The Rice children, through Michael, have had their mitochondrial DNA tested. A mitochondrial DNA test (mtDNA test) traces a person’s matrilineal or mother-line ancestry using the DNA in his or her mitochondria.
Test results identify the ethnic and geographic origin of the maternal line. mtDNA is passed down by the mother unchanged, to all her children, both male and female. A mitochondrial DNA test, can therefore be taken by both men and women.
Our results show that we are in group U5b1b1a, which is estimated to be about 1700 – 5000 years old and is found mostly in eastern Europe and Scandinavia, especially Finland. It was present in the population that developed Finno-Ugric languages, including Finnish and Hungarian. Here’s where they originated:
When our mtDNA is matched with other contemporaries in the Family Tree DNA database, we have no perfect or exact matches with anyone tested. However, we have 79 matches at a genetic distance of 1, meaning we share a common direct maternal ancestor who could have lived within several hundred to a thousand year ago. Interestingly, 44 of the 79 current matches report their most distant ancestor being from Finland, 15 report from Sweden and 7 report from Norway. Look for the orange markers in the map below to see our closest matches with current people:
Two matches had “Saami” as a comment. From Wikipedia the Saami people, traditionally known in English as Lapps or Laplanders, are an indigenous people inhabiting the Arctic area of far northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. The Saami are the only indigenous people of Scandinavia recognized and protected under the international conventions of indigenous peoples, and are hence the northernmost indigenous people of Europe.