Very old DNA test, any use now?

[Gen List Lass]

Years ago, possibly ten, I got my dad's youngest brother to send a swab for our family's DNA testing. He was the only male of my dads family left alive, in his 70's and the clock was ticking.

All I got back was a PDF file with some very general information about where our haplogroup possibly originated 16,000 years ago! There was also a string of location and value numbers. Nothing I could upload to a comparison site these days? Uncle was G2a and I'm none the wiser. Would Dad have been the same?

I've tried the DNA forums online but they make my eyes glaze over!

Gen in NBL UK

[davidft]

Do you know which company did the test and are they still active?

[Gen List Lass]

Yes, they are still around and the one most used!

Gen in NBL UK

[davidft]

In that case I would contact them and ask them what they can do with it. It would have to be the person they have on file as being the owner (not the same as the donor necessarily). This may involve a further fee. They may be able to give you a new file with the data in a format that you could upload to other sites.

G2a is an old group on the Y haplogroup tree and is closely associated with Otzi the Iceman (G2a4) (the man found in the Alps and the subject of a few TV documentaries). If you do an internet search on Haplogroup G you will see several articles that give varying information that may be of use

The problem you may have is it sounds like the original test was a YDNA test and that company now only does autosomal tests. However if they have kept the original sample they may be able to test it with autosomal techniques and the results used to find cousins etc as well as the disputed ethnic ancestry analysis

[Gen List Lass]

Thank you David, it's worth a try.

Don't think I am descended from Otzi the Iceman but you never know:-)

My uncle was totally upset at our results, he was certain we were Celts with all our family coming from tiny fishing villages all up the east coast of Northumberland and Scotland. It didn't surprise me though considering all the invasions and nautical droppers-in over the centuries..

Off to write an email to Ancestry!

Gen in NBL UK