Haplogroups / Maternal line
H
Europe's most common maternal line
The story of this line
Around four in ten Europeans carry some form of H. It reached Europe before the last glacial maximum, contracted into southern refuges as the ice advanced, and expanded dramatically northwards again from around fifteen thousand years ago. Its sheer commonness is why H alone tells you so little, and why the subclade matters.
What it traces
H sits on the family tree of mitochondrial DNA, passed from mother to child. Following it back means following your mother, her mother, and so on back, one unbroken thread. It says nothing about the thousands of other ancestors you had at the same depth, which is the single most common misunderstanding about haplogroups.
The route, roughly
- East African Rift about 150 thousand years ago
- Horn of Africa about 70 thousand years ago
- Arabian peninsula about 62 thousand years ago
- The Levant about 50 thousand years ago
- Franco-Cantabrian refuge about 18 thousand years ago
- Northern Europe about 12 thousand years ago
A route drawn from where the branch arose and where it is found today. It is the path of one thread through your ancestry, not a map of where your family as a whole came from.
Is H your haplogroup?
If you have taken a test with 23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, Family Tree DNA, TellMeGen or Living DNA, the answer is already sitting in the raw data file they gave you. You do not need another test.
Sequencings reads the file in your browser. It is never uploaded, and you can confirm that in your browser’s network tab while it happens.
Common questions
What is haplogroup H?
H is a branch of the human maternal family tree, traced through mitochondrial DNA, passed from mother to child. Around four in ten Europeans carry some form of H. It reached Europe before the last glacial maximum, contracted into southern refuges as the ice advanced, and expanded dramatically northwards again from around fifteen thousand years ago. Its sheer commonness is why H alone tells you so little, and why the subclade matters.
How old is haplogroup H?
It first appeared about 20,000 to 25,000 years ago, in The Near East, then Europe. That is a coalescence estimate with a wide margin, not a date.
How do I find out if H is my haplogroup?
If you have taken a home DNA test, the answer is already in the raw data file you were given. Sequencings reads that file in your browser and traces both lines without uploading anything.
Does haplogroup H tell me about my health?
No. Haplogroups describe one line of descent. They are not used to assess health risk, and anyone who tells you otherwise is overreaching.
Sources
van Oven M, Kayser M. 2009. Updated comprehensive phylogenetic tree of global human mitochondrial DNA variation. Hum Mutat 30(2):E386-E394. http://www.phylotree.org doi:10.1002/humu.20921