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DNA is a “Hidden Source” of Who We Are

Keepers of Our Culture Posted on November 12, 2015 by california womanNovember 12, 2015

Cedar Street Times 11-13-2015

by Patricia Hamilton

11-Patricia-DavidBrooks 2012

David Brooks signed my copy of his book when I met him at the 2012 Carmel Author & Ideas Festival.

In the process of writing my life stories I learned about DNA analysis—a process to determine what we may have gotten from our ancestors—while reading The Social Animal, a book by David Brooks, renowned New York Times columnist and best-selling author. The book’s subtitle, The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, refers to five major influences on the formation of our personalities, which Brooks identifies as: DNA, family, cultures, education, and reflection. I had written about the other four. I became curious about the DNA. Why does Brooks believe it’s so important? And what could I possibly learn about my personality formation from my genome? Intrigued, I became hooked on exposing this “Hidden Source” of who I have become.

Soon after this intention, my Guided Autobiography instructor introduced me to Drs. Alexis Bunten and Siamak Naficy, two local cultural anthropologists with a specific interest in DNA analysis and working with people, such as myself, to understand—and be enriched by—its gifts. I already had my and my brother’s genomes sequenced by 23andme.com. I provided the Drs. with the results and they began their work.

Reflections on My Ancient Ancestor “Vi”

female homo sapien Ari-Pataud France

Female homo sapien, Ari-Pataud, France

In the last column in this series, Alexis and Siamak introduced me to “Vi” (from DNA haplogroup V), my oldest known European female ancestor who lived 16,000 to 12,000 years ago. Haplogroup V is a rare group of people, when compared with how many people are in the other haplogroups (haplogroups pertain to sharing deep ancestral origins dating back thousands of years). Not many V’s survived the incredibly harsh conditions, and those that did had to be resourceful, flexible, and incredibly brave.

Based on scientific and archival evidence, Siamak crafted a narrative of Vi’s life. She lived in Southwest France and her ancestral maternal line is from Cantabria in Northern Spain. He described the local terrain, the primitive culture, and how she and her man hunted for food and moved with reindeer migrations. As Siamak spoke about Vi during our one on one DNA consultation, I closed my eyes and bore witness to Vi living her life. Siamak’s melodic and authentic way of weaving Vi’s story helped me to visualize her movements. He spoke about her as if he knew her well. And so I began to see Vi as a real person too.

I was deeply moved by Siamak’s research and narrative. I felt something within go quiet, a knowing, as I bonded with a woman who existed thousands of years ago. I searched the many rooms in my mind, darting here and there, in the hopes I could give words to how this could happen in an instant. But I didn’t need a reason; I had this knowing.

Vi was a woman very much like myself, engaged in, not only survival in harsh conditions, but in daily activities with such mundane things as finding food, shelter, and clothing. I saw at once that she and I—and all the women between—represent my unbroken ancestral line through generations.

Mystified at this ancestral connection, I wondered what of Vi’s personality traits might have come down through the bloodlines to influence my own.

A Genetic Pre-disposition to Travel?

5-Hamilton, Patricia Istanbul 2010

Drinking Turkish coffee in Instanbul, 2010. Turkish coffee is now available at the International Café in Pacific Grove.

4-Hamilton, Patricia House I almost bought in Alamos Mexico 2014

Little house on the hill that I almost purchased in 2014 in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico. Sweet town!

I saw our first connection when I learned that Vi and her tribe traveled via Turkey and Spain, into France, and on to Europe and England. I’ve traveled and lived in the same countries! A year in Spain, two in the British Isles, a month in Turkey; always traveling by myself and mingling with the local people, intent on knowing about their country and how they live. I spent a month each year, for four years, in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico and seriously considered retirement in that Spanish Colonial “Pueblo Magico.”

3-Hamilton, Patricia Archeological Dig in Spain 1995

Archaeology dig in Elche, Spain. 1996. Site of the La Dama de Elche statue. Spaniards are a proud people.

Was it a genetic pre-disposition that led me to travel only to those countries where my ancestors lived millennia ago? Or were my travel choices, as I had assumed, solely of my own free will? Moving around as a child, I loved to travel and meet new people, see new places. Always thinking of myself as part gypsy and wished I wore the colorful clothes and traveled in a painted wagon.

