluster around wild tales of the Anunnaki and mythic beings, Rh negative blood, and allegations of racial difference, etc. Such notions originate from those unfamiliar with genealogy, their historical descent, or the basics of biology.
Rational facts are unlikely to dissuade anyone in a mystic marriage with mythic and emotional appeals. They don't want to hear evidence to the contrary because they are highly invested in their own identities and narratives, right or wrong. Those who are ego-invested have an even higher stake in being somehow "special."
Most views about bloodlines miss the point. Rather than an outside theory or opinion, the bloodline is a deeply integrative experience. Because it is experiential, it appears as a "calling" or mission unfolding like Joseph Campbell’s hero motif. The deep context of our global heritage is a mythic perspective suited to our age, culture, and sensibilities, symbols being the currency of consciousness. The highest symbol and value of our era is the Grail because it carries a different meaning for each individual in their quest for self-knowledge. So the reference to the Rose Line in The Da Vinci Code points to royal genealogies, and the Grail to the source of life or generativity.
It's All Relative
All of humanity is related many times over. Ancestors are the people you directly descend from, i.e. a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent, etc.--not extended family members. The more generations that people are separated by, the more their genetic relatedness exponentially plummets. With 25 years per generation, you had around 3 billion ancestors at the signing of the Magna Carta, 100 billion during the Norman invasion, and 2 quintillion (1018) when the Roman Empire fell. Earth did not contain a fraction of that population then, so we must be related to everyone on Earth many times over.
In fact, after only a few generations, a personal genealogy links to the World Tree, or as Dr. Carl Jung calls it the deeper collective unconscious in which the personal unconscious is embedded. This is the genetic matrix that holds a complete set of instincts and response patterns responsible for the survival of your two genetic streams.
Knowing your genealogy brings that invisible information into consciousness. Sometimes the knowledge is shocking, destabilizing, or permanently alters one's sense of self. Relatively speaking, there is something about knowing exactly who you are and where you come from.
Later monarchs descend many times over from earlier ones. Research suggests that everyone in the West is descended from Charlemagne, the entire world from the Ancient Egyptian royal house, and almost everyone from Confucius and Genghis Khan. Probably 60 percent or more Americans are descended from kings. Anthropologists claim that everyone on earth is a 40th cousin, and that any two people can find at least one common ancestor from about 800CE.
These findings do not necessarily bear any implications for our DNA. Genetic genealogy is the application of genetics to traditional genealogy and involves the use of genealogical DNA testing to determine the level of genetic relationship between individuals and archaic tribes. It provides evidence of tribal migrations, but none about the actual people in genealogical lines, much less their names or history.
Thus descent from someone does not mean you necessarily inherit any DNA from them. These findings do not conflict with the idea that most of your DNA is inherited from your local area. Descending from the Pharaohs does not mean it will be detected in your DNA. In fact, there may be no evidence at all of genealogical findings in humanity's DNA, and yet the findings can still be true.
Genetics, Not Genealogy
Genome sequencing indicates that modern humans interbred with other now-extinct species, including Neanderthal, Denisovian, and an unknown Asian species, possibly Homo heidelbergensis. Neanderthal relative Homo heidelbergensis were found in Spain and are over 500,000 years old. The relic biology of other hominids remains part of our genome (Nature). Western European DNA has shown up in Siberians and Native Americans.
Our early ancestors had only Type O blood. Around 40,000 years ago, mutations likely occurred and created A and B blood types, including a mutation from Rh positive to Rh negative in the Basque area of Europe—a mutation that probably ended in Types A and B from dominant genes that rapidly spread through the population.
What could cause such mutations in the Upper Paleolithic era? The Laschamp event was a short reversal of the Earth’s geomagnetic field 41,000 years ago with our magnetic shield decreasing to 5% and exposing humanity to unusual amounts of cosmic radiation. (During the last Ice Age ending 11,700 years ago, a compass at the Black Sea would have pointed south instead of north.) The transition lasted 250 years. Greater radiation meant a warm spell followed by a population explosion.
Genes mutate all the time; sometimes, a gene is "turned off." In large populations, even helpful mutations tend to get “swamped” by non-mutant genes and vanish over time. We determine genetic relationships among people by comparing sequences of nucleotides in their DNA.
