Your direct lines (haplogroups)

Two of your ancestral lines can be followed back on their own: your fatherline (your father's father's father, and his) and your motherline (your mother's mother's mother, and hers). Your DNA test already named them. No coordinates and no DNA file needed — just the haplogroup.

What you get is a map of ancient burials: the excavated graves whose own DNA sits on your branch, each dated and placed where it was dug. It is not a map of where your branch is common today. For that, one tick shades the map by FamilyTreeDNA's testers and published present-day samples in each country, and the published samples come with it as a table.

Choose your lines · from $3

Example map of the ancient burials on the Y-DNA branch Q-M3, across the Americas from California to Tierra del Fuego — Example: the Y-DNA branch Q-M3. Each labelled dot is an **ancient burial** whose own Y chromosome sits on that branch; the shading is how densely those graves cluster, not how common the branch is among people alive now.

What you get, for each line you choose

A map of ancient burials on your branch, from 16,374 dated graves that carry a readable call on that line, drawn as a density: where the line has been found in the ground, not where it is common today, and not how related anyone is to you.
The burials themselves, by excavation ID, with their site, date and exact call — so you can look any of them up in the literature.
Where the branch is found today: the map can shade each country by how many of FamilyTreeDNA's testers and published samples on your branch are from it, with a link to that branch on their site. There is also a separate table by country — and for a fatherline by population too — wherever published present-day samples exist. If none sit on your exact branch, the table is for the nearest branch above it that has some, and says so. Counts are shown plainly rather than dressed up as percentages they cannot support.
A 2000-px download of each map, and a private link valid for 12 months.

One line is one ancestor per generation. Ten generations back you have about a thousand ancestors and this follows exactly one of them, so a haplogroup map is a thin slice of where you come from — a real slice, but a thin one.

Men have two lines, women have one

The fatherline is read from the Y chromosome, which only men carry. The motherline is read from mitochondrial DNA, which everyone has.

Men can map both lines.
Women carry no Y, so a woman's own test gives the motherline only.
A woman can still map her fatherline — it is her father's line, and his Y result, or a brother's, or a paternal uncle's or male cousin's, carries it. Enter that result and it is the same line of ancestors.

That is why the price is per line, not per order: nobody should pay for a line they cannot be given.

Where to find your haplogroup

23andMe — Ancestry → Haplogroups. Men see both; women see the maternal one.
FamilyTreeDNA — on your dashboard, as Y-DNA and mtDNA badges.
LivingDNA — in your fatherline and motherline results.
Big Y or YFull — your terminal SNP, however deep, such as E-Y205079. We find it on FamilyTreeDNA's tree, show the ancient burials on the branches above it, and mark which of them sit directly on your line. Your results page links to your exact branch on FamilyTreeDNA and YFull. A new YFull branch may not be on FamilyTreeDNA's tree yet. Many are matched automatically, by their position on the chromosome. If yours is not, type the nearest branch above it from your YFull page, followed by yours: E-Y205079 > E-Y629911.
AncestryDNA and MyHeritage do not report haplogroups. If you have uploaded a raw file elsewhere, or had a Y test, use that result.

Enter it as your test writes it — E-V32, R-M269, J-M267, or L3f1b, H1a1, U5b2a1. A terminal SNP such as E-V32 is safer than a long path like E1b1b1b2a1a2, because path names change between versions of the tree.

Choose your lines

Which line? Motherline only · $3
Your mtDNA branch. Everyone has one. Fatherline only · $3
A Y-DNA branch — your own if you are male, otherwise your father's or brother's result. Both lines · $5
Fatherline and motherline together, for less than two singles.

mtDNA haplogroup (motherline)

Map title (optional) I agree to the terms and privacy notice.

We check your haplogroup against the tree before taking any payment. If we cannot read it, or no located burial sits on your branch, you are told and nothing is charged.

from $3

one-time, per line

No coordinates, no DNA file — just the haplogroup your test already gave you
A map of the ancient burials that carried your branch — graves, not today's distribution
Every burial listed by excavation ID, site and date
Where it is found today: map shading by FamilyTreeDNA's testers and published samples in each country, and a table by country (and population for a fatherline) where published samples exist
For a fatherline, links to your exact branch on FamilyTreeDNA and YFull
Private link, valid for 12 months

A haplogroup is one line out of thousands of ancestors. It is not proof of ethnicity or nationality, and the map shows where the line has been found, which is also a map of where archaeologists have dug.

Want your whole ancestry?

The direct lines follow one ancestor per generation. A heatmap compares all of your DNA with present-day populations and ancient groups, and shows which burials are closest to you rather than merely sharing your branch.

See the heatmaps