2-Hamilton, Patricia Flatmates at Lancaster University 1995

Me and my flatmates, representing each of the British Isles, gather in the kitchen at Lancaster University, England. Lovely and proper. 1995

Alexis says there is no such conflict, as is often stated, of “Nature (DNA) versus Nurture (life experiences), but that our inclinations and desires are a combination of both. Brooks’ five influences also comprise both nature and nurture.

In traversing from a “genotype” at conception and then moving through the family, cultures, education and reflection of our lives, we morph into a “phenotype,” a composite of an organism‘s observable characteristics or traits.

I love learning the new words of this science: haplogroup, phenotype, genotype, genetic pre-disposition—what more? Even the words reveal volumes about how my personality is formed.

Connecting with the Citizens of Turkey

9-Ephesus TurkeyI took a guided tour through the countryside to Pamukkale and Ephesus, an ancient Greek city of Anatolia. The Library of Celsus, shown here, held 12,000 scrolls and was completed in 135 AD. Walking on those ancient cobblestones amid the ruins, I sensed I had been there before.

1. Hamilton, Patricia Mother and son on the bus to Troy Turkey 2010

While taking a bus to Troy, Turkey, I became friends with this woman and her son. Turks were friendly and kind to me.

7-Hamilton, Patricia sitting on Attaturk's lap Istanbul park 2010

Happy, carefree, and resting in the arms of Attaturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in a park in Istanbul. 2010. Much revered, his photo prominently hangs in businesses throughout Turkey.

While on a bus ride from Izmir to Istanbul, although I couldn’t speak their language, through smiles and gestures I developed a friendship with a mother and her young son. With my iPhone I took a picture of his dangling bare feet, then gave him the phone. He took a picture of his mother’s hands. A little bit later, he shyly crossed the aisle to sit next to me until we reached Troy. There we walked together around the wooden Trojan horse, the one used in the Brad Pitt movie, hugged and waved goodbye. I was nourished by the Turkish people throughout my visit.

More Genetic Pre-dispositions to Be Revealed

Alexis and Siamak have explored my deep ancestry, and will be moving forward in time from these two pre-historic ancestors to finding my family in the Middle Ages, through the early immigrants to this country, and generations of pioneer, and up to the present.

David Brooks on “from the Dead to the Unborn”

As David Brooks said, “The truth is, starting even before we are born, we inherit a great river of knowledge, and a great flow of patterns coming from many ages and many sources. The information that comes from deep in the evolutionary past, we call genetics. The information revealed thousands of years ago, we call religion. The information passed along from hundreds of years ago, we call culture. The information passed along from decades ago, we call family, and the information offered years, months, days, or hours ago, we call education and advice.

“But it is all information, and it all flows from the dead through us and to the unborn. The brain is adapted to the river of knowledge and its many currents and tributaries, and it exists as a creature of that river the way a trout exists in a stream. Our thoughts are profoundly molded by this long historic flow, and none of us exists, self-made, in isolation from it. So even a newborn possesses this rich legacy, and is built to absorb more, and to contribute back to this long current.” (The Social Animal, The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement, pg 32. Random House 2011)

Making It Real

Drs Siamak and Alexis are researching and delivering to me the personalized, long historic flow of information that Brooks mentions. I began my memoir with the intention of grounding my grandchildren in their true, historical identities, and the DNA research done by these kind people is proving to be the most interesting and fruitful way of accomplishing that goal—and of my way to “contribute back to this long current of life.”

The minute Alexis and Siamak described and made Vi real to me, a very long line of shadowy women began dancing towards me. I know Vi existed, because I am here today. I cannot imagine how I will feel when these other women and men dance out from the darkness and become my reality. Stay tuned!

“Rib” My Paternal Ancestor

I’m thankful to David Brooks for his research and book, and to these scientists, Drs Bunten and Naficy, who have chosen to research, analyze and reveal the hidden influences of our DNA.

Next installment, “Rib”, my paternal ancestor, from 12,000 years ago. You won’t want to miss his harrowing tale of courage and revenge.

Patricia Hamilton is owner and publisher of Park Place Publications, 591 Lighthouse Ave, Pacific Grove. She helps authors write and publish books. Affiliate Joyce Krieg is a published author and professional editor. Call or email for a free consultation. 831-649-6640, publishingbiz@sbcglobal.net, parkplacepublications.com, keepersofourculture.com.

