About us
Michael Alan Apgar, a direct male-line descendant of Johannes Peter "Hans" Epgert, who immigrated to America in 1740 with his father, Friedrich "Fritz" Epgert, stepmother Anna Eva Schaefer, and older brother Johannes Herbert Epgert started the Apgar DNA project during the summer of 2005.
Mike had his both his Y-DNA and his mitochondrial-DNA tested. The results are available on the site. These results include both:
1) a 37-marker test of my Y-DNA, which is passed down the male line as part of the Y-chromosome. (Men have an X chromosome and a Y chromosome; women have two X chromosomes.) and
2) a test of my mitochondrial DNA, which is contained within an egg cell. (It is passed by a mother to each one of her children.)
DNA configurations are passed from one generation to the next, so that people with like DNA are related. Occasionally (once in many generations) a mutation occurs, such that over time, even directly related individuals have slightly different DNA markers. This makes it possible to estimate for people with similar--but not identical--DNA, the number of generations (or period of time) that has elapsed since a common ancestor.
DNA configurations--now that thousands have been done worldwide--confirm that all humans originated in Africa (about 200,000 years ago). The large database also makes it possible to trace the prehistoric migration patterns of our closest ancestors.
According to Mike's DNA test results, both Apgars (and their direct-line male ancestors) and his maternal ancestors were among the first group of humans to enter Europe (from the Middle East)during the previous interglacial period (around 40,000-45,000 years ago). These people were referred to as "Cro-Magnons" from the area in which their fossils were first described in France.
At that time, Neanderthals were still living in Europe. However, they apparently were unable to compete with the newcomers. The last Neanderthals disappeared (went extinct) about 30,000 years ago.
Our Cro-Magnon ancestors had more advanced stone tools. (This early period of human technology is now referred to as the "Old Stone Age".) These people lived in caves and are responsible for the art preserved on cave walls in France. They worked bone and wood into forms for decoration or ceremonies. They apparenly developed religion (carefully burying their dead with valuable implements).
All modern Europeans--and their descendants in the Americas--are descended from only seven different women who lived long ago. These women were described and their lives dramatized by DNA researcher Bryan Sykes in his 2001 book "The Seven Daughters of Eve". Of these seven, my maternal ancestor, Ellen Burke-->Gertrude Tighe-->
Catherine Scanlon (who migrated from Ireland in 1856)-->Catherine Malone-->?-->etc, was Professor Sykes' "Ursula". This woman was possibly born about 45,000 years ago in what is now northern Greece. (Sykes' describes the extreme difficulty and harshness of life at that time. A "ripe old age" then was 37 years, by which time a person would likely have lost most of her teeth on the coarse diet consumed between available meat meals.)
Life became even more difficult for these early Europeans. By 25,000 years northern Europe was in the throes of the last--and most extensive--glacial advance of the Ice Age. People had to migrate south to Spain, southern France and Italy to survive. As climate warmed (by about 12,000 years ago) and the ice retreated, our ancestors moved northward into Germany and the British Isles (which were then connected to Europe due to lower sea levels, as much water being tied up in glaciers). With the invention of the atl-atl (spear-thrower) they helped to drive many of the large mammals (mammoths, bison, giant elk, lions, bears, etc) to extinction.
Also at this time new waves of immigrants moved into Europe. They brought with them from the Middle East better stone tools--and eventually (by about 7,000 years ago) domestic animals and crops. These people displaced our ancestors (who were the forerunners of Basques, Celts, and some Franco-German tribes) into the westernmost reaches of the continent. The new technology, crops and animals were transmitted across tribal boundaries and spread throughout Europe. Gradually agriculture replaced the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of the early pioneers. Civilization and--finally--our direct ancestors (who we can name) arrived on the scene.
Hopefully you will agree that these insights to our distant past fascinating. Perhaps--with more DNA tests--we will be able to answer other questions about relations between our more recent ancestors.
Note: Neither the Apgars nor my maternal line (Burkes etal) are direct descendants of "Uzzi the Iceman", the 5,000 year old man whose frozen body was discovered in a retreating glacier a few years ago in the Alps, just inside the Italian border. He was part of a much later wave of immigration to Europe than our ancestors.
It should be recognized that there are at least 1,000 generations stretching from us today back to 25,000 years ago. In only 20 generations, we have about 1,000 potential ancestors (although some are likely 'doubles'...that is, descent from a single ancestor through several different children). You can imagine how many different ancestors we actually have...many of which were probably later arrivals in Europe from the Middle East, Africa or Asia.
