Am I Middle Eastern?

[Oakwood]

Hello all I could really use some clarity here regarding the results I've gotten for NatGeo and 23andme. First off let me explain that my father is 100% Italian and my mother is Scots/Irish and German. NatGeo has identified my Y haplogroup as J-Z1853 which is a Middle Eastern haplogroup but 23andme shows that I am 98% European and 0.9 % Middle Eastern with small percentages of South Asian, East Asian and "unassigned". Later while in conversation with a friend I said that my Y haplogroup was J1 and he replied "oh you're Middle Eastern"... But at only 0.9% I would have say that I would have trouble identifying myself as Middle Eastern even though I fall under a Middle Eastern haplogroup.

[nihilsciens]

NatGeo has identified my Y haplogroup as J-Z1853 which is a Middle Eastern haplogroup but 23andme shows that I am 98% European and 0.9 % Middle Eastern with small percentages of South Asian, East Asian and "unassigned".

Are you sure that J-Z1853 is only found in Middle Eastern populations? E.g. J-M172 is usually thought of as a Middle Eastern haplogroup, but it's actually found everywhere in Europe, but on distinct European branches. Maybe it's true in your case also?

[josh w.]

Hello all I could really use some clarity here regarding the results I've gotten for NatGeo and 23andme. First off let me explain that my father is 100% Italian and my mother is Scots/Irish and German. NatGeo has identified my Y haplogroup as J-Z1853 which is a Middle Eastern haplogroup but 23andme shows that I am 98% European and 0.9 % Middle Eastern with small percentages of South Asian, East Asian and "unassigned". Later while in conversation with a friend I said that my Y haplogroup was J1 and he replied "oh you're Middle Eastern"... But at only 0.9% I would have say that I would have trouble identifying myself as Middle Eastern even though I fall under a Middle Eastern haplogroup.

Your Y dna line reflects less than 1% of your genome. Your Middle Eastern ancestors are probably very distant.

[Armando]

Hello all I could really use some clarity here regarding the results I've gotten for NatGeo and 23andme. First off let me explain that my father is 100% Italian and my mother is Scots/Irish and German. NatGeo has identified my Y haplogroup as J-Z1853 which is a Middle Eastern haplogroup but 23andme shows that I am 98% European and 0.9 % Middle Eastern with small percentages of South Asian, East Asian and "unassigned". Later while in conversation with a friend I said that my Y haplogroup was J1 and he replied "oh you're Middle Eastern"... But at only 0.9% I would have say that I would have trouble identifying myself as Middle Eastern even though I fall under a Middle Eastern haplogroup.

J-Z1853 is common in Italians and is at least 7000 years old. Click on the link and look for all of the kits that have an ITA or TSI (Tuscan in Italy) after the kit number. You can get a BigY and YFull analysis to find a much younger SNP and to be placed in the tree at that site.

It won't be until a lot of ancient samples have had NGS or WGS testing that there will be a better idea of when J-Z1853, or it's subclades, made it's way into Italy.

[NCroots]

Your Y dna line reflects less than 1% of your genome. Your Middle Eastern ancestors are probably very distant.

I have male cousins who carry the y-haplogroup E1b1a8a yet show no Subsaharan African in their atDNA results. We have an ancestor from mid 17th century Virginia who was Subsaharan African. I do show a very small amount of Subsaharan African in my atDNA, but this comes from my mother's side so my y-haplogroup is different from my male cousins in this lineage.