Going Greene: Our DNA Journey

Africa’s Kalahari Desert, a vast land covering over 350,000 square miles of semi-arid desert, once contained one of the greatest lakes the earth has ever known. Some 200,000 years ago, Lake Makgadikgadi, larger than present day Sweden, was the heart of a large oasis that was a beacon of life in ancient Africa.

Around 10,000 years ago, the greatest of great lakes was nearly dried up, and the little water left was nearly being filled by sands blowing in from the encroaching desert.  All that is now left of this great lake is one of the world’s largest salt flats.

Lake Makgadikgadi was a special place, and science is now beginning to realize just how special it was.  It is likely the birthplace of mankind, and the homeland of Mitochondrial Eve.  Mitochondrial Eve refers to our earliest known female ancestor, based on the results of genetic research – specifically studies regarding mitochondrial DNA, a type of DNA that is only passed from mother to child.  Studying variations and patterns in mitochondrial DNA gives us a glimpse of this earliest female ancestor. Our species, Homo Sapiens, originated approximately 200,000 years ago, and by 50,000 years ago was spreading all across the globe. Recent genetic studies show that populations in the still inhabited areas around this ancient lake show a direct link to our earliest known greatest of great grandmothers.

Many genealogy enthusiasts have likely taken one of the many DNA tests on the market today.  The most common test, available through www.ancestry.com is an autosomal test that shows the entirety of our genetic makeup. Other tests such as Y-chromosome testing (showing our paternal lineage) and MT (or mitochondrial) DNA testing (showing our maternal lineage) are also available. 

Mitochondrial DNA is the very thing that links us all back to this ancient woman who gave birth to all of mankind. Mitochondrial Eve exhibited an extremely specific DNA sequence, one that can be traced forward in time down to the present day.  From time to time, her original DNA sequence mutated or showed minor changes that occur at a predictable rate. By the accumulation of these mutations, and the amount of time it takes for them to happen, science can estimate that Mitochondrial Eve existed some time over 140,000 years ago.  To us genealogists, that means over 7000 generations ago. 

Mitochondrial Eve wasn’t the first human female to exist. Mankind had existed for tens of thousands of years before she came onto the scene. She is, however, the single woman that everyone alive today descends from. 

It is difficult to fathom that long of a distance in time. What did life resemble for her? Humans then were exclusively hunter gatherers, and though Eve and her family would have some sort of early form of language, language as we know it today didn’t exist.  She used basic tools made of wood, bone and flint and her life mainly focused on minute-to-minute survival.  Her life is something that we cannot relate to today. Our meals come from the supermarket and we raise our children in the safety of our homes. This woman, Mitochondrial Eve, was a real person who existed so long ago. She is known to us as a series of numbers and letters that identify genetic code, and thanks to the modern miracles of science we can tease out small bits of information about our most distant and ancient ancestors.

Looking at the genetic code in anyone who has had a DNA test done, we can see patterns in populations, and see human migrations patterns over tens of thousands of years. We are one giant family. In some cases, our genetic relationships are separated by millennia and in other cases they are much closer.  

For many of us living here in Greene County, we see similar patterns in our mitochondrial DNA, as well. This DNA shows that our story begins in Africa, and our ancestors spread into Asia and eventually Europe.  We stayed in those places for a while, and then for those with Native American ancestry, we came to North America from East Asia over 13,000 years ago. For those of us with more European ancestry, we arrived in North America just a few centuries ago.  In the 20th century, as a society, we are holding one big family reunion, bringing together groups of people from Africa, Asia, Europe and every other part of the world into one society, reuniting the branches of humanity that have been separated as man spread out all over the world. 

Studies in DNA are often supported by research in language and often align with cultural origin stories that can be verifiably dated back several thousand years.  It seems that human memory, at least when it comes to who we are and where we come from, can be very accurate.  Perhaps the gap that has existed so long between science and religion is tunnel vision and a lack of realization that, when compared to each other with an open mind, they complement each other well. 

Since DNA tests have become so popular and affordable over the last couple decades, there is a wealth of information available to study these informative human patterns over the last several thousand years.  A simple DNA test can reveal, with a high degree of accuracy, where your ancestors lived over the last 100,000 years and show a very specific path that illustrates what got you here to Greene County.  There are DNA studies specific to the region of the Upper Ohio Valley, which includes the Monongahela River Valley.  Recently, studies have been conducted showing the same information for Native American populations and detailing their movement from Eastern Asia and Siberia tens of thousands of years ago, through the Pacific Northwest, indicating that they likely traveled by boat all the way to the tip of South America, and then started spreading west.  And just like when humans left Africa, these native populations spread out, settled down and often became isolated from each other for thousands of years. 

Perhaps it is this common ancestry, shared by all mankind, that explains why, even when separated by thousands of years, we share similar beliefs, ways of life, and specific customs.  During the Bronze and Iron Ages in Europe, about 2,000 years ago, societies created large burial mounds for the important members of their communities. At nearly the same time, Native Americans were erecting nearly identical burial mounds for the respected members of their communities.  These groups of people and their ancestors would not have been in contact for many thousands of years. It is likely that the cultural seeds that led to these similarly constructed mounds, for nearly identical purposes, shared the same path of cultural evolution, proving further that we are all in fact one big, global family.

About Matt Cumberledge

Matt has been a lifelong resident of Brave, in Wayne Township where his family first settled in the 1770s. Matt graduated from Waynesburg Central High School in 2000, and afterwards worked for Developed Structures Inc, in Waynesburg where he was in charge of quality and control of drawings going to steel fabrication shops throughout the country. Matt then spent 7 years in the Army National Guard, based out of Waynesburg PA, and was deployed to Iraq twice. Following the military, Matt worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections until 2018. He is currently the Greene County Historical Society’s executive director. Matt joined the GreeneScene team in early 2019, as a contributing writer providing the “Going Greene” and “Greene Artifacts” columns, as well as additional articles. “Writing for the GreeneScene has been one of the most fun decisions I have ever made,” according to Matt, “I love the positive nature of the paper and the support it provides to the community.” Outside of work, Matt is involved in many local organizations: Cornerstone Genealogical Society, The Warrior Trail Association, The Mon Yough Chapter of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, Greene County Tourism and several others. Matt is a hobbyist blacksmith, and enjoys doing carpentry work.