A deeper dive into the 2024 update

 

AncestryDNA 2024 update. 

Taking a closer look at things that changed in the 2024 AncestryDNA update, I see the reference panel size is up to 116,000+ samples, vs 72,000+ last year. This is up substantially from 40,000 reference samples in the 2019 update. As I've been tracking these updates since I first submitted an AncestryDNA test in 2012, it has been really fascinating to see the ancestral regions evolve and fluctuate over time. It is a little odd to see Germanic Europe go from 4% in 2019 to 26% in 2024, and for Ireland to completely disappear.

Nigeria (now Nigerian Woodlands) has held pretty steady at 1% since it first appeared in the 2018 update. Clicking on this ancestral region shows another surprise, connecting us to the Tiv ethnic group of Benue State.

AncestryDNA Oct 2024. Nigerian Woodlands sub-region.

 It's nice to see Spain at 16%, and that tracks with my Mom's Spain percentage increasing to 33%.

AncestryDNA Oct 2024 for KDJ.

On my Dad's updated results, his England & Northwestern Europe went up to 62%, while his Ireland lost 6%, down to 12. This seems to be a decrease for Ireland across all the tests I administer, along with the increase on Germanic Europe, maybe that is a sign of a larger trend. Interestingly, because my Mom's results have no Germanic Europe and my sister now has a sub-region of Germanic Europe for Italian Swiss, maybe this comes from my Dad's side.

Dad's results also show two sub-regions in Ireland: Leinster and Munster. This makes sense, as Limerick and County Clare are in Munster, and John O'Brien's obituary from 1901 says he was from County Clare. Longford is part of the western edge of Leinster, so maybe this also helps trace where the family of my 3rd-great-grandmother Bridget came from.

On my results, the sub-region for Scotland's Northern Isles of Shetland and Orkney appear as "strong" connection strength. My Mom shares this sub-region, although her connection strength is "moderate".

Scotland sub-region 2024.

On my Mom's sisters' results, my Aunt Patty retained her 14 ancestral regions, as well as adding the Northern Isles sub-region for Scotland. Her percentage of Jewish went up from 1% to 2% and now shows the sub-region of Sephardic Jews.

AncestryDNA Oct 2024 for PM.

It's interesting that my Mom does have the trace for Nigeria, but Aunt Patty doesn't, and my Aunt Linda has 1% Senegal. My Mom's cousin Irene, who is a great-granddaughter of Vicente Antonio Campuzano and Maria Conception Amado, has a trace of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. This reflects a little studied aspect of history that a large number of African slaves were brought to Mexico from along the West African coast in the late 1500s and 1600s, many through the port of Veracruz in the Gulf Coast.

I am really interested to see how MyHeritage's next DNA update, teased earlier this summer, will look in comparison with Ancestry's 2024 update. Maybe this will be out by Rootstech in March.