"... Lake Van is one of the world's largest endorheic lakes (having no outlet). The original outlet from the basin was blocked by an ancient volcanic eruption. ... The lake's outlet was blocked at some time during the Pleistocene, when lava flows from Nemrut volcano blocked westward outflow ... Nemrut Dagi is close to the western shore of the lake,
and another dormant stratovolcano, Suphan Dagi dominates the northern side of the lake. ...
the highest lake levels (72 metres (240 ft) above the current height) had been during the last ice age, about 18,000 years ago.
About 9,500 years ago there was a dramatic drop to more than 300 metres (980 ft) below the present level.
This was followed by an equally dramatic rise around 6,500 years ago. ...". (text from Wikipedia on Lake Van, image from google earth)
The mitochondrial mtDNA Markers of this map (from the National Geographic Genographic program)
show that migration out of the Urartian Eden of Genesis near Lake Van took place around 50 kyr to 30 kyr ago, somewhat before the highest lake levels of Lake Van (about 18 kyr ago), and so possibly related to volcanic activity of Nemrut Dagi.
From this point of view, the Eden of Genesis would have been a later center of civilization than the original Human Origin site of Mitochondrial Eve, which would have been in the African Nile Valley over 100 kyr ago.
My personal DNA migration track can be tracked three ways:
Maternal mtDNA - purely female ancestor line -
Paternal Y chromosome - purely male ancestor line -
Autosomal DNA - information about mixed (part female and part male) ancestral lines -
Going back N generations, the purely female and purely male lines are just 2 lines out of 2^N, so a lot of my ancestry ( 2^N - 2 lines at N generations ) is not tracked by those two lines. For instance, the line of my African slave 5-great-grandfather came to me through my mother, so it is a mixed ancestry that is among the 2^(2+5) - 2 = 2^7 - 2 = 128 - 2 = 126 lines that, at 7 generations, is not detected by the purely female and purely male DNA tracking that I did with the Genographic program.
To try to find out about the vast bulk of my ancestry that is not detected by purely male and purely female tracking, I also did some autosomal DNA tracking using DNA Consultants, whose web site says in part:
"... Our ... DNA Fingerprint Test examines all your ancestral lines at once, to tell you which countries and ethnic groups your ancestors came from. The test confirms any Native American, African or Asian ancestry; if you are primarily European, you will also receive your top ten matches from different European countries. ... The DNA Fingerprint Test will analyze your DNA sample against 16 standard STR markers, also called CODIS markers. (CODIS stands for Combined DNA Index System, and it probably sounds familiar if you watch any of television's popular procedural crime shows like CSI.) ... Unlike other autosomal tests, the DNA Fingerprint Test computes the likelihood of its matches on the basis of contemporary populations, not ancient world migrations or evolutionary theory. ...You may add the 18 Marker Ethnic Panel for further confirmation of Native American and other ancestry. ... The 18 Marker Ethnic Panel or DNA Fingerprint Plus goes beyond the DNA Fingerprint Test to examine your CODIS markers and tell you if your profile contains any of the newest ethnic markers. The Plus Panel confirms any Native American, African or Asian ancestry. It also checks for Ashkenazi Jewish, Eastern European, Mediterranean and several other markers identified by our scientists. ... It also tells you if you have a false ethnic marker, for instance, an Asian false positive. False markers are accidental and misleading. ...".
Results may come around November 2009.
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