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What did the pile of gene-coins look like? It was easy to decide on how to create the different
piles. I would arrange them according to their maternal clan. I can tell the maternal clan of one
mDNA sequence from the combination of mutations that it has. If I see the combination 126, 294 I
know I am dealing with a member of Tara’s clan. If the sequence contains 256, 270 this is the
mDNA of an Ursulan, and so on. These mutations became the inscriptions on the gene-coins and the
portraits changed from tribal chieftains to the rough profiles of the seven matriarchs, Ursula, Xenia,
Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine or Jasmine.
In my mind the action moved to a baize-covered table. I soon sorted the large pile into smaller
ones, one for each maternal clan. In the largest of these clan piles I had 1,799 gene-coins with the
profile of Helena. The next biggest was the 434 in Jasmine’s pile, followed in sequence by 384
Tarans, 284 Katrines, 264 Xenias, 207 Ursulans and lastly 116 Veldans.
But there were still a lot of gene-coins that remained in the unattributed pile. I looked at the
portraits and the inscriptions. These were of other matriarchs, not the Seven Daughters of Eve, but
ones I still recognized. The most common were the gene-coins belonging to the matriarch Ulrike.
There were 101 in all, only a few short of the Veldans. I had not included Ulrike as one of the what
would then have been Eight Daughters of Eve because, in the research in Europe, the clan of Ulrike
was considerably less frequent than the other seven in the regions we had surveyed, which were
mainly the southern and western parts. As more information came in from Scandinavia and eastern
Europe, we saw more and more members of Ulrike’s clan. I’ve wondered since whether Ulrike
should be promoted, as it were, into the select group of clan mothers.
But even with the Ulrikans now separated from the rest, there were still quite a few gene-coins
in the pile. They were an exotic collection, from matriarchs all over the world. I stacked them
together for now. There were ninety-seven in all. These, then, were the fragments with which to
build the genetic history as told by women.
On the male side I had 2,414 Y-chromosome gene-coins from the Genetic Atlas Project and
began to sort these into different piles according to their clans. Though the genetic details were
displayed in a different form, the principle was the same. Each clan, of which there were five
major ones in the Isles, traced a direct patrilineal line of descent right back to a common ancestor,
the man who had founded the clan. In the Isles, these were the clans of Oisin (pronounced Osheen),
Wodan, Sigurd, Eshu and Re.
Even though I knew full well that the gene-coins did not exist in reality, the concept gave me a
lot of confidence. I began to relish the prospect of trying my best to interpret them and what they
told of the past, rather than despairing as I had been up to then. Now, at last, I was mentally ready
to launch into the final stages of the project. It was now as an archaeologist that I settled down to
explore the Blood of the Isles.