Giant family tree unveiled in Switzerland

Unusual family tree unveiled in Lower Valais Keystone-SDA

A family tree reaching 10 metres wide and 2 metres high was unveiled in Evolène in canton Valais on Sunday afternoon. It shows the origins of the families in the Val d’Hérens back to their common ancestor more than 230,000 years ago.

This scientific work has made it possible to demonstrate the presence of the Walser branch before the known date and, more generally, to show a rich genetic diversity.

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The didactic and interactive tree contains QR codes that can be used to trace the lines of each family back to the common ancestor, the genetic Adam. The tree will be on display from August 24.

A third with Walser ancestry

The phylogenetic tree, led by genealogists Charles-Albert Beytrison and Hervé Mayoraz, is the result of years of research in various archives, supplemented by 173 Y-DNA tests to create a comprehensive genetic basis for the Val d’Hérens. “At first, some of the population was reluctant, but then they were won over once the whole process had been explained to them,” explained Hervé Mayoraz.

For the first time in the Alps, all the male lines of a valley have been documented, which shows that almost a third of the 83 original families from the Hérens (28 in total) have a Walser ancestry that can be traced back to a migration from the Upper Valais. This applies in particular to the Chevrier and Fauchère families.

This ancestry predates the officially known migration, which began in 1403, by almost 200 years. It is more likely to date back to the beginning of the 13th century, around 800 years ago.

The Walser are a community of mountain farmers from the Upper Valais who left their region to settle in around 150 villages in the Alps, particularly in Graubünden, Tyrol and the Val d’Hérens.

Their migrations were motivated by economic and manorial reasons. Their way of life, which centred on livestock farming and an autonomous alpine economy, had a lasting impact on the landscapes and local traditions.

The creation of the Val d’Hérens family tree is also arousing growing interest elsewhere in Valais. Several regions such as the Trient Valley, Nendaz, Isérables, Liddes and Saint-Léonard have already collected various data.

Translated from French by DeepL/jdp

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