Posted in Cedar Street Times, DNA | Leave a reply

Patricia Hamilton: Maternal Haplogroup Interpretation

Keepers of Our Culture Posted on October 22, 2015 by california womanOctober 22, 2015

October 21, 2015

Dear Patricia,

Combining DNA, archaeological and prehistoric evidence, we discovered that you come from a lineage of resilient women, women who survived the ice age, when others died. You belong to one of the rarest female lines in Europe. Because there are so few women like you who share this ancestry, we can infer that at some point, there were not many of your female ancestors having children. The ones that overcame harsh, challenging environments to bear female children who eventually led to you probably possessed a combination of resilience, intelligence, and maybe a little bit of magic . . . We’d like you to meet your ancient mother, Vi. — Alexis and Siamak

Though she knew the members of the band would have given her and her children food anyway, Vi gave her man a tiny and exquisite horse head of reindeer ivory—a token piece of sympathetic magic. It would surely bring him luck on the hunt. Besides, she was proud of her work.

ReindeerArt

Magdalenian carving of a horse head, 17,000-12,000 BCE — Photo: musée des antiquités nationales

Now, three moons later, despite the magic, Vi’s man had been gone longer than usual. The other men had already returned deflated from a poor hunt, but Vi’s man had stayed behind. He would not come home without meat. She tried to push thoughts out of her mind of what could happen to her man. Once when she was a girl, Vi and her brothers came across vultures arriving at a fresh human carcass. One look at the trampled ground around it, its crushed face and mangled flesh told them that he was probably kicked and run over by bison, betraying a young man’s mistake, not yet skilled in the art and magic of hunting.

She was a spry thing, Vi, despite her thirty years, with pale brown skin, topaz eyes, and thick, dark hair carved along her temples with a fine bone knife into a flowing mohawk. She had three daughters and one son, and all had been pressed into work, even the youngest, since her man had not come back from the summer hunting grounds. Every year, he had to travel further away to follow the reindeer, horse, and bison herds.

They were steppe hunters, Vi and her folk. Everything was organized around the migrations. Mistiming even one migration would have been fatal. Besides, coming late to a hunting ground might mean finding it already occupied by another band. This was not only inconvenient, but also potentially deadly. Accustomed to harsh, cold winters, Vi’s people lived in large communes whose survival relied on following exacting rules. Every bit of the animals they hunted had to be used, their very bones crushed and boiled to yield bone fat. Discipline ensured endurance.

Reconstruction of a 47, 000 to 17, 000 year old female homo sapien found in Abri-Pataud, France

Vi reached for her neck, and felt the familiar contours of the beaded shell necklace she treasured, the edges worn smooth from years of wear. It had been given to her by her mother, who said she got it from her mother, and all the mothers before her who it was told came from the faraway place of deep water that tasted salty, like blood.

On long winter nights, her mother brought forth magic in the flickering light of the fire. A reindeer and an outline of a small hand appeared, as she put red ochre to the wall. Then, a more abstract figure appeared, a spiral shape with a crosshatch design. Vi’s mother used it to show generations of women before who came from another place, high up in the hills. This fantastic place had water, like the river that sustained her and all the animals, but the river was so big you could not see across the banks. This was the water that tasted like blood so strong that people cannot drink it. Many mothers ago, the men had a quarrel over rights to the reindeer that turned into a brawl so violent, that Vi’s family had to leave for new hunting grounds. Vi was not afraid of change. Change was a way of life these past few years as the herds became thinner and stopped following the annual migration patterns.

Magdalenian Cave

Magdalenian cave are 16,000-9,000 BCE Altamira Cave, Spain. http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/cardshowall.php?title=prehistoric-to-medieval-art-history

Because the small game around the camp had all been killed or run away, the band had been talking about moving in the direction of the setting sun, to find a new place that hadn’t yet been overhunted by her kind. If Vi and her children stayed behind, they would probably starve, but if they left, her man would never be able to find them. Vi stayed behind to wait for her man to return so she could tell him how to find the rest of the band. They would stay the winter in their familiar cave and join the group next spring before the break up of the river ice. But, she sent her children with the rest of the band. Vi’s son was forced to carry off her youngest daughter, who was not yet entirely weaned.