DNA tells the stories of our forebears, from the first human who walked on the earth to YOU—whether our ancestors interbred with Neanderthals or took migratory paths. It all depends on what you want to know and your ability to interpret the genetic code. For example, the University of Arizona geneticists discovered that the oldest known branch of the human Y (male) chromosome is 300,000 years old, and yet scientific definitions of genetic ethnicity are not universally accepted. Even with both a pedigree and genetic genealogy tests, the results still need interpretation, given that different members of the same family can display different features: Scythians, Saxons, Gauls, Picts, Franks, Nordics, Iberians, and Celts tend to merge in the melding pot.
Two Y chromosomes that carry the same mutation share a common paternal ancestor at some point in the past. The more mutations that differ between two Y chromosomes, the further back in time that common ancestor lived. Mitochondrial DNA is passed only through the female line. Mitochondria are a symbiotic organism, a separate life form from ourselves that can live 15 generations. The living cells of your 15th great-grandparents are alive in you.
Even siblings may or may not inherit the slightest bit of any given ancestor or line. Thus, there is no single haplotype for the royal lines, nor any single identifying gene of that inheritance. Those with a royal genealogy may not have a single royal gene in their genome, making any claims of extraordinary inheritance moot.
From 15,000-7,500 years ago, most British ancestors were hunter-gatherers. Basque STRs (genetic markers used to identify a DNA sequence) reveal 21 founding clusters, which could only have arrived directly from Basque country, given that their descendant twigs are unique to the British Isles.
A single DNA change led to the blue, green, hazel, and other "mood eye" colors. While the “red gene” is significant, it may or may not distinguish noble ancestors. Neanderthals also had red hair, but studies show that the mutation responsible differs from the cause of red hair in modern humans. Genetic drift favors the fair skinned because they can absorb more Vitamin D in less-sunny northern climes, and it helps to retain heat.
Genetics demonstrates that traits are not preferentially inherited from the ancestral matrix. While you may have a demonstrable royal line, you inherit far more genetics from commoners whose lines were not recorded. While it is true that the Y-haplotype is passed directly from father to son, generation after generation, we all also inherit the even more persistent mitochondrial DNA from our maternal ancestors—up to 400 generations or so.
With mtDNA, the surname changes each generation. Every once in a while a mutation—a random, natural (and usually harmless) change—occurs in that sequence like a spelling mistake. After one of these mutations occurs, a woman passes it on to her daughters, and her daughters' daughters, and so on. Sons also inherit mtDNA, but the sons do not pass it on. Geneticists use these markers to construct one global mitochondrial family tree.
No one knows where Rhesus negative blood (Rh-) originates. It simply means that the blood doesn't have any Rhesus antigens on the surface of the red blood cells. Absence of a protein does not have to originate from anywhere. Rh+ has the antigen; Rh- does not. The gene quit working.
There is nothing alien here. Actually the absence of our own genes produces the RhD antigen. Transport of CO2 is the ancestral function of Rh proteins; it potentially helped breathing in northern climes. The role of RhD is to help maintain the flexible, flattened shape of the red cell.
Plausibly, a mutation on the first chromosome rendered Rh- individuals incapable of producing functional Rhesus proteins. Few have it because it is a recessive trait. Five percent of the global population is currently Rh-. It rises to 15% in the UK and USA, and 50% in the Basques descending from indigenous Paleolithic inhabitants.
Conceivably, only one sibling in a dozen might be Rh-, descended from Rh+ parents. Even siblings get varied genetic packages and may not have genes from all the ethnicities or ancestors of their genealogical lines. There are different ethnic signatures. Some siblings might carry the signature of Native ancestry, others not.
As a recessive trait, Rh- blood may or may not express in a family. It could be ten or more generations since anyone had Rh negative blood in his/her family. To express it, both parents must carry the recessive gene. Two parents who have O+ blood could easily have an O- child. Most O- children have parents who are positive. Some or perhaps none of a couple's children will inherit the trait. Siblings can be mixed Rh- with other blood types that are dominant.
