Urschweiz (Ancient Switzerland)

Background:  My great grandfather, Josef Petermann (1862-1953), was born in Root, canton Luzern, Switzerland.  After immigrating to America (Rich Hill, Bates Co., MO), he preferred to use the name, Joe Peterman.  Using the parish registers of Root, I have determined that his great-great grandfather was Heinrich Petermann, who died in 1762 and that is the earliest named ancestor I have found.  The Petermann surname is rather common in Root, indicating that the family has been there for a long time.  Root or Rota may go back to Roman times.  An interesting question to ponder is whether the Petermann family of Root was Germanic or derived from a pre-German Celtic population.

My terminal SNP is BY506, derived from R-FT73467, which was derived from R-BY3598, which was derived from R-BY3595, which was derived from R-BY5690, which was derived from R-L20.

R-L20 is derived from R-U152 and R-P312, placing this haplogroup within the large family of Bronze Age settlers from the Pontic-Caspian steppe who moved into central Europe about 4,500 years ago.  R-L20 is estimated to have emerged some 3,800 years ago (2343 BCE to 1253 BCE).  R-L20 has been found in an ancient DNA site some 3,900 years old near Singen in southern Germany.  This site is only 55 miles northeast of Root, Switzerland!

The principle of parsimony suggests that the family has been in this region all along, living near the Alps and not too far from the Rhine River.  The Petermann patriline, from before surnames, may have lived in the same general place as the region transitioned from Urnfield to Hallstatt to LaTene Celts to the Helvetii, then living under Roman rule and Germanic rule, before finally emerging as Swiss.  But before we jump to conclusions, we must consider that L20 has identified descendants in many places:  England, Scotland, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Switzerland.  Is it just happenstance that my Petermann patriline wound up back in Switzerland, or were they there all along?  Was there a diaspora out of Switzerland to these other places?  My hypothesis is that the latter is correct.  R-L20 and other clades derived from R-U152 lived along the northern flank of the Alps.  During the latter Bronze Age, I suspect there were many waves of settlement away from the area toward the British Isles, France, and Italy.  My Petermann ancestors just happened to be among those that remained generally in the same place.

According to Family Tree DNA’s Discover app:

R-L20 branched 3,800 years ago (acquiring 4 SNPs by 3,500 years ago)

R-BY5690 branched 3,500 years ago (acquiring 1 SNP by 3,000 years ago)*

R-BY3595 branched 3,000 years ago (acquiring 11 SNPs by 2,900 years ago)

R-BY3598 branched 2,900 years ago (acquiring 4 SNPs by 2,700 years ago)

R-FT73467 branched 2,700 years ago (acquiring 7 SNPs by 2,200 years ago)

R-BY506 branched 2,200 years ago (acquiring 30 SNPs by 100 years ago)

*I suspect that BY5690 acquired that 1 SNP by 3,400 years ago.  This would provide 500 years for BY3595 to acquire the 11 SNPs that define it.

Y-700 testing gives us a tool for learning a lot more about the origins of one’s patriline.  If only more of the Swiss R-L20 would participate in this, we would probably discover many more lines of descent, revealing how ancient families are related.  The 11 SNPs that comprise R-BY3595, for example, would likely get broken into numerous subclades, with maybe just one or two SNPs separating each from its upstream clade.

The breakup of BY506 into the numerous subclades that no doubt exist could be most fascinating.  With its current structure, BY506 originated during the time prior to the time when Switzerland became part of the Roman Empire.  The clade is defined by two Y-700 tests taken by myself and my brother, so the terminating point, at present, is my father, born in 1918.  As all 30 component SNPs were slowly acquired, Julius Caesar defeated the Helvetii, Christianity was introduced, the Alemanni moved into Switzerland, the Roman Empire lost control of the area, Europe entered the Medieval era, the Franks and then the Hapsburgs gained control of the area, surnames appeared and became standardized, the Swiss Confederation was established in 1292, the Renaissance and Reformation swept across Europe, the modern age set in, and finally, my Petermann ancestors moved to America, settling at Rich Hill, MO.  By 1918, BY506 as described by Family Tree DNA was complete.