About our Ancient Iberian Report

1) What is the Iberian Legacy report?

Iberian Legacy is an Iberia-focused ancestry experience that shows where your ancestors likely came from across Spain and Portugal and which ancient individuals from archaeological sites you’re closest to. It combines:

• An Iberian Regional Breakdown using modern region names (e.g., Galicia, Basque Country, Valencia, Alentejo) as map anchors, and
  
• Ancient DNA Matches from Burial Sites spanning Mesolithic foragers, Neolithic farmers, Chalcolithic/Bell Beaker, Bronze/Iron-Age groups, and Roman–Early Medieval contexts.
  

2) How is this different from our Deep Ancestry or other consumer DNA tests (AncestryDNA, 23andMe)?

• Deep Ancestry (our other product) focuses on global deep history: broad lineages and large time-slices across the whole world.
  
• Iberian Legacy zooms in specifically on the Iberian Peninsula, using a finer grid of regions and site-level ancient matches tailored to Iberia.
  
  

Compared with standard “ethnicity estimate” tests (e.g., AncestryDNA, 23andMe), Iberian Legacy:

• Targets ~10–20+ generations instead of just the last few generations,
  
• Avoids “modern ethnicity” labels and instead uses modern place names as geographic pins, and
  
• Directly links your DNA to curated ancient Iberian individuals and sites rather than only modern populations.
  

3) Is this a “modern ethnicity” report?

No. This is not a modern ethnicity report.

Your Iberian percentages represent how your DNA clusters with region-linked genetic patterns that have persisted over long stretches of time, interpreted through an ancient lens. The modern region names are there to make the map readable (“Galicia,” “Basque Country,” “Valencian Community,” “Alentejo,” etc.), not to claim a specific modern ethnic identity.

4) Which areas does the report cover?

The Iberian Legacy report is built around province/district-aligned regions across:

• Spain (e.g., Galicia, Basque Country, Castilla y León, Valencia, Andalusian regions, etc.)
  
• Portugal (e.g., Norte, Centro, Lisboa, Alentejo, Algarve)
  

Where data allow, archipelagos such as the Balearic Islands may be represented separately; otherwise, they are associated with the closest mainland region proxies.

5) How are the Iberian regions defined?

Regions are built from modern-named provinces/districts that show stable, fine-scale genetic structure (for example, Galicia vs. Meseta vs. East-Mediterranean vs. South-Central Portuguese profiles). These modern anchors are then interpreted using:

• Iberia-specific ancient DNA time-transects,
  
• Archaeological and historical literature, and
  
• Curated reference panels from published genetic studies.
  

6) What do the Iberian region percentages mean?

Your percentages show how strongly your genome clusters with each Iberian regional pattern within the Iberian anchor set. In other words:

Higher % in a region = your DNA is more similar to people whose ancestry is anchored there over long timescales.

They are not a list of where your recent relatives were born, and they are not a literal “census” of your last few generations. They reflect broad patterns of similarity across your genome, not family tree records.

7) My documented family is from a region that shows 0%. How is that possible?

This can absolutely happen. A few key reasons:

• Genetic clustering doesn’t perfectly align with modern borders; nearby regions often share similar patterns.
  
• Your recent family history (birthplaces, migrations, marriages) may be more complex than it appears on paper.
  
• The model is designed to capture overall genetic similarity, not to certify or reject family stories.
  

You can have strong genealogical ties to a location even if your DNA aligns more closely with a reference cluster from an adjacent region.

8) Do the Iberian percentages always add up to 100%?

Within the Iberian anchor set, yes—your Iberian regional shares are normalized to 100% of your Iberian ancestry.

If you have substantial non-Iberian ancestry, the overall proportion of your genome assigned to Iberia will be smaller, and the Iberian breakdown will describe only that Iberian portion.

9) What are “Ancient DNA Matches from Burial Sites”?

Ancient DNA matches show which excavated individuals or sites from Iberia your DNA is most similar to, across key eras:

• Mesolithic hunter-gatherers
  
• Early and Middle Neolithic farmers
  
• Chalcolithic/Bell Beaker communities
  
• Bronze and Iron-Age groups
  
• Roman provincial and Early Medieval contexts (including Suebi/Visigothic and early Al-Andalus layers, where data permit).
  
  

Each match typically includes:

• Site/province/district
  
• Date range and archaeological context (e.g., “Chalcolithic/Bell Beaker,” “Roman Baetica context”)
  
• Short description.
  

10) How are the ancient matches scored?

Under the hood, each ancient match is generated using a composite score that can include:

• PCA/UMAP proximity (genetic distances in a multi-dimensional space),
  
• IBS/allele-sharing metrics
  

Sparse or low-coverage genomes are down-weighted, while higher-quality individuals and well-defined site clusters are given more weight in the ranking.

11) How do you choose which ancient individuals to include?

We prioritize:

• Peer-reviewed, well-dated Iberian genomes from Mesolithic → Early Medieval,
  
• Individuals with good coverage and quality,
  
• Samples with clear archaeological context (site, date, culture), and
  
• A balanced set across Iberian geography and time to avoid over-representing a single region or era.
  

12) Why not build the regional breakdown purely from ancient DNA?

Ancient genomes are sparse, uneven, and sometimes highly degraded. Coverage, sampling bias, and damage make it impossible (for now) to deliver province-level precision from ancient DNA alone.

Instead, Iberian Legacy:

• Uses living reference panels that show stable, fine-scale structure across Iberia,
  
• Interprets those panels through Iberia-specific ancient DNA and historical literature, and
  
• Validates patterns against curated ancient genomes.
  

13) How do you handle sensitive historical periods (Roman, Visigothic, Al-Andalus, etc.)?

We treat these eras with historical sensitivity and scientific caution:

• Signals from Roman, Visigothic/Suebi, and early Al-Andalus contexts are influenced by which sites have been sampled and how good the DNA is.
  
• We avoid over-interpreting single individuals or small outlier clusters.
  
• Narratives are framed as probabilistic, evidence-based summaries, not definitive statements about ethnic or religious identity.
  

14) Are Basque results treated differently?

Basque-aligned references often appear as a distinct cluster in Iberian genetics, reflecting long-term regional continuity and Pyrenean topography.

In the report:

• “Basque Country” acts as a separate regional anchor that helps differentiate Western Pyrenean signals from neighboring North-Atlantic and Ebro/Meseta patterns.
  
• We interpret Basque results in terms of genetic structure and history, not political or cultural claims.
  

15) How accurate is the Iberian Legacy report?

All results are probabilistic estimates, not absolute truths. Several factors limit precision:

• Uneven sampling of ancient sites and time periods,
  
• Limited coverage or missing data in some ancient genomes,
  
• Historical migrations that blur borders, and
  
• The natural statistical noise in genetic clustering.
  

We design the model to be robust and conservative, but no ancestry product can be 100% precise, especially at fine regional levels.

16) Is this a medical or health test?

No. The Iberian Legacy report is strictly for educational, anthropological, and genealogical purposes.

It does not diagnose diseases, estimate medical risks, or replace professional clinical testing or advice.

17) Can this report prove or disprove my family stories?

It can support, refine, or sometimes complicate family stories by showing how your DNA aligns with Iberian regional and ancient patterns—but it cannot definitively prove or disprove specific ancestors, surnames, or documents.

Use it as a contextual tool alongside:

• Traditional genealogy (records, family trees),
  
• Local history, and
  
• Other DNA matches and analyses.