Some people wrongly believe that O- blood is "pure" or "alien” when the truth is that every group genetically overlaps with every other. There is no singular gene, mutation, allele, STR or SNP that tells the whole story. Clusters of mutations show deep relationship patterns of regional origin in some individuals. No DNA report is 100% conclusive; it is a statistical “educated guess,” and many families conduct their own DNA research projects.
The Scourge of In-Breeding
Certain diseases, like hemophilia, run in the royal lines. Symptoms of porphyria, a genetic blood disease, gave rise to folktales of vampirism. Like the First Born, porphyria began at the beginning of time not as one condition but as a group of diseases, sometimes including psychiatric symptoms, psychotic breaks, coma and catatonia, bipolar and schizophrenic disorders.
The Great Rite of sexual magic included brother-sister marriage. The "Sacred Marriage," hieros gamos, of ancient Sumer was the origin of all such rites found in later civilizations. It ensured continuation and renewal and conserved sovereignty, wealth and social control in the same families; they bred their horses and themselves in the same way. Modern research reveals that inbreeding changes the shape of the genetic covariance matrix.
Porphyria sufferers have pallid skin color and diseased receding gums that make their teeth appear larger than normal. Given their severe anemia, the traditional treatment would have been to drink (animal) blood. Suggestions that porphyria sufferers crave heme in human blood or that consuming blood might ease symptoms, is based on misunderstanding and medically ignorant superstition. Phlebotomy or bloodletting was the treatment of choice for many disorders.
Roughly 1,000 years ago, porphyria was more common than elsewhere in small Transylvanian villages where inbreeding probably occurred. Ironically, it arose in ancient Sun-worshipping cultures. The heme groups in porphyria sufferers cause uncontrollable tissue, bone and blistering skin damage, made worse under sunlight.
Vampire legends trace back at least 4,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia, the root of all Western royal lines. The Greeks and Celts had similar creatures in their folklore, and Indian mythology featured shape-shifter vampires who took over dead bodies for their own use. Nomads carried vampire legends to the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. Symptoms were thus overlaid with myth; photosensitivity and personality change created a daunting specter, especially in rulers.
Porphyria was introduced into the House of Stuart via Henry VIII’s sister, Margaret Tudor, who married James IV of Scotland. The Stuarts and Hanoverians carried the disorder into Europe through various alliances, and subsequent intermarriages increased the likelihood of passing it down through the generations. Porphyria can be traced through the Stuarts, Tudors, and Hanovers. Katherine of Valois probably brought it from France since her father Charles VI was a "typical porph." Some Scots families went from Brittany to England to Scotland with the Stewarts, picking up the porphyria gene.
Genealogy, Not Genetics
Life and consciousness are the ultimate emergent phenomena, but their real origin remains veiled in mystery. We are cosmic psychophysical beings whose core reaches into the microcosm of quantum dynamics and the still center of Zero-Point.
Genealogy, not genetics, can function as a therapeutic portal much like dreams or symptoms, allowing us to enter the imaginal dimension. Genealogy is about identity, not identification. It is an art, a quest for truth within, mobilizing the soul for creative self-expression, self-discovery and self-healing.
In imaginal dialogues it doesn’t matter what you say, but what they say back. Much benefit and fulfillment comes simply by remembering, writing, recording, sharing, painting, enacting or otherwise birthing into the physical world. Genealogy takes tremendous effort, affecting the psyche with both known and unknown historical and imaginal elements. It has its own magic, alchemy, and synchronicities.
You have ancestors from whom you have no DNA. Your individual DNA fingerprint depends on how the chromosomes line up at conception, with some traits from both parents’ potentials there and some excluded. Two siblings can be redheads, others not; two can have family medical problems, others not; two Rh negative, others not. We may find things we never imagined and find no evidence for known traits in our lineage.
In genealogy, direct line refers to parent to child, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. Direct-line research is genealogy focusing on one's direct-line ancestors. Proving a direct line of descent is generally required for membership in heritage societies. Blood relations refers to the Underground Stream, the Red River of Memories flowing within us. The Blood is real and fresh, flowing in our veins.
By contrast, collateral line describes family relationships not in direct descent: siblings, spouses, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Just seven generations back, we have over 200 people in our immediate father-mother, grandfather-grandmother line.
Epigenetics is the heritable changes in gene activity not caused by changes in the DNA sequence but instead rooted in our ancestors' experience. Genes are expressed or silenced, depending on famine or fortune.
