The mtDNA Discover™ Migration Map illustrates the ancient migration path of your maternal ancestors from Africa to your ancestral haplogroup and its closest connections. This tool is based on cutting-edge academic research on ancient remains.
The map view of the Country Frequency Report contains the following options:
- Haplogroup Path - Displays the evolutionary path of your mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup, starting from Mitochondrial Eve and leading to your specific haplogroup.
- Mitochondrial Eve is a reconstruction of the earliest mtDNA for modern humans.
- Migration Route - The colored lines on the map represent the estimated migration path of your maternal ancestors over thousands of years. The red circle indicates a possible ancestral location for your haplogroup.
- Toggle Full Screen - Expands the map to full screen mode.
- Clicking or tapping the icon a second time will revert the map to the original size.
- Map Camera Controls - Displays an on-screen directional pad to navigate around the map.
- Zoom In/Out - Increases or decreases the magnification of the map area.
- Using your mouse wheel while the map is selected will also zoom the map in and out.
- Timeline - A visualization of the Haplogroup Path with estimated timeframes for the emergence of different haplogroups within your maternal lineage. The top of the timeline indicates different historical periods, ranging from 100,000 BCE to 2000 CE.
- Possible Migration Paths - Our understanding of ancient migration paths is built upon the DNA recovered from ancient human remains. Some genetic groups (haplogroups) have more ancient samples in our reference database than others. This allows us to outline general migration routes, but there can be some variations or less certain details within those paths. As scientists sequence DNA from more ancient remains and our mitochondrial database expands, these migration paths will become even more precise and detailed.
- Haplogroup Path - Displays the phylogenetic path of ancestral haplogroups back to Mitochondrial Eve. The colored bars and labels within the timeline show when different ancestral haplogroups are estimated to have emerged.
- Possible Migration Paths are indicated with dotted lines.
- Defined Eras - This section divides the timeline into major historical periods like the Stone Age, Metal Ages, Imperial, Middle Ages, and Modern. These eras help to provide context for the timeframes shown on the main timeline. Keep in mind that these ages are estimates and can vary across different regions of the world.