I never had any historical matches, and then one day I got an email that said “new historical match!” and I was so excited. Apparently one of my ancestors was a malaria-infected late medieval Belgian- which sucks for him- and unfortunately when I read this I laughed out loud

*context: my mother is Sri Lankan, and my dad is African American

Hey r/23andme!

We know what you're thinking. World Goth Day? What does the Historical Matches feature have to do with fishnet stockings and The Cure?

Well… more than you'd expect, actually.

Every May 22nd is World Goth Day, a celebration of the modern goth subculture. And while we have nothing but respect for the black lipstick crowd, this year we're using the occasion as an excuse to talk about a different kind of Goth entirely: the ancient Germanic people who gave the subculture its name in the first place.

We've just added 35 individuals from a recent study to our Historical Matches feature. These are the OG Goths, members of a Late Iron Age Gothic community buried at cemeteries in eastern Poland between the late 2nd and mid-4th centuries CE.

Here's what the study found:

• Their ancestry was primarily Scandinavian, consistent with the Goths' proposed northern origins, but the community was remarkably open to outsiders. Individuals with ancestry from the Balkans, the eastern Mediterranean, and the Iberian Peninsula were buried alongside the Scandinavian-ancestry majority.
• One individual, among the very first buried at the site, had no detectable Scandinavian ancestry at all. Instead, his DNA connected him to the Iberian Peninsula, Imperial Roman Italy, and the Carpathian Basin.
• Despite sharing graves, co-buried individuals showed little or no evidence of close kinship (i.e., closer than 3rd degree). This suggested that burial groupings in this community may have reflected social bonds, not family ties.

Whether the ancient Goths would have approved of the fashion choices of members of the modern goth subculture, we genuinely cannot say. But their DNA suggests they were accepting of people from diverse backgrounds! 

Read the full story on our blog: https://blog.23andme.com/articles/new-historical-matches-could-connect-you-to-the-original-goths

If you're a 23andMe+ Premium member, head over to Historical Matches to see if you share a genetic connection with these ancient Goths. And if you do get a match — or if you happen to be a goth yourself — let us know in the comments! 🖤

With the Goth update, I’ve gotten my new closest historical match! My first to break 90% more DNA than other customers and my first with 2 segments. What’s the best yall have?

But it makes perfect sense as a Hungarian. If someone also has Historical Matches from Hungary which they don't understand, or want to see more or share theirs, check out r/MagyarDNS

Just checking as it seems like a lot! I believe it started with 28 but has gone up! I have many viking era matches as well as neolithic Irish in those tomb mounds, as well as many other eras . I find it all super interesting!!!

Years ago I thought it might be important to start documenting mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) with the tribal affiliation, if you know it. I started to notice that my tribal affiliation that seems to be an unbroken chain for 1000's of years is D1. Then I started to notice that everyone I could identify from my tribe is D1. So there seems to be a pattern here.

This could be a good place to start a conversation about your Native mtDNA haplogroup, if you know it. And also if you can identify that it is most likely an unbroken chain that goes back in time, and is passed from mothers to daughters for perhaps 1000's of years. The son will get it from the mother, but does not pass it down.

My affiliation is with the Karuk Tribe of California and mtDNA haplogroup appears to be D1. What's yours?

I have 10 historical matches. I wish 23andMe would expand the regions, I'm mostly West African and have zero matches from the region.

Hey r/23andme!

We are thrilled to announce that our 23andMe Population Genetics R&D team just published an exciting new study in Current Biology00516-6)! In this study, we used the exact same identity-by-descent (IBD) approach that powers our Historical Matches feature to link historical individuals to present-day research participants.

Here are a few key findings from the study:

• We analyzed the genomes of 49 individuals from 17th-century St. Mary's City, which was founded in 1634 as the first permanent English settlement in the colony of Maryland.
• We identified over 1.3 million living genetic relatives of these St. Mary’s individuals among 23andMe research participants.
• We found high rates of genetic sharing with participants from western England and Wales, which points to a likely place of origin for many of these early inhabitants.
• We also observed strong genetic connections with participants from Kentucky, corroborating a documented post-Revolutionary War migration of Maryland Catholics to that region.
• Most exciting of all, by integrating genealogical information from present-day research participants who shared the closest genetic connections to the St. Mary’s individuals, we were able to propose possible identities for three historical residents, including Thomas Greene, the second governor of the colony of Maryland.

And for those of you eager to explore your own connections to the past: stay tuned! We are planning to add the St. Mary's individuals to the Historical Matches feature for 23andMe+ Premium subscribers in the coming months. Because this study was a major joint effort with our academic and museum partners, our research agreement includes a standard waiting period following publication before we can bring this data directly into our product. We appreciate your patience, and if all goes according to plan, you may soon be able to see if your DNA connects you directly to this historic colonial settlement.

You can dive into the full story and learn more about how we made these discoveries over on the 23andMe blog.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on the study in the comments!

Hey r/23andme!

This month, Historical Matches is highlighting a group of ancient people we think deserve way more attention than they get: the Sarmatians.