Some seek social status through their genealogies when other avenues elude them; in quest of identity, they wind up finding the Shadow. Others use the genealogy to build a persona or mystique to be their main way of connecting in the world, an excessive commitment to a social mask or psychological armor. Recovery—the aim of individuation—means re-adapting to outer life.
As previously indicated, many who discover their noble lines leap to royal ego trips, declaring themselves princes of imaginal realms, seeking spurious titles. The unconscious psyche can either produce material for great wisdom or churn out endless rubbish and trickster distortions. Ego inflation by identifying with an archetype or, in pathological cases, with a historical or religious figure is merely overexpansion attempting to reach beyond individual limitations.
No credible DNA experts support such memes or mystification. An individual living today carries only 3/1000 of 1% of an ancestor's "pure" DNA of 15 generations (360 years) ago. Even with today’s technology, the line is simply untraceable in autosomal DNA. (Miller)
Grail houses can have different Y haplogroups (paternal) as well as different mtDNA (maternal) signatures, and typical medical problems of a line don’t all appear in one individual. And yet while the hereditary factor determining male sex passes unchanged from father to son, there is no exclusive or conclusive DNA signature for Grail lineage or unbroken dynastic Houses. Gaps in the legends, histories, and pedigrees still require interpretation, if not leaps of imagination. Dynastic Houses and "mixed blood" both refer to the same recognized source material.
Flaws in statistical sampling can lead to misinterpretations, especially in small samplings and comparison studies. Our conclusions about our own DNA tests are, in part, interpretations of an interpretation. We can only draw inferences about the past based on the patterns observed in human DNA. And this is what keeps our quest alive.
Curated Lines
Any viable genealogy must be curated with citations and evidence at every stage. But again, it is a matter of interpretation. Once you locate a gateway ancestor—one who links your family to a known noble ancestry—the door opens to a world of recorded and published pedigrees that can lead back to royalty. These gateways provide a personal link to the highly inbred medieval world in the form of descents from medieval kings, queens, popes, crusaders, troubadours, heroes, villains, and saints.
Genealogy without proofs is speculative, and even those lines accepted as "best practice" in genealogy have gaps and presumptions that ultimately lead back to mythical progenitors like Wotan, Hercules, or Aphrodite—and yes, even Cain.
Early immigrants with traceable royal ancestry are the best gateways, but not really out of any class-oriented prejudice. Most Europeans descend largely from farmers who migrated out of the Middle East 9,000 years ago. As offspring left their parents’ farms and moved into new territory, they interbred with existing hunter-gatherer populations. This produced gradients of genetic change radiating from the Middle East. The genes of indigenous people remained intact only in mountainous areas like the Pyrenees of the Basque. Other historical events influenced the European gene pool, like the genetic trail leading from the area north of the Black and Caspian Seas into the rest of Europe—a trail that helped spread the descendants of nomadic warriors and herders who first domesticated the horse about 4,000BCE.
Among the early European immigrants of the Americas, individuals with noble connections are likely to be traceable to a far larger number of ancestors. Chances are that the line from your gateway ancestor leads to Charlemagne. Most of these ascents go through English or French kings, such as Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, back to the Merovingians.
Do the Math and Get Over It
Most Americans with sizable New England Yankee, mid-Atlantic Quaker, or Southern "planter" ancestry are descended from medieval royals, especially kings of England, Scotland, and France. Follow those lines back into the mists of pre-history and you will find direct links to all so-called racial divisions, though most of our ancestors will remain "invisible."
Among direct ancestors, ancient royal lines include Asian Siberians and Han Chinese dynasties, sub-Saharan African, Jewish, and Muslim lines. Some have Turkish, Persian, and Indian lines. Ultimately, this means "race" is an illusion, excepting the human race. The math backs this up, indicating we are all related within perhaps forty generations.
So you find you come from royalty—get over it! The Pyramid Theory, a doubling of ancestors each generation back, claims you have 2,048 ancestors by the 12th generation past, and possibly 60,000 direct ancestors going back to the Crusades. By Generation 40, you would have more than one trillion ancestors!
