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Surname DNA testing is the newest tool available to genealogists. These tests help genealogists verify their paternal ancestry (father's father) in a quick and easy way. It saves time, prevents mistakes, and provides invaluable data that can be obtained in no other way.

This Family Project is started to:

1. Help researchers on common or related families work together to find their common heritage  (See the Patriarch Page)

2. Identify the DNA of the ancestor families and compile them and their lost branches into distinct genetic lineages through DNA matches
In circumstances when we still don't have any old DNA samples (and that cannot be expected in foreseeable future), unique historical event of the Khazarian Turko-Mongolic Ashina royalty and nobility (and priesthood) conversion to Judaism give us opportunity to scientifically track down and uncover most possible descendants /KHANs/ of this particular branch of the Ashina IMPERIAL RACE /term used by L.Gumilev/.

A study published in 2004 by Stephen L. Zegura states that "The mutational age of Q-P36*, the marker defining the entire Q lineage, is 17,700 ± 4,820 years BP", and that its original source is the region of the Altay Mountains near the borders of Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and China (Zegura 2004, pp. 164-175).

In accordance with the 2008 Y-Chromosome Phylogenetic Tree, previous Q is divided in Q and Q1 (clades studied in this project, and most likely Q1b).

The Ashina Royal Dynasty (CLAN) also originated from the Altai Mountain region.

Khan (sometimes spelled as Xan, Han, Ke-Han, Turkic: khan, Mongolian: qaan) is an originally Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, first used by medieval Altaic-speaking nomadic tribes living to the north of China. Originally just the title for a tribal leader in the Rouran confederation,it was subsequently adopted by the Göktürks before later Turkic peoples and the Mongols brought it to the rest of Asia.
It now has many equivalent meanings such as commander, leader, or ruler. (source; Wikipedia article about Khan title)

The R1a (R1a1) lineage is believed to have originated in the Eurasian Steppes north of the Black & Caspian Seas. This lineage is thought to descend from a population of the Kurgan culture, known for the domestication of the horse (circa 3000 B.C.E.). These people were also believed to be the first speakers of the Indo-European language group. This lineage is found in central & western Asia, India, and in Slavic populations of Europe.Haplogroup R1b is the most common haplogroup in European populations. It is believed to have expanded throughout Europe as humans re-colonized after the last glacial maximum 10-12 thousand years ago. This lineage is also the haplogroup containing the Atlantic modal haplotype.

Between the years 265 and 460 the Ashina had been part of various late Xiongnu confederations. About 460 they were subjugated by the Rouran, who ousted them from Xinjiang into the Altay Mountains, where the Ashina gradually emerged as the leaders of the early Turkic confederation, known as the Gokturks.By the 550s, Bumin Khan felt strong enough to throw off the yoke of the Rouran domination and established the Gokturks Empire, which flourished until the 630s and from 680s until 740s.
The Orkhon Valley in Mongolia was the centre of the Ashina power.

On basis of Chinese records, we could tell that Ashina Turks were acting more as a noble or royal line which played the role of a political entity unifying various Turkic speaking tribes.
(http://www.republicanchina.org/Turks.html)

The Ashina Royal Dynasty was also known as "desert aristocracy" and it was ruling class of a number of central Asian empires, and eventually it became the ruling class (nobility) and Khagans (emperors) of the Khazarian Khaganate in the early middle age (in year 656, after the collapse of the Gokturk empire under pressure from the resurgent Uyghurs, branches of the Ashina clan moved westward to Europe, where they became the khagans of the Khazars).

The ruling class of the Khazarian Empire (Khagan Bulan and 4000 of his nobles), from Turkish shamanism converted to Judaism in the 8th century.
While the kingdom and ruling class were officially Jewish, the Khazars did not adopt forced conversion.
According to the scholar Robert M. Seltzer, “The Judaism of the Khazars has been much discussed but the historical evidence is very limited. Only the ruling class of the Khazars became Jews...”
Raphael Patai states: “For more than two centuries Judaism was the religion of the ruling class while other religions, notably Islam, but also Christianity, were extensively practiced among the people.”
Abba Eban has written: “...the rulers of the Khazars apparently converted to Judaism at the end of the eighth century, although the majority of the population appears to have remained either Christian or Moslem.”
DNA studies of Ashkenazi Jews confirmed above facts.

