The term SNP (pronounced "snip") means a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, or change at a single position on the Y Chromosome DNA strand from the usual result found in other Haplogroups.  Y-DNA SNPs are very reliable, and are used by population geneticists to arrange the human family tree via the direct paternal line of descent (Y Chromosome descent). Whereas STR markers (37, 67, 111, 500, 700) are merely “suggestive” of the line of descent.

SNPs form a line of descent out of Africa, into the Near East, and further around the world. Haplogroup R descends from a line that made its way from the Near East to the Far East, then back west towards Europe. 

R1b-U106 is a patrilineal descended family that appears to descend from an ancestral R1b group located among or near the Yamnaya culture, north of the Black Sea area. The group rose to significance in the area of present Germany and the surrounding areas probably a bit before 3000 BC.  Although U106 is found all over Europe, and in countries that Europeans have migrated to, it is most significant in Germany and surrounding countries, Scandinavia, and Britain. In its time-frame of 3000 BC, U106 likely arose in the Corded Ware culture. Depending on which branch of U106 a member descends from, the people on that branch adapted to a variety of different cultures along the way, including various derivatives of Slavic, Latin, Celtic, Belgae, Saxon, Viking, and other cultural groups. U106 is a family, not a culture. 

Some families of the historic nobility have paperwork ancestry that reaches back farther into The Genealogical Gap of the Dark Ages.  This enables us to compare the paperwork to the DNA as follows:  both the Bourbon family of the Spanish and the former French Royal families, and the Wettin family of Saxe-Coburg from which the British and the Belgian Royal families, and the former Portuguese and Bulgarian Royal families descend, are confirmed to descend from the same Branch of R1b-U106, being DF98. See also http://www.the-kings-son.com/royal_wettin_haplogroup

Meanwhile, the discoverer of DNA, Dr. James Watson, and along with him, the other scientist who together were the first to have their DNA mapped, Dr. Craig Venter, and along with them, the notable advocate for Genetic Genealogy, Dr. Spencer Wells, are all members of Haplogroup R1b-U106 via it’s major branch L48. We accept the publicity benefit these folks bring to R1b-U106.

Age of Major Branches:

U106 = about 3000 BC

        Z18 = about 2400 BC

                S5695 = about 1300 BC

        Z156 = about 2900 BC

                DF96 = about 2100 BC

                        L1 = about 1400 BC

                DF98 = about 2500 BC  “The Royal Haplogroup”

        S1688 = about 2100 BC

                U198 = about 1700 BC (see the separate R U198 Project)

        L48 = about 2600 BC

                L47 = about 2300 BC

                        S3251 = about 1300 BC

                Z30 = about 2200 BC

                        Z8 = about 1200 BC

                                Z346 = about 1000 BC

                Z326 = about 1400 BC

                        FGC10367 = about 1300 BC

based on Dr Iain McDonald's analysis.

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