The toddler’s piercing wail did not stop until it faded out of earshot, but Vi could still hear it day in and day out as she waited for her man to return. Without the rest of the group around, small animals returned to the area. Vi trapped a large hare and slow roasted it in a pit with mushrooms and other herbs. No, she would not starve this winter. But, was living a life alone worth living?

Join us in our next installment, as we travel in the footsteps of Vi and her ancestors to Cantabria, Spain and Southern France.

Vi’s story was created from Patricia Hamilton’s mitochondrial DNA line using the scientific evidence currently available. We cannot know with 100% certainty exactly where Vi and her family came from, but through an analysis of Patricia’s DNA, we were able to reconstruct the most likely locations of Patricia’s oldest known female ancestors living approximately 15,000 years ago. We combined archaeological and other scientific data about the geographical features, climate, flora and fauna, human impact, and cultural artifacts to interpret what Vi’s life was like, and ways that she and her people faced formidable challenges of living in Ice Age Europe.

Alexis, Siamak, AriaAlexis Bunten and Siamak Naficy are Ph.D. anthropologists who have partnered to offer interpretive services to help people to understand their lives, and their legacy, in relation to the past.

The information presented here is for edutainment purposes and copyright of Alexis Bunten and Siamak Naficy. No part of the text or information presented in this blog may be reproduced without the written permission of the authors.

 

Posted in Cedar Street Times, DNA, NEWS | Tagged aging, Ancestry, Cantabria, Cave Art, consciousness, dna, DNA Interpretation, Doggerland, empowerment, family, grandchildren, guided autobiography, heritage, Lascaux, Magdalenian, memoir, MtDNA, Prehistoric Origins, psychology, Reindeer Hunters, storytelling, Survivor, VHaplogroup | 1 Reply

What if we could discover the stories of our ancestors who can no longer talk to us?

Keepers of Our Culture Posted on October 19, 2015 by california womanOctober 19, 2015

Patricia Hamilton has identified 28 ancestors who came to America before the 1776 American Revolution. With the expert help of two anthropologists, she has unlocked long buried secrets to her family’s past. By triangulating genetic data with archaeological and historical evidence, they have been able to reconstruct a portrait of Patricia’s heritage. These discoveries have given Patricia new insights into what she has inherited from these courageous, early American colonists and the generations that came before them. Through this innovative and collaborative research process, Patricia has become part of a bigger legacy than she ever anticipated, connecting her to the stories of her ancestors who came to America and beyond.

family June 2015 copyWEB

Dr. Siamak Naficy, Dr. Alexis Bunten, and their daughter, Aria.

Drs. Alexis Bunten and Siamak Naficy

We search for meaning in our lives through personal memoir, family history, and now, DNA. But all the “facts” we uncover in our search for self have to be interpreted and put into a larger context. Alexis Bunten and Siamak Naficy are Ph.D. anthropologists who have partnered to offer interpretive services to help people to understand their lives, and their legacy, in relation to the past. Their research can offer you and your clients remarkable insights into who they are, where they came from, and why they made certain choices in life.

Unlock DNA Companies’ Clues

DNA companies can offer some clues to the past, but their services are not personalized enough to unlock the full meaning-making potential of DNA. Using the tools of anthropology, Dr’s Naficy and Bunten combine their research expertise to integrate genetic data within a cultural and historical context. This exiting new field of “narrative genetics” connects people to the stories of their inheritance, as recent as the generation before to their earliest ancestors. In addition to professionally researched ancestral legacy stories and reports, Dr’s Bunten and Naficy offer custom, “Ancestral Trail” tours so that clients can walk in the footsteps of their fore-bearers.
As a biological anthropologist, Siamak Naficy can translate the complex science of heritability, disentangle the relationship between genetics and environment, and reconstruct human origins. Socio-cultural anthropologist, Alexis Bunten, has worked in the heritage and tourism sectors for over twenty years, connecting people to their cultural legacy through research and interpretation. Dr’s Bunten and Naficy met in graduate school at UCLA, and after a decade of deliberation, decided to blend their DNA to bring their daughter, Aria into the world. They live in Monterey, California

Posted in DNA, NEWS | Tagged biological anthropologist, business, cultural anthropology, dna, education, empowerment, family, heritage, memoir, psychology, storytelling, writers, writing | 1 Reply

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