The Early Iron Age of the Okavango

Where the Okavango River enters Botswana and spreads toward its delta, the site of Xaro near Shakawe yielded the first ancient DNA from the country. These two people lived around 850 CE and were buried with Early Iron Age pottery, though isotopes suggest they ate fish and wild plants much as the baNoka river people of the region do. Their genomes show Africa's great migrations meeting in one place: ancestry related to Bantu-speaking farmers mixed with 30 to 40 percent from southern African foragers and 14 to 22 percent from East African herders. One of them carries the paternal lineage E1b1b1b2b, tied to ancient East African pastoralists. Farmers, foragers and herders were not only neighbours here; they were family.

The genome-wide data behind this entry was published in Ancient genomes reveal complex patterns of population movement, interaction, and replacement in sub-Saharan Africa.

Every Ancestry Map includes the free Notable Matches lens: your coordinates are compared to every sequenced member of every catalog entry, and the distance to the closest member is reported, a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional space the Distance lens uses. Because these are a small group of real individuals, not a population average, distances naturally run larger than population distances. That is expected, not a poor result. And one thing is never claimed: a small distance means similar ancestry composition, not that the Early Iron Age of the Okavango are your ancestor. See how it looks in the live demo or read about Ancestry Map, the full Global25 report.

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  Who were the Early Iron Age of the Okavango?

  The Early Iron Age of the Okavango (c. 700-1000 CE, Xaro, Okavango Panhandle, Botswana) are one of the Iconic discoveries entries in our Notable Matches catalog, represented by 2 sequenced ancient genomes published in the study "Ancient genomes reveal complex patterns of population movement, interaction, and replacement in sub-Saharan Africa".

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  What does "matching" the Early Iron Age of the Okavango mean?

  Your Global25 coordinates are compared to the entry's sequenced members and the distance to the closest one is reported, a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional reference space the Distance lens uses. A notable entry is one person or one small burial group, not a population average, so distances naturally run larger than population distances.

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  Are they my ancestor?

  No, and no DNA test can show that. A small distance means your genome sits near theirs in a shared reference space: similar ancestry composition, not descent. Ancestrify never claims a notable individual is your ancestor or relative.

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  How do I see my own distance to the Early Iron Age of the Okavango?

  Notable Matches is a free lens on every Ancestry Map, never sold separately. Order Ancestry Map, our Global25 analysis (29.99 EUR), and your report ranks your coordinates against the full catalog, with a portrait, dossier and map for every entry. The public demo shows the lens with example data.

The catalog holds every published entry across three tiers. Browse the full Notable Matches directory. Nearby entries:

• The Komani-Kruja Culturec. 800-950 CE

• The Ceramic Age Islanders of Hispaniolac. 250-1500 CE

• The Kulubnarti Nubiansc. 650-1000 CE

• The Skeleton Lake of Roopkundc. 800 CE and 1800 CE

• The Maya of Chichén Itzác. 600-1100 CE

• The Guanchesc. 300-1500 CE

• The Avars of the Vienna Basin8th century CE

• The Taíno Woman of Preacher's Cavec. 950 CE

• The Vikingsc. 750-1050 CE

• The Settlers of Icelandc. 870-1100 CE

• The Hungarian Conquerors10th century CE

• The Ancient Puerto Ricansc. 550-1350 CE