We are at the temporary end of a long and winding genetic journey that continues after and through us. We are probably all connected by 25th great-grandparents and descendants (or related) of almost everyone alive some 700 years ago. Genealogical evidence shows that many families intermarried for generations. You have possibly 60,000 direct ancestors going back to the Crusades.
When a determined gene survives intact through all those descendants and becomes a particle of memory, it may give you a dejá vu once in a while. Ancestral memories may not be of actual events—not to be confused with the idea of past lives or reincarnation—but of reactive response patterns and emotional states brought about by environment. The past has gone and the future has yet to come. All we ever have is the present.
So how do we relate to those we perceive as kin? Anthropologist Nancy Thornhill contends that the prohibitions against incestuous marriages in most societies are not public-health measures to reduce birth defects, but are the society's way of fighting back against extended families and elitism.
Successful coalitions and charlatans may pose as "kin.” Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker warns that misperceived kinship makes people vulnerable to manipulation and cultish mind control, kinship being in the mind of the beholder.
It isn't merely our noble genealogy shared with millions that makes us who we are. What is unique is our personal reaction to such knowledge and how our relationship with it evolves as we assimilate and integrate that expanded awareness—the Mystery of the whole matter that we are all in it together.
We need to know genealogy much like we need to know physics and psychology: to comprehend what matter is as well as what makes us matter. We have thousands of unpreserved ancestor lines, making the small slice of royal descent largely archetypal and material. The part stands for the Whole—this embodies the cosmic process of Big History.
References
The Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/04/the-genetic-archaeology-of-race/2180/
Banyan, Will, Paranoia Magazine, http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/2013/01/the-tangled-web-icke-weaves-who-is-behind-david-ickes-freedom-foundation/
Bryner, Jeanna, One Common Ancestor Behind Blue Eyes, January 31, 2008. http://www.livescience.com/9578-common-ancestor-blue-eyes.html
“Cosmic rays reveal event in Earth's magnetic field history,” Nov 29, 2012, Journal of Geophysical Research, http://phys.org/news/2012-11-cosmic-rays-reveal-event-earth.html
Miller, Iona, 2013, “Jungian Genealogy,” http://jungiangenealogy.weebly.com/
Miller, Iona, 2013, “Sangreality Now,” http://sangreality.weebly.com/index.html
Miller, Iona, 2013, Porphyria Theory”, http://trianglebook.weebly.com/porphyria-theory.html
Nowaczyk, Dr. Norbert and Prof. Helge Arz, Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
Oppenheimer, Stephen, “Myths of British ancestry,” October 2006, Prospect, https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/mythsofbritishancestryrevisited/#.Uo1R5HcvY_M
Pinker, Steven, 2007, “Strangled by Roots,” http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2007.06.08_thenewrepublic.pdf
Stolte, Daniel, "Human Y chromosome much older than previously thought,” American Journal of Human Genetics, March 4, 2013 http://phys.org/news/2013-03-human-chromosome-older-previously-thought.html#jCp
Yong, Ed, “Americas’ natives have European roots The oldest known genome of a modern human solves long-standing puzzles about the New World's genetic heritage,” Nature, 20 November 2013, www.nature.com/news/americas-natives-have-european-roots-1.14213
http://bloodjournal.org/content/95/12/3662?ck=nck&variant=full-text
RHD gene deletion occurred in the Rhesus box
- Franz F. Wagner and
- Willy A. Flegel
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/29/1021233/-Khazars-and-Jews
About the Author Iona Miller has traced her own bloodline back to Sumeria, been in many so-called Dragon groups, and is an advisor to the peer-reviewed DNA Decipher Journal and other scientific journals. She is a clinical hypnotherapist, multimedia artist, and nonfiction writer for academic and popular presses. Her main site is http://ionamiller.weebly.com.
