The Origin of DF19  (updated: February 2024)

DF19 is a SNP mutation that defines one of the smaller subclades below R1b-P312, which is the most common Y-haplogroup in Western Europe. The R-DF19 subclade may represent about 6-10% of all R1b-P312.

The origin of the P312 haplogroup can be situated around 2800 BC, and just like its “brother clade” U106 it was tightly linked to the Bell Beaker culture, which was at that time spreading rapidly throughout central and western Europe.

The DF19 mutation first occurred in a R1b-P312* man who had been born around 2600 BC in a Corded Ware community, most likely living in Bohemia, in what is nowadays the Czech Republic. He was the common male ancestor of all DF19+ lineages. Within a few generations (about 2500 BC) two other SNP mutations occurred in the Y-chromosomes of two of his male descendants: one became the founding father of the DF88 subclade, the other was the ancestor of the Z302 subclade. Today the vast majority of DF19+ men belong to one of these two subclades: roughly 80% to DF88 and 15% to Z302.

Not long after the origin of DF88 and Z302, their descending lineages have migrated in various directions. Some have moved due west, as is attested by the discovery of a DF19 > DF88 > BY61838 skeleton (MX259) in a Bell Beaker community in Anselfingen (southern Germany), dated to ca. 2450 – 2200 BC. Other lineages have most likely migrated north, through Poland and eastern Germany towards Scandinavia, where even nowadays we encounter very rare representatives of lineages that had branched off from all other identified DF19+ lineages. A group of people comprising various types of DF19+ Y-chromosomes (i.e. some of the DF88 and Z302 branches, but certainly not all) has migrated west towards the Rhine and followed it downstream, all the way into the present-day Netherlands and northwestern Germany. The majority of all DF19+ lineages identified to date descend from this group, as they belong to subclades below R-DF19-DF88 that have originated in these regions during subsequent centuries.

The early arrival of DF19+ Y-chromosomes in the Netherlands has been confirmed by the discovery of two skeletons in that region:

        *  Skeleton I13028 from Ottoland (Zuid-Holland) was dated to 2500 – 2100 BC, and it carried the DF19 and DF88 mutations

     * Skeleton I5748 from Oostwoud (Noord-Holland) was dated to 2600 – 2200 BC, and it carried the DF19 and Z302 mutations

These two men were buried about 110 km (68 miles) apart, and they were distant cousins. Considering that, at that time, large parts of this region were flooded by the sea or covered by peat bogs, and thus uninhabitable, these people most likely settled on the higher grounds in e.g. the Veluwe, Drenthe and Lower Saxony, where many Bell Beaker sites have been discovered. The sites in Oostwoud and Ottoland can most likely both be regarded as outposts of this society, located on sandy hills that were mostly surrounded by water and peat bogs. Due to the specific soil conditions in those locations the ancient skeletons have been preserved, whereas in most other regions skeletons were not preserved due to the acidity of the soil. 

The Geographic Dispersion of DF19 and Its Subclades

The study of Olalde et al (2018) discovered that a Bell Beaker society, which was genetically most similar to the people who lived in Holland at that time (with the skeletons found in Oostwoud as the reference population), had migrated on a large scale to the British Isles around 2450 BC. There they managed to replace the indigenous population (the builders of e.g. Stonehenge) within a few centuries.Whether this happened only through violence or also as a result of a deadly disease (e.g. the plague) that was introduced by the continental immigrants is still unknown, but within a surprisingly short time span the R1b-type Y-chromosome became very dominant.

Especially the L21 subclade below P312 seems to be linked to this event, but because DF19 had originated in the invading population shortly before 2450 BC, it is possible that this first immigration wave from Holland to the British Isles already introduced the original DF19+ Y-chromosome there. However, as long as there is no archaeological DNA-evidence to support this, it is very difficult to verify, especially due to the large DF19-containing migration waves from the continent that would follow at much later time periods (see below). To date, the oldest evidence of a DF19+ man in England dates to the early 3rd century AD (see below: 6DRIF-23). Further research might still uncover older remains from DF19+ men in the British Isles, and shed more light on this matter.

