DNA

Inside all of us, there are special organelles in our cells called mitochondria, which contain an important set of DNA. Written in our mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the story of our great ancestors - from their origins in Africa to their wondrous journeys around the world.

Every human alive today shares one common ancestor arising from Africa between fifty thousand and two hundred thousand years ago. Over time, different groups of people, or haplo groups, made a decision to embark on an epic journey to find new places to live. These perilous paths our ancestors traveled brought them to the far-reaching corners of the globe over thousands of years, from the low hills and river valleys of France to the sandy beaches of Thailand.

Along these varied journeys, small changes called mutations occurred in our ancestor's DNA. These mutations act like markers, or time and date stamps, pinpointing our ancestors to a particular time and place. Each ensuing generation of our ancestors then inherited these mutations, and everyone today carries markers, which tell the story of our ancient ancestors.

By researching the Internet one can find sites actually offering to data match your ancestry, one of these is www.dnaancestryproject.com.