The results of my latest DNA test are in. This is my fourth and probably final test unless they dream up something new. This test dived a bit deeper into my YDNA. That’s a scary place. The Y chromosome, which is carried only by men, is complex it seems. It is passed down from father to son and remains relatively unchanged for tens of thousands of years. And it has thousands of markers. My first Y chromosome test revealed that my Trentham male lineage ancestors came from Northern France before moving up into Scandinavia and Great Britain. It placed me firmly in haplogroup I-M253 which is “about 15,000 years old” according to BritainsDNA.com.

This latest test is more specific and revealed that my subgroup within I-M253 is I-S249. As subgroups go, it is considered RARE. There’s that word again! “Rare” was also used to describe my mitochondrial DNA haplogroup, H-49a1, which I inherited from my mother’s maternal lineage.

BritainsDNA.com, which provided the latest results, says that subgroup I-S249 “was originally discovered in an Orcadian and a Kentish man”. “Orcadian” refers to the Orkney Islands north of Scotland while “Kentish” refers to Kent, or the former Kingdom of Kent in England.

In 2012, a “Stone Age” temple believed to pre-date Stonehenge was discovered in Orkney. It is believed that an advanced civilization built it in ancient times. Perhaps my ancestors were there and helped. Eureka! With my two types of rare DNA and my newly-found Orkney Island ancestors, I am surely a step closer to landing on an episode of Ancient Aliens. Of course, my brother has the same two types of rare DNA as I but he’d better think twice before stealing my spotlight.