If we use the figure of 50% inheritance in each generation, knowing that it’s
imperfect because we don’t receive 25% of our genes from each grandparent,
we know the following about our individual inheritance:
Parents – 50% from each one
Grandparents – 25% from each one
Great-grandparents – 12.5% from each one
Great-great-grandparents – 6.25% from each one
For most of us, average age of 50 (genealogists don’t tend to start young), and
with an average generation length of 30 years, this equates to the following
information:
Us –born about 1960
Parents – born about 1930
Grand-parents – born about 1900 (we probably knew them)
Great-grandparents – born about 1870 (we probably didn’t know them, but our
grandparents and parents told us about them)
Great-grandparents – born about 1840 (we definitely didn’t know them, but we
probably knew who they were genealogically as our grandparents knew them)
Most people who seek to discover their Native American ancestry are by
necessity looking back before the “Trail of Tears”, often to the tribes that were
exterminated by the colonists before the Revolutionary War. Remnants of those
tribes intermarried with whites and free people of color as well as joining the
tribes still existent, such as the Cherokees and Creeks who were later removed.
Unfortunately, on the genealogy chart, this takes us back another two
generations to ancestors born in 1810 and in 1780. Respectively, we carry an
average of 3.125% and 1.56% of their DNA. The next generation back, born in
1750 before the Revolutionary War, we carry less than 1%, on average, of their
individual DNA.
http://www.dnaexplain.com/publications/pdfs/autosomaldnatesting5-20-09.pdf
imperfect because we don’t receive 25% of our genes from each grandparent,
we know the following about our individual inheritance:
Parents – 50% from each one
Grandparents – 25% from each one
Great-grandparents – 12.5% from each one
Great-great-grandparents – 6.25% from each one
For most of us, average age of 50 (genealogists don’t tend to start young), and
with an average generation length of 30 years, this equates to the following
information:
Us –born about 1960
Parents – born about 1930
Grand-parents – born about 1900 (we probably knew them)
Great-grandparents – born about 1870 (we probably didn’t know them, but our
grandparents and parents told us about them)
Great-grandparents – born about 1840 (we definitely didn’t know them, but we
probably knew who they were genealogically as our grandparents knew them)
Most people who seek to discover their Native American ancestry are by
necessity looking back before the “Trail of Tears”, often to the tribes that were
exterminated by the colonists before the Revolutionary War. Remnants of those
tribes intermarried with whites and free people of color as well as joining the
tribes still existent, such as the Cherokees and Creeks who were later removed.
Unfortunately, on the genealogy chart, this takes us back another two
generations to ancestors born in 1810 and in 1780. Respectively, we carry an
average of 3.125% and 1.56% of their DNA. The next generation back, born in
1750 before the Revolutionary War, we carry less than 1%, on average, of their
individual DNA.
http://www.dnaexplain.com/publications/pdfs/autosomaldnatesting5-20-09.pdf
http://rokus01.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/the-hybrid-driven-evolution-of-hominids/
Contrary to the view that hybrids are lineages devoid of evolutionary value, a number of case studies are given that show how hybrids are responsible for reticulate evolution that may lead to the origin of new species. Hybrid evolution is mediated by extensive genome repatterning followed by rapid stabilization and fixation of highly adapted genotypes. Some well-documented cases demonstrate that bursts of transposition follow hybridization and may contribute to the genetic instability observed after hybridization. The mechanism that triggers transposition in hybrids is largely unknown. (Fontdevila, 2005)
Geneflow within the genetic continuum of a species happens all along, but let’s ‘[...] define hybridization as gene flow between two populations after an isolation barrier has formed between them.’ (Patterson et al., 2006 Supp.). The latter is most likely a major element in evolution, still waiting for recognition. And a potential cul de sac since, contrary to equids, zamia and gibbons, chromosomal changes in great apes and humans are far from impressive. No chromosomal fission event postdated the divergence from lesser apes, not even in hominin-specific evolution. Genetic recombination was significant enough for rapid change and plasticity, but apparently without the need for massive reorganization on chromosomal level, or even significant mutational activity on genetic level. Segmental duplications make a remarkable exception:
Ancient DNA has been used to show aspects of Neanderthal appearance. A fragment of the gene for the melanocortin 1 receptor (MRC1) was sequenced using DNA from two Neanderthal specimens from Spain and Italy, El Sidrón 1252 and Monte Lessini (Lalueza-Fox et al. 2007). Neanderthals had a mutation in this receptor gene that has not been found in modern humans. The mutation changes an amino acid, making the resulting protein less efficient. Modern humans have other MCR1 variants that are also less active resulting in red hair and pale skin. The less active Neanderthal mutation probably also resulted in red hair and pale skin, as in modern humans.
