DID ANCESTORS OF THE BEOTHUK SURVIVE?

Wow, an interesting story about a potential link between the long extinct Beothuk and a group of Icelanders can be found on page 13 of today's Telegram.

80 Icelanders have been identified as having the C1e DNA profile, which appears to be an aboriginal DNA strand. Part of the mystery is that the strain of DNA is not a match for any existing DNA among North American aboriginals.

This fuels speculation that the medieval Norse and the “skraelings”they found and mentioned in their visits to L’Anse aux Meadows may have intermarried.

The Beothuk, a Native American population from Newfoundland,  became extinct over 180 years ago.

Researchers are working on a DNA profile of the extinct Beothuk people to determine if it matches the C1e profile. It should be noted that an Asian or European origin has not been ruled out.

The skulls of Beothuuk Chief Nonosabasut and his wife, Demasduit are part of the mammals and birds section of the Royal Museum in Edinburgh. They were donated in 1827 by William Cormack. I think they should be returned to Newfoundland.


The study of the Icelandic C1e DNA profile was published in the November edition of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology,

Abstract

Although most mtDNA lineages observed in contemporary Icelanders can be traced to neighboring populations in the British Isles and Scandinavia, one may have a more distant origin. This lineage belongs to haplogroup C1, one of a handful that was involved in the settlement of the Americas around 14,000 years ago. Contrary to an initial assumption that this lineage was a recent arrival, preliminary genealogical analyses revealed that the C1 lineage was present in the Icelandic mtDNA pool at least 300 years ago. This raised the intriguing possibility that the Icelandic C1 lineage could be traced to Viking voyages to the Americas that commenced in the 10th century. In an attempt to shed further light on the entry date of the C1 lineage into the Icelandic mtDNA pool and its geographical origin, we used the deCODE Genetics genealogical database to identify additional matrilineal ancestors that carry the C1 lineage and then sequenced the complete mtDNA genome of 11 contemporary C1 carriers from four different matrilines. Our results indicate a latest possible arrival date in Iceland of just prior to 1700 and a likely arrival date centuries earlier. Most surprisingly, we demonstrate that the Icelandic C1 lineage does not belong to any of the four known Native American (C1b, C1c, and C1d) or Asian (C1a) subclades of haplogroup C1. Rather, it is presently the only known member of a new subclade, C1e. While a Native American origin seems most likely for C1e, an Asian or European origin cannot be ruled out.