H4a1a1a
In amongst the good work done by the team at Adelaide University, was the discovery back in 2015 I think it was, of the Haplogroup taken from a DNA sample of human hair from the Somerton Man plaster bust. The identified group was H4a1a1a, quite a common group to all accounts, it originated in SE Asia and then made its way to Europe where it found its new home. You may have noticed that Europe is actually quite large in the scheme of things so the task of pinning down just where the owner of the hair from the plaster bust might have come from is daunting to say the least.
But not to be deterred, some time ago I embarked on the new and occasionally terrifying journey into the world of DNA and how today's forensic scientists can work miracles in sourcing owners of various body parts including of course human hair.
''Haplogroup H4a1a1a, a subclade of the broader mitochondrial DNA haplogroup H, exhibits a relatively rare and sporadic distribution, with some of the highest frequencies found in Europe. Specific locations where it has been identified, though not necessarily with high frequency, include Spain (Basque Country), Scotland (Orkney), Isle of Man, Belgium (Flanders), and Finland. It has also been found in ancient samples from Bell Beaker and Unetice contexts in Germany, as well as Bronze Age Bulgaria and, unexpectedly, in an ancient Egyptian mummy. '' That's according to Gemini....
Let me make it clear from the outset, I don't profess to be an academic or a qualified DNA Guru, I am by nature though, highly inquisitive which is much to the chagrin of some. So today I will be showing the results of some of my learning experience in the hope that it may just shed a little more light on the question of the Somerton Man plaster bust and the hairs that were retrieved from it.
The 2015 analysis gave us the haplogroup of one of the hairs, it seemed to me that somewhere there ought to be information on the distribution of the group in question, a frequency chart had to be somewhere.
And here's one I put together based on the aforesaid foraging:
''Haplogroup H4a1a1a, a subclade of the broader mitochondrial DNA haplogroup H, exhibits a relatively rare and sporadic distribution, with some of the highest frequencies found in Europe. Specific locations where it has been identified, though not necessarily with high frequency, include Spain (Basque Country), Scotland (Orkney), Isle of Man, Belgium (Flanders), and Finland. It has also been found in ancient samples from Bell Beaker and Unetice contexts in Germany, as well as Bronze Age Bulgaria and, unexpectedly, in an ancient Egyptian mummy. '' That's according to Gemini....
Let me make it clear from the outset, I don't profess to be an academic or a qualified DNA Guru, I am by nature though, highly inquisitive which is much to the chagrin of some. So today I will be showing the results of some of my learning experience in the hope that it may just shed a little more light on the question of the Somerton Man plaster bust and the hairs that were retrieved from it.
The 2015 analysis gave us the haplogroup of one of the hairs, it seemed to me that somewhere there ought to be information on the distribution of the group in question, a frequency chart had to be somewhere.
And here's one I put together based on the aforesaid foraging:
The numbers quoted in the centre column represent the number of people who have been tested, thus the total number of people belonging to that group would of course be higher.
Interesting to note that in Australia, only one person had been tested. The USA had the highest number of tests which gives us an indication of where most people had an interest in their ancestry lived but nothing more than that.
My best guess would be that the owner of that hair sample came from one of the countries listed or close by. I could be wrong of course. The big question I have is, which country and did that hair come from the Somerton Man or someone else?
Shock, Horror! What's just been said? The hair might not be from the Somerton Man after all. That's my belief at least, due mostly because the provenance of the 50 mm shaft of hair analysed by Astrea remains unknown/unpublished.
What continues to puzzle is the fact that whilst we had Mtdna from which a haplogroup was identified, the sex of the donor back in 2015 which, I understand could have been ascertained from that hair sample wasn't. Fast forward to 2022, again my understanding is that Mtdna was present in decent quantities but yet again the sex of the donor, wasn't published and neither was the Haplogroup. Odd that.
I imagine that amongst the news articles and other web space, there may just be a family tree that could provide us with the Haplogroup of the family or even Eliza?
Did I miss something? Being the new boy into this still murky space of DNA analysis, I could have missed it of course but as far as I have researched there is no mention of the sex of the owner of the hair both in 2015 and 2022 and no mention of the Haplo group in 2022. Why would that be?
Did I miss something? Being the new boy into this still murky space of DNA analysis, I could have missed it of course but as far as I have researched there is no mention of the sex of the owner of the hair both in 2015 and 2022 and no mention of the Haplo group in 2022. Why would that be?
Where is this leading us to? Are you saying that there were other hairs in the bust or what?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, the short answer is that it is possible that other hairs were present in the bust but it is not certain. So the exercise here is to eliminate the various possibilities and hopefully confirm or otherwise the validity of the claim regarding Carl Webb.
ReplyDeleteWe can either wait for the Police Forensics people to reach the result their way pr. we can find the information ourselves. And, as long as we can substantiate the findings that should be the end of the matter one way or the other, as far as the Webb claim is concerned
If the haplo group and the sex of the hair owner isn’t known then the owner of that 50mm shaft of hair could be any female member of the Webb family. Fact.
ReplyDelete