Although most mtDNA lineages observed in contemporary Icelanders can be traced to neighboring populations in the British Isles and Scandinavia, one may have a more distant origin. This lineage belongs to haplogroup C1, one of a handful that was involved in the settlement of the Americas around 14,000 years ago. Contrary to an initial assumption that this lineage was a recent arrival, preliminary genealogical analyses revealed that the C1 lineage was present in the Icelandic mtDNA pool at least 300 years ago. This raised the intriguing possibility that the Icelandic C1 lineage could be traced to Viking voyages to the Americas that commenced in the 10th century. In an attempt to shed further light on the entry date of the C1 lineage into the Icelandic mtDNA pool and its geographical origin, we used the deCODE Genetics genealogical database to identify additional matrilineal ancestors that carry the C1 lineage and then sequenced the complete mtDNA genome of 11 contemporary C1 carriers from four different matrilines. Our results indicate a latest possible arrival date in Iceland of just prior to 1700 and a likely arrival date centuries earlier. Most surprisingly, we demonstrate that the Icelandic C1 lineage does not belong to any of the four known Native American (C1b, C1c, and C1d) or Asian (C1a) subclades of haplogroup C1. Rather, it is presently the only known member of a new subclade, C1e. While a Native American origin seems most likely for C1e, an Asian or European origin cannot be ruled out. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The discovery of the C lineage in Iceland is really interesting. Initially I was pretty convinced it came from the Americas. The simple way to resolve this question would be whole genome studies on several of the individuals carrying the C lineage. If it genuinely was a Native American mitochondrial lineage then we would see clear evidence in the genome. Even Ancestry.DNA would be able to detect it. If those studies have been done, they didn't find American Indian genomic DNA, otherwise it would have been widely publicised. Hopefully they haven't been done yet and we have another surprise in store.
The significance of being able to detect evidence of a single Native American woman migrating to Iceland, but not a single Lamanite in the New World, hadn't escaped my attention.