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Zeena
Eate
I became involved in genetic ancestry research around Christmas
2002, after a chance conversation in a pub in Dublin. We were
chatting about the notion of “Six Degrees of Separation”
– the theory that anyone in the world can be related
to anyone else using no more than six steps: friends, neighbours,
colleagues, etc.
Well, I told everyone that I was related to the kings of Scotland
and so was, in a sense, a Scottish princess. As is usual in
a Dublin pub, everyone laughed and said: “Okay then,
prove it!” (It seems everyone in Ireland is a descendant
of some king or other!)
Patiently, I explained how my aunt had researched our family
tree right back to these Scottish kings but this was not enough
to convince them. Then my cousin Paula announced that she
knew someone who could explore people’s ancestry using
genetics.
However, as she explained more about what was involved, I
realised that this was no longer to do with Scottish kings.
What she was telling me went far deeper – to do with
tracing a person’s genetic heritage way back into prehistory,
before humans had ever even seen Scotland. All the way back
to the emergence of modern humans in Africa, tens of thousands
of years before the Ice Age!
Of course, I immediately agreed to be tested! I wanted to
know just how my own family history fitted into this huge
picture. And, suddenly, everyone with us wanted to be tested
too, to learn where their own genetic roots lay. That’s
why I set up GeoGene – to offer everybody the opportunity
to discover their own ancient ancestors.
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