Methodology deep-dives, population spotlights, and engineering notes from the Ancestrify team, qpAdm modelling, ancient DNA panels, and how genetic ancestry analysis really works.
24 stories
Same model, different p-value: the real differences between original qpAdm and ADMIXTOOLS 2 — allsnps semantics, fudge_twice, f2 precomputation — and the settings that reproduce classic behaviour when you need to.
The suffixes on AADR population labels encode how each genome was produced — capture, shotgun, diploid, array — and mixing them carelessly biases f-statistics. What each label means and the selection rules that keep models honest.
The settings tutorials skip and reviewers ask about: extract_f2 versus genotype input, allsnps, maxmiss, fudge and fudge_twice, blgsize, boot, afprod and constrained — what each does, with the measured stakes.
The undocumented half of every qpAdm analysis: file formats, genome builds, strand hygiene, convertf and Poseidon, and the merge arithmetic that decides your standard errors before any model runs.
A new Science Advances study sequences the largest Jomon dataset yet: where Japan's ancient foragers came from, the cold-adaptation selection written in their genomes, and what their legacy means for reading Japanese ancestry.
A new 30-genome transect of southwestern England confirms the sharp Beaker-era turnover — and shows the genetically distinct newcomers burying their dead inside monuments built a millennium earlier by the people they replaced.
England has ancient DNA's best-measured migrations: a Beaker-era turnover, a mid-Bronze Age Celtic-era influx, the quantified Anglo-Saxon settlement and the Danelaw. What each layer left in English genomes, and how to read yours.
Egypt finally has ancient genomes: what the Old Kingdom and mummy-era samples show about ancient Egyptian ancestry, how the modern Nile gene pool differs, and how to read an Egyptian genome honestly.
Ancient DNA on the western Balkans: the Illyrian-era base, the measured Slavic-era arrival, why the world's highest I2a frequencies sit in Bosnia — and why the three nations' genomes overlap almost completely.
Ancient DNA on Bulgarian ancestry: the Thracian-era Balkan base, the Roman provincial centuries, the measured Slavic-era layer, the surprisingly thin Bulgar trace — and how to read a Bulgarian genome.
What ancient DNA says about Romanian ancestry: the Balkan deep stack, Dacians and the Roman province, the measured Slavic-era layer, highland continuity — and what the data cannot settle about the ethnogenesis debate.
Ancient DNA solved Hungary's founding paradox: the conquerors' genomes have been sequenced, and modern Hungarians barely carry them. The Carpathian Basin's layered story, and how to read a Hungarian genome.
Ukraine holds the Yamnaya homeland, the Trypillia mega-sites and the likeliest cradle of the Slavic expansion. What ancient DNA shows about Ukrainian ancestry, and how to read a Ukrainian genome.
Russian ancestry is a Slavic core laid over older northern and steppe worlds: what ancient DNA shows about the East Slavic expansion, the Uralic-related north, the steppe south, and how to read a Russian genome.
France's ancient-DNA transect runs from Ice Age refuges through Gaulish continuity to a nation of regional clines. What the samples show about French ancestry, why the Franks barely register, and how to read a French genome.
Denmark, Sweden and Norway share a genome written by two prehistoric turnovers and one famous exchange: the Viking Age imported as much ancestry as it exported. The ancient-DNA story, and how to read a Scandinavian genome.
What ancient DNA says about Scottish ancestry: the shared Beaker-descended base, the Pictish genomes and their local roots, the Gaelic-Irish kinship of the west, and the measured Norse layer in the isles.
The Netherlands sits at the heart of the Beaker world and the launch coast of the Anglo-Saxon migration. What ancient DNA shows about Dutch ancestry, the country's surprising internal cline, and how to read a Dutch genome.
Looking for an IllustrativeDNA alternative? The real decision points (coordinate reports versus hand-checked qpAdm, subscription versus one-time, WGS input, published statistics) and which services deliver each.
Looking for a MyTrueAncestry alternative? What people actually want from one (individual ancient matches, published statistics, one-time pricing) and which services deliver each, honestly compared.
The complete Global25 price list: what official coordinates cost, what is genuinely free, what a worked analysis and its add-ons cost, and the traps that make 'free G25' expensive.
Rome's ancient-DNA transect, the Iron Age base, the imperial eastern shift, why Italy holds Europe's largest internal genetic variation, and what Sardinia preserves. How to read an Italian genome, region by region.
What ancient DNA says about Greek ancestry: the Aegean's Neolithic base, Minoan and Mycenaean genomes, the classical and Byzantine continuum, the Slavic-era addition, and the measured continuity underneath. How to read a Greek genome.
Sicily's ancient-DNA record runs from island foragers through a late steppe arrival, Greek and Phoenician colonists, Roman, Arab and Norman centuries. What each layer actually left in Sicilian genomes, and how to read your own.