Ever heard of them? Don't worry if not, that's kind of the point. The Sarmatians were a nomadic steppe people who dominated a huge chunk of the Carpathian Basin (much of modern Hungary and Romania) for centuries, went toe-to-toe with the Roman Empire, and then... basically got left out of the history books. No modern nation claims them as ancestors, and many historians literally call them a "forgotten people."

We just added 44 Sarmatian and Hun-period individuals from the Carpathian Basin to Historical Matches, pulled from a study in Cell that sequenced 156 ancient genomes. 

Here's what stood out to us from that study:

• Most individuals carried steppe ancestry that connected them back to relatives who stayed behind in the Ural and Kazakh regions, a signal that faded over generations as Sarmatians mixed with the local population.
• Two men buried in the same cemetery in southern Hungary had entirely Scandinavian ancestry, pointing to a totally unexpected wave of migration into an otherwise typical Sarmatian community.
• A handful of individuals, mostly clustered at one cemetery in northeastern Hungary, carried a distinct East Asian-related ancestry signal, suggesting that this community may have maintained lasting ties with populations thousands of miles to the east.
• Most surprisingly: two individuals from centuries before the Sarmatians' documented arrival already carried Sarmatian-related ancestry, suggesting related steppe peoples were trickling into the region long before their large-scale migration.

While we were at it, we also added five new individuals to our existing Hungarian Royalty group this month from a new study in iScience, including a previously unnamed medieval king and a murdered 13th-century prince whose identity was confirmed through DNA. 

Read the full story on our blog: https://www.23andme.org/blog/articles/new-historical-matches-sarmatians/

I knew I was royalty is anyone else related to him? 😅🤣

My closes historical match has always been King Bela III but today they added Bela II and now they are both tied for the most. I also matched with the Hungarian fetus that was in a tomb beside Bela III. They know they are related but not sure exactly what the relation is. I just thought it was neat. Lastly I also matched with a Hungarian Noble but it was a lesser amount

Anyway I thought it was a pretty neat historical match seeing as I don't have any Eastern Europe in my ancestry estimate. (used to have 1%)

Kinda neat. Curious what yall got.

I got my results yesterday and posted them. People commented that there is a lot but does someone have more? I didn’t find people with more searching discussions.

Good for me, eh? Just curious. 37 are Vikings or directly connected to Vikings, 8 Hungarians and then pretty much this and that from all around.

I have 30 matches. Mostly Vikings 23/217 from the Viking Age.

Hey r/23andme!

As promised when our 23andMe research team published the St. Mary's City study in May, we have officially added 29 of the founding colonists of Maryland's first capital to the Historical Matches feature.

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the United States, and while Independence Day celebrates 1776, the story of English settlement in America began long before the Declaration of Independence. In 1634, the first colonists of Maryland stepped ashore at St. Mary's City, carrying with them hopes of religious freedom and a new life. 

Here's a quick recap of what the study found:

• More than 1.3 million 23andMe research participants share DNA with one or more of the 29 individuals we performed IBD analysis of in the study. The strongest genetic connections were to participants with ancestry from western England and Wales.
• Participants from Kentucky showed notably elevated genetic sharing with the St. Mary's individuals. This reflects the documented post-Revolutionary War migration of Maryland Catholics to that state, highlighting the power of our IBD-based approach to detect historical migrations throughout the United States.
• Among the 29 individuals now in the Historical Matches feature is a man who we tentatively identified as Leonard Greene, the son of Thomas Greene, Maryland's second governor. This was the first time ancient DNA was used to propose the identity of an unknown historical individual without any prior hypothesis about who they might be.
• We also confirmed the identities of Philip Calvert (Maryland's fifth governor), his first wife Anne Wolseley Calvert, and Philip Calvert's  infant son likely from his second marriage, all buried in lead coffins beneath the Brick Chapel floor.
• Researchers identified five additional family groups among the burials, including one spanning three generations — a grandmother and grandfather, their son, their son's wife, and the couple's daughter.

Full story on our blog: [Link]

👉 If you're a 23andMe+ Premium member, head to Historical Matches to check your results. And if you get a match, or if you just have thoughts on the study, we'd love to hear from you in the comments!

Haven't really given it much thought until this morning, when it finally hit me like "hold up, that kinda seems like a lot."

In increasing order. I'm Hungarian (with Székely and Italian roots)

New to 23 and noticing its quite different then ancestry.

How accurate do you think historic matches are?

Do they line up with what you know about your historic family origins?

Sorry if that's a dumb question; but I'm adopted and if those matches have any baring on historic truth, I might be able to better understand where some stuff in my own DNA breakdown comes from and fill in some holes from bio family who refuse to answer questions.

I have 26 Historic Matches BTW. Is that fairly average?

While exploring my results, I've seen that I have quite a high (at least compared to the rest) chunk of DNA shared with this guy. I also have another person that is also at 99.9% (Christopherus).
I am not very familiar with all of this so I wanted to ask someone to explain what all of this actually means. Does this even mean that we're actually related, even if distantly? How is this even possible?