The National Geographic Genographic Project

[frogmarch]

The National Geographic Genographic Project a long-term study of genetic markers for the purpose of mapping the migratory history of the human species.

"...this is not a genealogy study. You will not learn about your great-grandparents or other recent relatives, and your DNA trail will not necessarily lead to your present-day location. Rather, your results will reveal the anthropological story of your direct maternal or paternal ancestors—where they lived and how they migrated around the world many thousands of years ago."

https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/

A poster at another website said s/he had recently participated in the project:

Mudbloods like myself are not particularly relevant to the study, which for the most part is based on the most indigenous and mostly homogenous tribal populations they can find. However, Nat'l Geographic welcomes (at about $100 a pop) the participation of random curious people, and say that the proceeds will be used, in part, for programs to enhance the lives of the various tribes worldwide.

I did both my mtDNA, (maternal line) and Y-chromosome (paternal line). The Y-chromosomal results are in, and show that we pretty much went from Africa to Iran to the Balkans to further west. By doing a little further research into the varieties which occur in my haplogroup (haplogroup I), and using some of the specific genetic info listed about my dad on the Nat'l Geo site, I've discovered that my paternal lineage, always thought to be deeply Scottish, is actually what's classified as ultraNorse. In other words, when my great(x)grandfather left Scotland in 1770, his paternal lineage had only been there several hundred years, or since the time Thor or Olaf or someone arrived during one of the Viking raids. From what I've read, the Norse invaders assimilated quite well, but all this time my brother has been honing his Scots Gaelic when perhaps he should have been focusing on Icelandic.

I've decided, henceforth, to list my ethnicity as Gravettian.

For more information on the project and/or to order a kit, click the Buy the Participation Kit link in the right sidebar.

I'm pretty much of a "mudblood" myself, but if I had $100 to spare, I'd participate. I like the idea of having actual documentation showing the paths of my long-ago maternal and paternal ancestors. I suppose it might sound wacky to some, but the idea gives me the warm fuzzies.

Thinking about humankind's long journey makes the concept of race seem absurd. Projects such as this, in my opinion, could help unite us as a species. Genetically we have more in common than we don't.

[vickitulsa]

1. Does anyone besides me see the potential for the misuse of such

information? Not that there aren't good reasons to learn some of that stuff, because there are. Just wondering about WHY these particular studies are being done ... what is the agenda, if any?

Other than just learning our human history, I mean -- THAT part is very cool and fascinating.

Studies by the wrong people on this sort of thing can produce documentation for political agendas and have played such roles in the past, like Hitler's eugenics program (though he's not the only one who looked into such science).

I'll check out the links you posted. THANKS for the info and the heads up! :)

[phaseolus]

2. You really need to read...

"The Seven Daughters of Eve". It's a terrific book.

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

[yorkiemommie1]

3. dh and i did this

mine was kind of weird because they showed my line stopping in malaysia whereas my ancestry is chinese. i would think it would have gone on to china.

[jwirr]

4. It would be interesting to have them do the native american line of

my family. Otherwise I have already followed most of mine back to Europe in one or another country. I suppose that some of our scots have viking blood lines also. Unfortunately - no money! And yes, there is a danger that geneological tools can be used for evil. They were in Germany.