BBC1 screened a very
interesting programme over the nights of Wednesday 20th
February and Thursday 21st February 2013. In Meet The
Izzards comedian, actor, and
marathon runner Eddie Izzard used state of the art DNA analysis
techniques to discover where his family originated from. The first
programme dealt with his mother's line, while the second focused on
his father's lineage. Each was extremely illuminating.
The
start of the first programme promised an epic journey over ten
thousand generations of ancestry, a task that can only now be completed for
the first time using new DNA analysis techniques. Eddie began by
visiting the genetic science department at the University of
Edinburgh, where his DNA was analysed and recorded.
Genetic
mapping involves discovering markers in shared DNA. Put very simply,
these markers can denote ancestry in specific areas of the world at certain times.
The marker 'L' is the earliest and refers to Africa and the origin of
all human existence. Eddie's first stop on his journey was therefore
Africa, specifically Namibia.
There
he met a local tribe who taught him about their hunter-gatherer
existence, which is very similar to how Eddie's ancestors would have
lived two hundred thousand years ago. Eddie's second key marker
revealed that his ancestors lived in East Africa around sixty
thousand years ago, so that is where he travelled to next.
In
fact, his destination was the point at which it is believed the
earliest humans first left Africa. Eddie planned to retrace his
ancestor's footsteps across the Bab-el-Mandeb strait into Yemen,
where coincidentally he was born, however political unrest meant that
he was unable to do so.
The
next significant marker was from around eighteen thousand years ago
in the Middle East. This is particularly important in the development
of humankind, as it relates to the birth of agriculture. Eddie
visited Turkey where he learnt about how humans overcame an
intolerance to animal milk as a result of genetic changes. He also
learnt that everybody with blue eyes, like Eddie himself, can be
traced back to the Black Sea coast 10,000 years ago.
From here there were two
main migration routes into Europe: into southern Europe, and into
central and northern Europe. Eddie's direct ancestors on his mother's side moved north,
specifically into Scandinavia. Since this marker relates to only 2000
years ago Eddie was able to meet people in Denmark who share direct
genetic ancestors with him.
Eddie's next genetic
marker on his mother's side was in England in around 500-1000AD, meaning most
likely that he had Viking ancestors who travelled to the country
during this time.
After exhausting his
mother's lineage Eddie turned his attention to his father's DNA
ancestry in the second episode of Meet The Izzards.
Eddie's father had already managed to trace his family tree back to
around 1650, but DNA analysis allows research to extend much further
back into history, although not to the specificity of individual
ancestors.
The
oldest known marker of the male 'Y' chromosome dates to around 150,000
years ago in Cameroon, Africa. All modern males are genetically
linked to this one ancestor. Eddie visited the Equatorial Rainforest
to meet a local tribe and learn about hunting-gathering, much as he
had done in the first episode. As with his maternal line, his
paternal DNA shows that his ancestors crossed the Red Sea from Africa
into Arabia.
A
new piece of information, however, was that Eddie's DNA is 2.8%
Neanderthal, which is higher than average. It is believed that
Neanderthals, an entirely difference species from Homo Sapiens, were
white in complexion and originated from Europe, whereas the earliest
humans were black and from Africa.
Eddie's
next important genetic marker, known as 'I2', links him to central
Europe around 20,000 years ago. This was around the time of the last Ice Age, meaning that Eddie's ancestors would have had to have
adapted well to the conditions in order to survive. After the end of
the Ice Age Eddie's ancestors migrated to Saxony, and from there on
to England as Saxons, most likely around 500AD.
Part travel show, part
history lesson,
Meet The Ancestors was
both interesting and entertaining. It is fascinating to think that
everybody on the planet is linked genetically if you go back far
enough. If you missed the programme then I highly suggest you
catch it on the BBC iPlayer, or alternatively check out the
website.