The Qin Ancestors

Before the First Emperor unified China and raised the Terracotta Army to guard his tomb, the people of the Qin state farmed and fought in the Wei River valley of Shaanxi. These burials from Liuying are that population — the generations whose taxes, conscription and iron discipline forged the machine that would swallow all the Warring States and give China its name.

The genome-wide data behind this entry was published in Allen Ancient DNA Resource (Liuying, Qin state).

Every Ancestrify Global25 report includes the free Notable Matches lens: your coordinates are compared to every sequenced member of every catalog entry, and the distance to the closest member is reported — a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional space the Distance lens uses. Because these are a small group of real individuals, not a population average, distances naturally run larger than population distances — that is expected, not a poor result. And one thing is never claimed: a small distance means similar ancestry composition, not that the Qin Ancestors are your ancestor. See how it looks in the live demo or read about the full G25 analysis.

• 01

  Who were the Qin Ancestors?

  The Qin Ancestors (c. 400–200 BCE, Shaanxi, China) are one of the Iconic discoveries entries in our Notable Matches catalog, represented by 12 sequenced ancient genomes published in the study "Allen Ancient DNA Resource (Liuying, Qin state)".

• 02

  What does "matching" the Qin Ancestors mean?

  Your Global25 coordinates are compared to the entry's sequenced members and the distance to the closest one is reported — a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional reference space the Distance lens uses. A notable entry is one person or one small burial group, not a population average, so distances naturally run larger than population distances.

• 03

  Are they my ancestor?

  No — and no DNA test can show that. A small distance means your genome sits near theirs in a shared reference space: similar ancestry composition, not descent. Ancestrify never claims a notable individual is your ancestor or relative.

• 04

  How do I see my own distance to the Qin Ancestors?

  Notable Matches is a free lens on every Ancestrify Global25 report — never sold separately. Order the G25 analysis (29.99 EUR), and your report ranks your coordinates against the full catalog, with a portrait, dossier and map for every entry. The public demo shows the lens with example data.

The catalog holds every published entry across three tiers — browse the full Notable Matches directory. Nearby entries:

• The Lost City of Teneac. 525 BCE–200 CE

• The La Tène Celts of Bohemiac. 430–230 BCE

• The Bog People of Denmarkc. 800 BCE–100 CE

• The Vergina Royal Tombsc. 400–350 BCE

• The Carthaginiansc. 600–146 BCE

• The Pazyryk Horse-Lordsc. 500–300 BCE

• The Greeks of Ambraciac. 550–150 BCE

• The Celts of the Cornaux Bridgec. 260–80 BCE

• The Chariot Riders of East Yorkshirec. 230–110 BCE

• The Thraciansc. 800–100 BCE

• The Gauls of the Aisnec. 500–400 BCE

• The Balkan Celtsc. 300–50 BCE