Mike had his both his Y-DNA and his mitochondrial-DNA tested. The results are available on the site. These results include both:
1) a 37-marker test of my Y-DNA, which is passed down the male line as part of the Y-chromosome. (Men have an X chromosome and a Y chromosome; women have two X chromosomes.) and
2) a test of my mitochondrial DNA, which is contained within an egg cell. (It is passed by a mother to each one of her children.)
DNA configurations are passed from one generation to the next, so that people with like DNA are related. Occasionally (once in many generations) a mutation occurs, such that over time, even directly related individuals have slightly different DNA markers. This makes it possible to estimate for people with similar--but not identical--DNA, the number of generations (or period of time) that has elapsed since a common ancestor.
DNA configurations--now that thousands have been done worldwide--confirm that all humans originated in Africa (about 200,000 years ago). The large database also makes it possible to trace the prehistoric migration patterns of our closest ancestors.
According to Mike's DNA test results, both Apgars (and their direct-line male ancestors) and his maternal ancestors were among the first group of humans to enter Europe (from the Middle East)during the previous interglacial period (around 40,000-45,000 years ago). These people were referred to as "Cro-Magnons" from the area in which their fossils were first described in France.
At that time, Neanderthals were still living in Europe. However, they apparently were unable to compete with the newcomers. The last Neanderthals disappeared (went extinct) about 30,000 years ago.
Our Cro-Magnon ancestors had more advanced stone tools. (This early period of human technology is now referred to as the "Old Stone Age".) These people lived in caves and are responsible for the art preserved on cave walls in France. They worked bone and wood into forms for decoration or ceremonies. They apparenly developed religion (carefully burying their dead with valuable implements).
All modern Europeans--and their descendants in the Americas--are descended from only seven different women who lived long ago. These women were described and their lives dramatized by DNA researcher Bryan Sykes in his 2001 book "The Seven Daughters of Eve". Of these seven, my maternal ancestor, Ellen Burke-->Gertrude Tighe-->
Catherine Scanlon (who migrated from Ireland in 1856)-->Catherine Malone-->?-->etc, was Professor Sykes' "Ursula". This woman was possibly born about 45,000 years ago in what is now northern Greece. (Sykes' describes the extreme difficulty and harshness of life at that time. A "ripe old age" then was 37 years, by which time a person would likely have lost most of her teeth on the coarse diet consumed between available meat meals.)
Life became even more difficult for these early Europeans. By 25,000 years northern Europe was in the throes of the last--and most extensive--glacial advance of the Ice Age. People had to migrate south to Spain, southern France and Italy to survive. As climate warmed (by about 12,000 years ago) and the ice retreated, our ancestors moved northward into Germany and the British Isles (which were then connected to Europe due to lower sea levels, as much water being tied up in glaciers). With the invention of the atl-atl (spear-thrower) they helped to drive many of the large mammals (mammoths, bison, giant elk, lions, bears, etc) to extinction.
Also at this time new waves of immigrants moved into Europe. They brought with them from the Middle East better stone tools--and eventually (by about 7,000 years ago) domestic animals and crops. These people displaced our ancestors (who were the forerunners of Basques, Celts, and some Franco-German tribes) into the westernmost reaches of the continent. The new technology, crops and animals were transmitted across tribal boundaries and spread throughout Europe. Gradually agriculture replaced the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of the early pioneers. Civilization and--finally--our direct ancestors (who we can name) arrived on the scene.
Hopefully you will agree that these insights to our distant past fascinating. Perhaps--with more DNA tests--we will be able to answer other questions about relations between our more recent ancestors.
Note: Neither the Apgars nor my maternal line (Burkes etal) are direct descendants of "Uzzi the Iceman", the 5,000 year old man whose frozen body was discovered in a retreating glacier a few years ago in the Alps, just inside the Italian border. He was part of a much later wave of immigration to Europe than our ancestors.
It should be recognized that there are at least 1,000 generations stretching from us today back to 25,000 years ago. In only 20 generations, we have about 1,000 potential ancestors (although some are likely 'doubles'...that is, descent from a single ancestor through several different children). You can imagine how many different ancestors we actually have...many of which were probably later arrivals in Europe from the Middle East, Africa or Asia.