DNA Explanation

The following is the text of an email received, 15 Mar. 2005, from Richard Kraus, Project Coordinator for the Krause DNA Project.

"Prior to the last period of heavy glaciations, many hunters had moved into NW Europe.  Most of these folk were of the R haplogroup, a few were I (your ancestors).  As the glaciers grew, people were forced way south.  Most of the R folk [moved] either into southern France or into the Caucasus area of southern Russia.  Most of the I folk went south into the Balkans.  Then thousands of years later as the big glaciers began to melt, people followed the ice north (because near the ice was where the best hunting was).  Most of the people who ended up on the north German plains, on up into Scandinavia, and over into the Britain (which through much of this period was connected to Europe by land), were R1b1 haplotype folk, with a light mix-in of I1b1 folk (the lab is suggesting this later group is most likely is your haplogroup).  Now this was the gene pool from which in historical times came first the Celts, then the Germans, and then the Vikings ... all from the same common gene pool ... so that today between 60 and 75% of all western European males are R1b1 (mostly) or I1b1 (many fewer than R1b1). 

 Now testing is still in its infancy.  The data base relative to the full population is small.  Since there are so few I1b1 folk, very, very few have been tested.  The "history" just given above suggests that by the time more folk are tested, if you truly are I1b1, near matches will be shown for you throughout the British Isles, Scandinavia, the Low Countries, France, Germany, etc on down into the Balkans.  The fact that a tiny handful of British Isles folk have been tested first is, I think, of little significance.  As more test results come in, I predict that more, closer matches to you will be found further east into Germany.  Right now your best contribution to this process would be to find and identify any male Krause near relatives you can, and encourage them to be tested.  Some may come out of the woodwork.  I have had two more requests to join the project this week.  But as of now, evidence pointing to the British Isles as an ancestral home for your Krause's, is minuscule.  Do not be overawed by it.
Cheers, your distant cousin, Dick Kraus"
 

This description seems reasonable and explains the ancient history and the reason for the Haplogroup being I1b, but one still has to consider the time of the last glaciations in Northern Europe that according to available articles, (#1, #2, #3), was a distant 20,000 years ago. Using this time as a reference point and the fact that changes in the "Allele" values occur on average every 500 years, would suggest that there could be a maximum of 40 changes over this time range. When the differences are only in the range of 1-3 then this would suggest that the common ancestor is within the last 1,500 years well past the time of the last glaciations in Northern Europe. As more results are received on individuals this may be clarified. A very good diagram showing the different Haplogroups is available at the following location

Recent (Jan. 2006) information received from Ken Nordvedt states the following:

Thank you for the information on your very interesting haplotypes.  They look most like my "Isles" I1b variety, but with some important differences which seems to make them unique.  And they would be the first of this type from the continent.  My small number of "Isles" I1b had all come from the British Isles, so it is interesting to find their continental connection.

The following link from Ken Nordtvedt has a very good diagram of the different I-Haplotypes. This is one of Ken Nordtvedt's diagrams from his paper. The following link on Haplogroup I has several links that may be of use since the one by Ken Nordtvedt is now a bad link. The link at the top of the page shown as Haplogroup I Subclade Analysis by Ken Nordtvedt is also bad. New link for Ken Nordtvedt is now available but appears to be still under construction.

A better link that appears to work shows the different Y-Haplogroups which includes the I1b at Todd Johnson web page. The link that is the best for the I1b Haplogroups is one that should be looked at closely as it has many important facts related to the Branch-One Krause line that has been tested. The first sections are suggested as initial reading and the later sections if required.