Methodology deep-dives, population spotlights, and engineering notes from the Ancestrify team — qpAdm modelling, ancient DNA panels, and how genetic ancestry analysis really works.
5 stories
What a maternal (mtDNA) haplogroup is, how the tree is built, what H, U5, K, T2 and the other common branches tell you, why most chip kits resolve to a broad branch, and what a haplogroup can and cannot say about ancestry.
What a Y-DNA haplogroup actually is, how to export the raw file from 23andMe, AncestryDNA or MyHeritage, how to get a free and honest paternal haplogroup call from it, and where to explore your branch afterwards.
What mitochondrial DNA records, how to get a free maternal haplogroup call from a 23andMe, AncestryDNA or MyHeritage export, why most chip kits resolve to a broad branch, and how to explore the maternal tree afterwards.
Two new free tools: browse the complete paternal tree — over 109,000 named branches — and the full maternal tree, with defining variants, tester counts by country and search by haplogroup or SNP. No account needed.
A 2026 ancient DNA study traces Albanian ancestry from Bronze and Iron Age West Balkan groups through Roman-era and medieval admixture.