How Far Back is an Ancestor Based on Ethnicity Estimates? (2024)

FAQs

How far back do ethnicity estimates go? ›

So instead of comparing your DNA to that of a single common ancestor, the autosomal ethnicity estimate compares your DNA to that of a founder population: a group of people who have proven ancestry going back at least 6 generations in a given region or ethnic group.

An ancestor is any person from whom you are descended. Your great-grandparents are your ancestors, and their parents are too, and their parents, as far back as you can go. The formula for calculating the number of your ancestors is simple: as you might expect, the number doubles with every generation.

Most people can trace some of their lineage back to the 1700s or beyond, but how far back family trees can go depends on the availability of the records, how common the surname is and the family's social status.

But if all your other DNA is of one type and the 15% represents something unusual, then we would expect that it comes from your great grandparent. Your great grandparent is estimated to have been the same age that you are now approximately one hundred years ago.

You inherit 50% DNA from your parents and then 25% from your grandparents then 12.5%, 6%,etc so 3% is about 5 generations back.

They are usually fairly definable by the differences. 7 generations is likely about 150 years, Maybe more.

The chart below shows probable (but not necessarily actual) percentages of genes you may have inherited from ancestors going back four generations. At seven generations back, less than 1% of your DNA is likely to have come from any given ancestor.

Based on a family tree, you are always genealogically related, but you may not be genetically related. After about 8 generations, you have genetic material from fewer and fewer of your ancestors. After 16 generations, you only have DNA from about 2% of your ancestors, and it keeps decreasing.

Once we are dealing with 0.5% of something, we are really talking about one or maybe two tiny bits of DNA. In fact, it is so small each child might have just a 50% chance of inheriting any of it from their parent(s).

The longest family tree in the world is that of the Chinese philosopher and educator Confucius (551–479 BC), who is descended from King Tang (1675–1646 BC). The tree spans more than 80 generations from him and includes more than 2 million members.

What is the oldest ancestry record? ›

The Oldest Family Trees

While the Confucius family tree carries the title of the biggest one, the Lurie family is known as the oldest one in the world. Its history traces back to 1037 BC. According to the records, the family lineage starts from the 3rd king of the United Monarchy of Israel and Judah called King David.

Primary strength: Everyone can take a mitochondrial test to trace a matrilineal line. An mtDNA test also can be used to trace a genetic line back in time thousands or even tens of thousands of years.

We survey your DNA at over 700,000 locations and look at how much DNA you share with people from the reference panel in each ethnicity region. The laboratory generates the most likely estimate for a certain ethnicity (the percentage that appears in your ethnicity estimate).

It maps ethnicity going back multiple generations and provides insight into such possibilities as: what region of Europe are my ancestors from, or am I likely to have East Asian heritage? AncestryDNA ^® can also help identify relationships with unknown relatives through a dynamic list of possible DNA member matches.

Find my results (Or click the DNA tab twice). If your results are ready (and you're signed in to the correct account), you'll see a page with these sections: Traits, Origins, DNA Matches, and ThruLines™. Select Origins to view your ethnicity estimate.

If XX, then the child is female; is XY, the child is male. The Y test follows the inherited Y chromosome sequences. This test can go back as far as 25 generations. The mitochondrial (mt) DNA test follows the maternal line.

By the 33rd generation—about 800 to 1,000 years ago—you have more than eight billion of them. That is more than the number of people alive today, and it is certainly a much larger figure than the world population a millennium ago.

Even though it's possible to be 100% of one ethnicity, this is not a common phenomenon due to the nature of humans to migrate and connect with groups of people outside of their own, which leads to the mixing of DNA.

We update both your ethnicity estimate and DNA communities several times a year. But communities updates don't usually happen at the same time or in the same way as ethnicity updates. Also, each communities update only affects AncestryDNA® members who are part of that community.