Genghis Khan is believed to have fathered hundreds of children. However, researchers have found that the ancient Mongolian ruler has competition and 10 more ancestors may have spread their strong lineages.
Patricia Balaresque, a geneticist at the Paul Sabatier University and Mark Jobling, a geneticist at the University of Leicester claims that they have found evidence of ten more powerful men who founded the Y-chromosome lineages in Asia.
Jobling reveals that his team examined the Y-chromosomes of over 5,000 modern men across 127 populations groups and found that 11 Y-chromosome sequences were each shared by over 20 of them.
Further examination of the sequences also helped the research team to determine the approximate time the founder of the lineages lived in.
Chris Tyler-Smith, who is an evolutionary geneticist now at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, UK, suggests that 8 percent of men belonging to 16 populations in Asia are descendants of Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol empire, who died in 1227. Tyler-Smith also suggests that 0.5 percent men worldwide are descendants of the Mongol ruler. DNA examination suggests that Genghis Khan's lineage started in Mongolia about 1,000 years ago.
Previously, researchers had also identified the creators of two highly prosperous Y-chromosome lineages. Giocangga, the founder of one Y-chromosome lineage was a Qing Dynasty ruler who died in 1582. Another lineage was of the medieval Ui Neill dynasty of Ireland.
Genghis Khan's and Giocangga's paternal lineage stood out and the test of the lineages originated all over Asia, from southeast Asia to the Middle East, between 2100 BC and 700 AD.
Researchers suggest that threes lineages that included that of Genghis Khan, Giocangga and another line expanded westwards, believed to be along the Silk Road route. The details of other lineages remain unknown; however, researchers hope that further research can reveal more information about the remaining lineages.
Genghis Khan remains one of the most powerful rulers the world has ever seen. He united various nomadic tribes of northeast Asia and created one of the biggest empires of the world. After his death, Genghis Khan's body was buried at an unknown place and many archaeologists are in the hope to find his tomb one day.
"What I really hope is that at some point someone will find Genghis Khan's tomb and remains," says Tyler-Smith.
