Wayne Winkler Podcast

  Go here to listen to an excellent interview by Wayne Winkler.


http://www.americanvarietyradio.net/WWinklerII_Melungeons_6-28&30&7-1&4-12.mp3



© History Chasers Click here to view all recent Historical Melungeons Blog posts


Enter your email address to start receiving this blog in your inbox

Enter your email address:
Delivered by FeedBurner

Who Are You, Really???

 by Janet Crain

Before you shell out big bucks for a population DNA test, trying to determine your ethnicity, be very aware. Costing more or less is not your best guide to their effectiveness. Both 23andMe and Family finder at Family Tree DNA of Houston use exactly the same chip. It tests over 700,000 markers and is the best on the market. 23andMe has lagged a bit behind but should be making some big changes very soon in drilling down into your ancestry. Family Finder is already doing this.

Population Finder
Reveals Ethnic Ancestry

Population Finder is a report included with the Family Finder DNA test from Family Tree DNA. Today, this report is the single best option for measuring a person’s overall ethnic ancestry.

By comparing your DNA to that of global populations, it does what’s called a biogeographical analysis.

As part of Family Finder, it uses your autosomal DNA, which reflects the contributions of ALL your ancestors going back at least five or six generations.
Some companies market tests that claim to make finer distinctions than this. But their reports are based on such tiny population samples that the results are mostly wishful thinking.

Population Finder is the most scientifically credible ethnic DNA test available today.


http://www.dna-testing-adviser.com/population-finder.html

© History Chasers Click here to view all recent Historical Melungeons Blog posts


Enter your email address to start receiving this blog in your inbox

Enter your email address:
Delivered by FeedBurner

There is No Unique Turkish DNA

There has been an effort to convince American Indians and Mixed Blood groups such as Melungeons that they descend from Turkish sailors stranded on the Eastern Coast of America.

A convoluted explanation of how the Turks got here does not bear close scrutiny. It has been widely published that Sir Francis Drake dropped off a large group of Turks on his return from the sacking of Cartagena. There is not a shred of proof that this happened. And the much ballyhooed "DNA Evidence" does not bear out either.

It is now quoted widely on the Internet that certain groups in the USA have Turkish DNA. The article below from PubMed does not bear out that possibility. The suggestion is disingenuous at best.

The most important sentence in the article below is this:*The major components (haplogroups E3b, G, J, I, L, N, K2, and R1; 94.1%) are shared with European and neighboring Near Eastern populations* and contrast with only a minor share of haplogroups related to Central Asian (C, Q and O; 3.4%), Indian (H, R2; 1.5%) and African (A, E3*, E3a; 1%) affinity.

In other words, 94.1% of the DNA found in 523 Turkish Y chromosome samples is shared with European and neighboring Near Eastern populations. ***So there is no special motif orTurkish DNA.*** And this finding is explained by the closing sentence; "the variety of Turkish haplotypes is witness to Turkey being both an important source and recipient of gene flow".

In other words, 94.1% of the DNA found in 523 Turkish Y chromosome samples is shared with European and neighboring Near Eastern populations. ***So there is no special motif orTurkish DNA.*** And this finding is explained by the closing sentence; "the variety of Turkish haplotypes is witness to Turkey being both an important source and recipient of gene flow".

Genes have flowed out and genes have flowed in for a very long time and cannot now be separated as belonging exclusively to one group or the other. So it is very deceptive to speak of "Turkish DNA" in the context of it being unique.

See Also:

http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/HG_2004_v114_p127-148.pdf


Hum Genet. 2004 Jan;114(2):127-48. Epub 2003 Oct 29. Links

Excavating Y-chromosome haplotype strata in Anatolia.

Cinnioglu C, King R, Kivisild T, Kalfoglu E, Atasoy S, Cavalleri GL, Lillie AS, Roseman CC, Lin AA, Prince K, Oefner PJ, Shen P, Semino O, Cavalli-Sforza LL, Underhill

PA.Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA 94305-5120, USA

Analysis of 89 biallelic polymorphisms in 523 Turkish Y chromosomes revealed 52 distinct haplotypes with considerable haplogroup substructure, as exemplified by their respective levels of accumulated diversity at ten short tandem repeat (STR) loci. *The major components (haplogroups E3b, G, J, I, L, N, K2, and R1; 94.1%) are shared with European and neighboring Near Eastern populations* and contrast with only a minor share of haplogroups related to Central Asian (C, Q and O; 3.4%), Indian (H, R2; 1.5%) and African (A, E3*, E3a; 1%) affinity. The expansion times for 20 haplogroup assemblages was estimated from associated STR diversity. This comprehensive characterization of Y-chromosome heritage addresses many multifaceted aspects of Anatolian prehistory, including: (1) the most frequent haplogroup, J, splits into two sub-clades, one of which (J2) shows decreasing variances with increasing latitude, compatible with a northward expansion; (2) haplogroups G1 and L show affinitie s with south Caucasus populations in their geographic distribution as well as STR motifs; (3) frequency of haplogroup I, which originated in Europe, declines with increasing longitude, indicating gene flow arriving from Europe; (4) conversely, haplogroup G2 radiates towards Europe; (5) haplogroup E3b3 displays a latitudinal correlation with decreasing frequency northward; (6) haplogroup R1b3 emanates from Turkey towards Southeast Europe and Caucasia and; (7) high resolution SNP analysis provides evidence of a detectable yet weak signal (<9%) href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14586639">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14586639">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14586639

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_people

© History Chasers Click here to view all recent Historical Melungeons Blog posts






Enter your email address to start receiving this blog in your inbox

Enter your email address:
Delivered by FeedBurner

Mother of Appalachian Studies to Speak at Library in Abingdon

 by Leslie Grace

 Myths and misconceptions about Appalachia abound in the popular imagination. 

The Washington County Public Library begins a series of programs in June to dispel these myths. Featuring a number of scholars, activists and authors, the series is called Appalachian Homecoming.

It begins Sunday, June 17 at 3 p.m. in the main library's conference room with an appearance by Helen Matthews Lewis. Lewis was a pioneer in the field of Appalachian studies, a term that did not exist before her work. 

She lived and worked in the coalfields and studied family structure and gender relations in the 60s and 70s. She saw Appalachia as an "internal colony" of the U.S., a model that influenced a generation of Appalachian scholars and activists. She describes herself as part of the "long movement for women's rights," and her work influenced the civil rights movement.

 http://www.timesnews.net/user-article/3934/mother-of-appalachian-studies-speaks-at-library-in-abingdon#.T89raEyC3rc.facebook


© History Chasers Click here to view all recent Historical Melungeons Blog posts


Enter your email address to start receiving this blog in your inbox

Enter your email address:
Delivered by FeedBurner