Czech DNA: What Is The Ethnic Makeup Of Czechs?

Czechs have a considerably varied genetic origin, with only 35 percent coming from the Slavic
genetic group, one third belonging to the German-Celtic group and 10 percent having ancestors
among Vikings, shows the latest research by Brno’s Masaryk University.
The research compares data from the register of births and deaths and analyses the origin of
surnames and male DNA samples. The project’s DNA database has now reached more than 2000
samples.
“Researching the origin of people is a little bit like a detective story. For one man, we found an
unknown ancestor coming from England. The research of another man’s origin brought us as far as
to Israel. To many, our results are shocking. Genetics cannot be tricked though,” says genealogist
and historian Martin Kotacka from the Masaryk University.
The affiliation with a specific genetic group is determined by the male DNA, which preserves and
passes on the information to the next male generation regardless of the genetic origin of the
mothers.
Kotacka said that the DNA of men from the Czech Republic shows their varied origin, even from
Siberia and ancient Mesopotamia.
The research can also help archaeologists determine and rectify the origin of settlements in a
particular area.
Consequently, it was disproven that Moravian Walachians might have Romanian origin as some
speculated about, based on linguistic research and similarities in the groups’ life style. Their Slavic
origin was confirmed though.
It’s believed that the people of the Czech Republic are made up of:
-Slavic peoples
-Western Europeans, mostly French, German, and northern Italy.
-Balkans
-Semitic, (Arabs and Jews)
-Germans and Scandinavians
-3% from other random parts of the world
-10% are “pure-bred” Czechs whose genetics are almost exclusively found in the northern Czech
Basin (Česká kotlina)
The first known people in recorded history to inhabit the Czech Republic were in fact Celts, who
have left behind a visible genetic legacy on the Czech people today. A genetic mutation called
G551D which causes cystic fibrosis in Czechs and Austrians can be traced back to Celts.
But the distant history of Czech genetics gets even more convoluted and interesting; When British
Egyptologist Howard Carter discovered King Tutankhamun’s 3000-year-old mummy in 1922,
geneticists assessed his entire genome structure and found that he had a direct descendant living in
Kopřivnice named Josef.