Diane Brook’s article, Ancient DNA for Genealogy, featured on the cover, summarizes what is known about our shared human past as revealed by artifacts, remains and DNA.
Of interest for those like me with a male line signature type R1b, once thought to be original to the first European farmers, ancient DNA shows that R1b did not occur in Europe before the Early Bronze Age Eastern Ukraine Yamnaya migration.
The article concludes by explaining what information about the ancient components of a client’s DNA 23&Me, LivingDNA, FamilyTreeDNA, and Gedmatch provide.
Calgary genealogist Wayne Shepheard, in The Plague Years, writes on the periods of the Back Death and its aftermath, 1846-1352, and the Great Plague of London in 1665. He exploits the scant records, which are not available in most areas. It recommends “it may be worthwhile for genealogists to look beyond just the parish register and BMD numbers to see what the environmental conditions were like. The rates of death and how families were impacted may demonstrate more about the causes of death, aside from epidemics such as plague.”
There’s lots more. You could spend hours chasing the leads in the issue. Be selective. In her editor’s column, Helen Tovey mentions recently just concentrating on “one family history point at a time—focussing on enjoying it, turning it over in my mind, and seeing what more I can uncover, slowly and carefully chipping away.
And it feels as though it’s time very well (and peacefully) spent.” Was she inspired by Thinking Fast and Slow? After all, no fight or flight danger needs immediate response in genealogy.