2006-03-17

Don't you dare call it "proof"

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from Slate:

How African Are You?
What genealogical testing can't tell you.
By John Hawks
Updated Wednesday, March 15, 2006, at 1:43 PM ET

    ...

    Many amateur genealogists are interested in whether they might have a Cherokee ancestor, for example. And for some people, admixture tests can give a relatively accurate answer about Native-American ancestry. But other people, including Greeks and Ashkenazi Jews, may have "Native American affinity," according to the tests, even if they and their ancestors have never been to America. As far as anthropologists know, there were no lost tribes connecting Greeks, Jews, and ancient Americans. So, maybe this "Native American affinity" reflects the scattering of alleles by prehistoric Asian nomads to the ancestors of Greeks and Jews as well as to American Indians.

    ...

And then again, maybe not.

I am against against against feeling that religious beliefs must be confirmed by science to gain validity, but I thought this was interesting.

2 comments:

  1. Hahaha. Some people are just SLOW. For example, archeaologists have been saying for years that thousands of years ago some group came across the seas to the Americas from Eurasia. DUH.

    Not that I need proof, either. I mean, come on, I've got the BOM to tell me everything I need to know.

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