Presence of haplogroup R (R1a, R1a1 etc.) in Ashkenazi genetic pool (presented in 12%) is seen (in largest portion), by some researchers, as supporting evidence of possible conversion of minor part of general population of Khazaria, as well as pre-Jewish priesthood (Qam's)/as described in several reports/.

The other religions were not only tolerated, but were an integral part of the Khazar structure.
Thus, the court of Itil (the capital) had seven judges. Two judged the Jews (ruling according to Jewish law), two judged the Christians (ruling according to Christian law), two judged the Mulims (according to the Koran), and one judge judged those who had retained the Turkic Shamanistic religion (according to their law).

Khazaria as a nation, collapsed first in 11th and finally in the 13th century, and it is considered that only a minor part of Ashkenazi Jewish population originate from it.
DNA studies of Ashkenazi Jews confirmed this consideration (up to some 17% in total of Ashkenazi Jewish population originate from Khazarian Empire).

Up to some 5% percent of Ashkenazi Jews have a very narrow and unique genetic trail which is placed in haplogroup Q (Q1), which means that, following genetic/time calculations, a common male ancestor lived aprox. 1000 years ago.

Significant numbers of them have oral traditions to be Levites.
"Talmudic sources may possibly be interpreted to support the notion of differences in the social, religious, and legal barriers that relate to the assumption of Cohen and Levite status. These include
descriptions of the possible assumption of Levite
status other than through patrilineal descent, in a Talmudic
passage describing a debate regarding the potential
assignment of Levite status to a man (and his descendants)
whose father was a non-Jew and whose
mother was the daughter of a Levite. Such differences
could have provided the backdrop for the sanctioned
acceptance of Levite status other than through patrilineal
descent." (Multiple Origins of Ashkenazi Levites: Y Chromosome Evidence for Both Near Eastern and European Ancestries-
Doron M. Behar, Mark G. Thomas, Karl Skorecki,1 Michael F. Hammer, Ekaterina Bulygina, Dror Rosengarten, Abigail L. Jones, Karen Held, Vivian Moses, David Goldstein, Neil Bradman, and Michael E. Weale Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, Technion and Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel; The Centre for Genetic Anthropology and The Centre for Population Genetics and Human Health, Department of Biology, University College London, London; and Division of Biotechnology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ)

Accounts of the Gokturk and Khazar khaganates suggest that the Ashina clan was accorded sacred, perhaps quasi-divine status in the shamanic religion practiced by the steppe nomads of the first millennium CE /The pagan Turks believed that their Ashina Qaghans ruled by virtue of heavenly mandated charisma (QUT). Since their blood could not be shed, dethroned Qaghans were strangled with a silk cord. The investiture ceremonies of the Ashina Turks and Khazar Qaghans included ritual near-strangulation. As THIS CHARISMA (QUT) RESIDED IN THE ENTIRE ROYAL CLAN, the latter exercised a collective sovereignty over their realms resulting in frequent succession struggles/.
(http://au.encarta.msn.com)

Peter B. Golden states; "The ruling house and core tribes of the Khazar empire did not share the same tribal or, in many instances, ethnic origins as those of the Qaganate’s diverse subject population. The Khazar rulers were heirs of the Türk qaganal charisma. Although aspects of sacral rule and dual kingship can be seen in the Türk and other Inner Asian nomad-based empires, it was only in Khazaria that the Qagan became a sacralised, tabuised figure. This transformation occurred in the 9th century and may reflect the influence of the Ors, the Khwârazmian-Iranian guard of the Qagan and the chief minister drawn from their ranks".

Haplogroup Q (Q1) is one of the basic haplogroups of the Mongolic North/Central Asian
race, and it is almost absent from European population, where is represented mainly in Jewish community/and communities with Jewish and Viking ancestry (please check;http://home.swipnet.se/~w-14723/birka/birke010.html) .

Useful Links

World Families Network Forums
Ashina_Royal_Dynasty Family Forum
Pedigree Forum
World Families Network General Discussion

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http://www.familytreedna.com/public/AshinaRoyalDynasty/

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Jewish_Q/

http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts.html

http://www.isogg.org/tree/ISOGG_HapgrpQ08.html

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