Meanwhile on the continent, it appears that the majority of DF19+ men remained in the Netherlands for many more centuries. This is attested by skeleton I26830, found in Wervershoof-Zwaagdijk (at merely 4 km / 2.5 miles from Oostwoud), that was dated to about 1600 – 1300 BC, and that carried the DF88 and S4281 mutations. This man had been buried with a bronze sword, and the amber beads he had received as a grave gift suggest that his community was involved in trade with the Baltic coast (Denmark, northern Germany, perhaps even Poland). He must have represented one of the very first generations of the S4281 subclade below DF88, because the S4281 mutation had only originated around 1500 BC. In our DF19 Project, the majority of DF88+ men belong to the S4281 subclade, and their male ancestors must still have been living in the Netherlands about 3500 years ago.

Another significant SNP, that originated in the Netherlands (or in the neighbouring German region of Lower Saxony) around 1400 BC, is Z17112. The S4281+ man in whose Y-chromosome this particular SNP mutation occurred, is the common male ancestor of the majority of all members in this project. At least 10 lineages have descended from him independently, and each of them has passed on his ancestral Y-chromosome with the Z17112 mutation – to which additional, branch-specific SNPs have been added over time – until the present.

Probably individual DF19+ men – as part of groups of men with other types of Y-chromosomes, such as R-U106 and I1 – gradually started migrating towards the east and the north (deeper into Germany) around 1000 – 500 BC. This would explain the existence of a few seemingly Germany-specific lineages that have branched off during this period, such as Z35675 below Z302, and Z43162 below DF88. So far, the oldest DF19+ skeleton found outside the Netherlands is that of a man (sample I17607) who had been buried in Stradonice (Czech Republic) around 800 – 550 BC. Just like the man from Wervershoof-Zwaagdijk he belonged to the S4281 subclade below DF88. Genetically he was apparently not at all related to the other people in the location where he died: autosomal DNA-results suggest that he may actually have been born in Frisia, and that he had travelled all the way to Bohemia. Stradonice is located along the Berounka river, which was used as a trading route by the local Celts. A tempting hypothesis is therefore that this man was actually an adventurous merchant who had travelled by boat from Frisia or northern Germany to Stradonice, via the Elbe, the Moldau and the Berounka…

Service in the Roman legions seems to have further increased the mobility of DF19+ men during the first few centuries AD. This is illustrated by the skeleton of a cavalryman (sample R10657), who had been buried along with his horse in Klosterneuburg (Austria) during the first or early second century AD. His haplogroup was S4281> Z17112 > Z27257, and he probably belonged to the Batavian tribe, whichlived along the Rhine in the southern part of the Netherlands. The Batavians supplied auxiliary troops to the Romans, and the specific presence of Batavian cohorts has been documented along the Danube frontier in this period. Another case is that of 6DRIF-23, the skeleton of a decapitated man who had been buried in York (UK), most likely during the early 3rd century AD. The fact that horse bones were found alongside his skeleton suggests that he had also been a cavalry soldier in the Roman army. This man, who belonged to the S4281 > Z17112 >S17075 > FT214931 haplogroup, was part of the famous “Headless Romans” group, which has been the subject of an excellent BBC documentary that can be found on YouTube. These men had presumably been legionaries, and they might have been executed shortly after the death of Roman emperor Septimius Severus in York in February 211 AD, whose son Caracalla killed anyone who might threaten his succession. The researchers found that 6DRIF-23 was certainly not a local Yorkshire man, but that he had most likely spent his childhood in a coastal landscape resembling that of East-Anglia, the Netherlands or northern Germany.

Some of the DF19+ men even went to Rome itself, as is illustrated by the burial of a man (sample R31) whose skeleton was found at the Mausoleo di Augusto in that city. He lived at some point between ca. 260 and 535 AD, and belonged to the Z302 > Z8193 >Z39459 haplogroup. He may have been a soldier, merchant, bodyguard, slave, servant or messenger in Rome, or he may have belonged to the Germanic tribes that invaded Italy during the 5th and 6th centuries AD to overthrow the western Roman empire. It is important to note that most Z302 lineages do not have a clear link to the Netherlands, but that they have probably been living in central and southern Germany since the migration from Bohemia in the Bell Beaker era.