The specific MCR1 mutation in Neanderthals has not found in modern humans (or occurs extremely rarely in modern humans). This indicates that the two mutations for red hair and pale skin occurred independently and does not support the idea of gene flow between Neanderthals and modern humans. Pale skin may have been advantageous to Neanderthals living in Europe because of the ability to synthesize vitamin D.
The gene that produces the ABO blood system is polymorphic in humans. Various selection factors may favor different alleles, leading to the maintenance of distinct blood groups in modern human populations. Though chimpanzees also have different blood groups, they are not the same as human blood types. While the mutation that causes the human B blood group arose around 3.5 Ma, the O group mutation dates to around 1.15 Ma. Lalueza-Fox and colleagues (2008) tested whether Neanderthals had the O blood group. They found that two Neanderthal specimens from Spain probably had the O blood type, though there is the possibility that they were OA or OB. Though the O allele was likely to have already appeared before the split between humans and Neanderthals, it could also have arisen in the Neanderthal genome via gene from modern humans.
The microcephalin gene relates to brain size during development. A variant of this, haplogroup D, may have been positively selected for in modern humans – and may also have come from an interbreeding event with an archaic population (Evans et al. 2006). Mutations in microcephalin cause the brain to be 3 to 4 times smaller in size. All of the haplogroup D variants come from a single copy that appeared in modern humans around 37,000 years ago. However, haplogroup D itself came from a lineage that had diverged from the lineage that led to modern humans around 1.1 million years ago. Although there was speculation that the Neanderthals were the source of the microcephalin haplogroup D (Evans et al. 2006), the Neanderthal DNA recently sequenced does not contain the microcephalin haplogroup D (Green et al. 2010).
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals/neanderthal-genes-red-hair-and-more
Various analyses have examined the amount of Neanderthal contribution to modern human mtDNA. One analysis was unable to find positive evidence for interbreeding, but could not rule out a small genetic contribution (Serre et al. 2004). Other researchers (Plagnol and Wall 2006, Wall et al. 2009) looked at the pattern of variation in modern human DNA to determine whether modern humans mixed with more ancient populations. Their recent models are consistent with between 1-4% archaic-modern admixture in European and American populations, and 1.5% admixture in East Asian populations. Nested clade phylogenetic analysis shows evidence of three expansions out of Africa at 1.9 Ma, 650,000 years, and 130,000 years, which is consistent with the admixture between ancient and modern populations rather than complete replacement (Templeton 2002, 2005, 2007). Other researchers contend that factors such as population structure within Africa could have preserved old haplotypes and produced the pattern found in the nested clade analysis (Satta and Takahata 2002).
Though it is difficult to prove or quantify admixture, small amounts of interbreeding were supported by a variety of analyses. However, the substantial differences between Neanderthal and modern human mtDNA is consistent with large-scale replacement and some amount of interbreeding between modern and archaic populations. Interbreeding between archaic and moderns may have involved different species of archaic hominins, including populations in Africa, Asia and Europe.
The draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome provides more evidence that interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans may have occurred. It showed more similarities between non-African modern humans and Neanderthals than between African modern humans and Neanderthals. This difference between regions is consistent with interbreeding between Neanderthals and the ancestors of Eurasian modern humans before they branched off into regional groups. Approximately 1 to 4% of non-African modern human DNA is shared with Neanderthals.
