Project Goals
The primary objective for this project was to investigate and then trace an ancestral male lineage back to Adam (the ancestral progenitor written of in the OT Book of Genesis). Using the Y-STR testing approach and some serious historical research a complimentary mapping system could now match tetranucleotide Y-chromosome short tandem repeat markers (Y-STR) within an anthrogenalogical mapping system to cover a greater span of history in both Ireland, Western Europe, and other regions associated with the Y-STR haplotype (unique 12 marker STRs which shows relatedness throughout anthrogenealogical history). By matching the Kiely haplotype with other surnames that have an identical haplotype, geographical and historical event locations where these ancestors of the same surname bearers were located gave more than one random result, and established valid historical patterns, like migrations and culturally identified activities linking most of the surnames and ancestors together as having common ancestors. The mapping tools used included accurate clan affiliations and status within the context of a practical and valid historical progression - this was linked with the Y-DNA data already gleaned in Ireland - and later proved cognizant within a broader genetic global migration - generally across a variety of regions and their sometimes complex histories and from within a time-line studied as both a contemporary and ancient history noting where specific points representing historical and ancestral information linked and could be validated as accurate historical ancestral evidence as given by many scholars. The methods then used in the Kiely Surname Project were based on using DNA results to link surnames with ancestral haplotype histories and other regional and cultural data to help validate substantial claims made by historians of the origins, migrations, and genealogies of the Kiely ancestors and also ancestors of other surname bearers in this project who were not related in a common ancestry by a specific haplotype.