MyAncient Populations Guide
Ancient-origins panels compare your DNA against a set of archaeological reference populations, each associated with a specific place, time period, and body of published research. This page is a directory of every ancient population covered on this site — pick the one that shows up in your results to see what it actually means.
Western Eurasia & the Bronze Age world
Bronze Age Steppe
The Yamnaya-associated pastoralists whose westward migration around 5,000 years ago reshaped European ancestry.
Read the guide →Hunter-Gatherer
Europe's deepest resident ancestry, predating farming by tens of thousands of years.
Read the guide →Early European Farmer
Anatolian farmers who brought agriculture into Europe starting roughly 8,000 years ago.
Read the guide →Imperial Roman
The genetically diverse population of the city of Rome at the height of the empire.
Read the guide →Viking-Era Scandinavian
Norse populations from the Viking Age, roughly 750 to 1050 CE.
Read the guide →Iron Age Celtic
Celtic-speaking Iron Age populations across Britain and continental Europe.
Read the guide →Ashkenazi Jewish
A population shaped by a documented genetic bottleneck roughly 600–800 years ago.
Read the guide →Asia & Africa
East Asian
A blend of two deep ancestral lineages tied to the Yellow River and Amur River basins.
Read the guide →South Asian & Indus Valley
The ANI/ASI ancestry model behind most present-day South Asian populations.
Read the guide →Sub-Saharan African
The most genetically diverse ancestral region on Earth, and the source of all human ancestry.
Read the guide →The Pacific & the Americas
Polynesian & Pacific Islander
Austronesian and Papuan ancestry behind the settlement of the Pacific islands.
Read the guide →Native American
The founding migration across Beringia at the end of the last Ice Age.
Read the guide →Not sure which category applies to you, or how to read the percentages next to each one? Start with our ancient DNA explainer, or see our walkthrough of where these results live inside a typical DNA testing account.