With most of the DF88 lineages remaining in close vicinity of the Netherlands for many centuries, we can reasonably expect that DF88+ Y-chromosomes were present at some frequency – alongside other YDNA-Haplogroups such as R-U106 and I1 – in all tribes that lived in that wider region, such as the Batavians, Frisians, Canninefates, Chauci, Chatti, Cherusci, Chamavi, Menapii, Nervii, Morini, etc. By 300 AD most of these tribes had merged into larger tribal alliances (most notably the Saxons, the Franks and the Frisians), and by the beginning of the Germanic Migration period (about 350 AD) Y-chromosomes with the DF88 mutation were presumably also present at a low frequency among the Angles of southern Jutland.

Ancient DNA samples from this period (ca. 300 – 500 AD) include two skeletons that were found in Hiddestorf near Hannover (northern Germany), which was at that time inhabited by the Saxons. Sample HID001 has been genotyped as S4281 > Z17112 > BY107827 and in HID002 the DF88 and S4281 mutations have also been confirmed. Another skeleton (IND002), dated to ca. 400 – 800 AD, found at Alt-Inden (between Aachen and Cologne inwestern Germany), in a region that was predominantly inhabited by the Franks, belonged to the Z302 > Z39292 subclade.

Knowing this, it is clear that the Anglo-Saxon migration of the 5th century AD must have abruptly introduced a large diversity of continental DF19 subclades into the British Isles. For example, the skeleton of a man (sample I17277) buried in Hartlepool (northeastern England) between 600 and 900 AD was genotyped as DF88 > S4281> Z17112 > S17075 > S10067. For most of the subclades that already existed at that time, both continental and British branches exist, which supports the view that some members of those subclades remained in their native regions, while other members crossed over to settle in Britain. The case of Z17122 – a subclade below S4281 > Z17112 >S17075 > S10067 > Z17121 – is a very interesting one, because it appears to descend from one single Anglo-Saxon ancestor who lived in England during the 5th century AD, while his relatives of the Z17121 subclade were still living in Frisia, Saxony or Jutland. He acquired the Z17122 mutation in his Y-chromosome and passed it on to his many male-line descendants, and to date it has been exclusively found in a considerable number of families with a paternal origin in the British Isles, who all descend from him.

The Viking era of the 9th– 11th century most likely brought another wave of DF19-containing Y-chromosomes to the British Isles. On the Swedish island of Öland, the skeleton was found of a man (sample VK333) who had been buried there around 900 AD. His haplogroup was S4281 > Z17112 > Z17125 > Z29034. It is still unclear whether he was a merchant or a local inhabitant, but this discovery confirms that DF19+Y-chromosomes were already present in Scandinavia at this time. However, it is important to emphasize that not all Vikings came from Denmark, Sweden or Norway: there were also many men with e.g. Saxon and Frisian ancestry among their ranks, who joined promising raiding parties such as the invasion of the British Isles by the so-called Great Heathen Army in 865 AD. For a few families – with a parallel continental branch that split off during this period – it is very likely that they descend from a Viking ancestor who settled in England, Scotland or Ireland during the 9th or 10th century AD.

The Norman invasion in (and after) 1066 AD was probably responsible for the arrival of even more DF19+ (mostly DF88+) lineages into the British Isles. The encouraged settlement of Flemish weavers in East-Anglia may also have contributed, as well as the large presence of Flemish mercenaries in England during the 12th century.

As a result of the gradual diffusion from its region of origin in the Netherlands, in combination with a few large-scale migration events, the vast majority of medieval DF88+ male lineages was probably present in the Netherlands, Belgium, the British Isles, Germany, northern France, and probably also to some extent in southern Scandinavia. A few individual lineages have wandered off farther away, to e.g. Italy, Bohemia, Poland, Finland, Russia and the Middle East, most likely as the result of very specific migration events in the recent or more distant past.

We can only hope that future DNA-analysis of many more archaeological remains from across Europe will give us an even better picture and a higher resolution of the migration dynamics of DF19 and its many subclades throughout the centuries!

In its new and exciting “Discover More” tool, FTDNA is now including some of the ancient DNA information that is relevant for your own specific subclade. In parallel, Alex Williamson is doing a great job in positioning modern and ancient DNA samples on his Big Tree for the DF19 subclade, which you can find here:

https://www.ytree.net/DisplayTree.php?blockID=183

We encourage everyone to upload their own BigY data to the Big Tree, so Alex can re-analyze and include them in his overview!

  Best regards,

          Wim Verelst and George Ranney

        (Volunteer administrators of the DF19 & Subclades Project).