Contrary to the view that hybrids are lineages devoid of evolutionary value, a number of case studies are given that show how hybrids are responsible for reticulate evolution that may lead to the origin of new species. Hybrid evolution is mediated by extensive genome repatterning followed by rapid stabilization and fixation of highly adapted genotypes. Some well-documented cases demonstrate that bursts of transposition follow hybridization and may contribute to the genetic instability observed after hybridization. The mechanism that triggers transposition in hybrids is largely unknown. (Fontdevila, 2005)
Geneflow within the genetic continuum of a species happens all along, but let’s ‘[...] define hybridization as gene flow between two populations after an isolation barrier has formed between them.’ (Patterson et al., 2006 Supp.). The latter is most likely a major element in evolution, still waiting for recognition. And a potential cul de sac since, contrary to equids, zamia and gibbons, chromosomal changes in great apes and humans are far from impressive. No chromosomal fission event postdated the divergence from lesser apes, not even in hominin-specific evolution. Genetic recombination was significant enough for rapid change and plasticity, but apparently without the need for massive reorganization on chromosomal level, or even significant mutational activity on genetic level. Segmental duplications make a remarkable exception:
Ancient DNA has been used to show aspects of Neanderthal appearance. A fragment of the gene for the melanocortin 1 receptor (MRC1) was sequenced using DNA from two Neanderthal specimens from Spain and Italy, El Sidrón 1252 and Monte Lessini (Lalueza-Fox et al. 2007). Neanderthals had a mutation in this receptor gene that has not been found in modern humans. The mutation changes an amino acid, making the resulting protein less efficient. Modern humans have other MCR1 variants that are also less active resulting in red hair and pale skin. The less active Neanderthal mutation probably also resulted in red hair and pale skin, as in modern humans.
The specific MCR1 mutation in Neanderthals has not found in modern humans (or occurs extremely rarely in modern humans). This indicates that the two mutations for red hair and pale skin occurred independently and does not support the idea of gene flow between Neanderthals and modern humans. Pale skin may have been advantageous to Neanderthals living in Europe because of the ability to synthesize vitamin D.
The gene that produces the ABO blood system is polymorphic in humans. Various selection factors may favor different alleles, leading to the maintenance of distinct blood groups in modern human populations. Though chimpanzees also have different blood groups, they are not the same as human blood types. While the mutation that causes the human B blood group arose around 3.5 Ma, the O group mutation dates to around 1.15 Ma. Lalueza-Fox and colleagues (2008) tested whether Neanderthals had the O blood group. They found that two Neanderthal specimens from Spain probably had the O blood type, though there is the possibility that they were OA or OB. Though the O allele was likely to have already appeared before the split between humans and Neanderthals, it could also have arisen in the Neanderthal genome via gene from modern humans.
The microcephalin gene relates to brain size during development. A variant of this, haplogroup D, may have been positively selected for in modern humans – and may also have come from an interbreeding event with an archaic population (Evans et al. 2006). Mutations in microcephalin cause the brain to be 3 to 4 times smaller in size. All of the haplogroup D variants come from a single copy that appeared in modern humans around 37,000 years ago. However, haplogroup D itself came from a lineage that had diverged from the lineage that led to modern humans around 1.1 million years ago. Although there was speculation that the Neanderthals were the source of the microcephalin haplogroup D (Evans et al. 2006), the Neanderthal DNA recently sequenced does not contain the microcephalin haplogroup D (Green et al. 2010).
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals/neanderthal-genes-red-hair-and-more
Various analyses have examined the amount of Neanderthal contribution to modern human mtDNA. One analysis was unable to find positive evidence for interbreeding, but could not rule out a small genetic contribution (Serre et al. 2004). Other researchers (Plagnol and Wall 2006, Wall et al. 2009) looked at the pattern of variation in modern human DNA to determine whether modern humans mixed with more ancient populations. Their recent models are consistent with between 1-4% archaic-modern admixture in European and American populations, and 1.5% admixture in East Asian populations. Nested clade phylogenetic analysis shows evidence of three expansions out of Africa at 1.9 Ma, 650,000 years, and 130,000 years, which is consistent with the admixture between ancient and modern populations rather than complete replacement (Templeton 2002, 2005, 2007). Other researchers contend that factors such as population structure within Africa could have preserved old haplotypes and produced the pattern found in the nested clade analysis (Satta and Takahata 2002).
Though it is difficult to prove or quantify admixture, small amounts of interbreeding were supported by a variety of analyses. However, the substantial differences between Neanderthal and modern human mtDNA is consistent with large-scale replacement and some amount of interbreeding between modern and archaic populations. Interbreeding between archaic and moderns may have involved different species of archaic hominins, including populations in Africa, Asia and Europe.
The draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome provides more evidence that interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans may have occurred. It showed more similarities between non-African modern humans and Neanderthals than between African modern humans and Neanderthals. This difference between regions is consistent with interbreeding between Neanderthals and the ancestors of Eurasian modern humans before they branched off into regional groups. Approximately 1 to 4% of non-African modern human DNA is shared with Neanderthals.