Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊

[Misc] Archaeological DNA matches



Fungus

Well-known member
NSC Patron
May 21, 2004
7,139
Truro
I have been thinking this over. The ancestry algorithm only works a few generations as it's regressing from living people. If this 23 thing produces actual matches with historic people, is that issue irrelevant?
Not really relevant, whichever end you look from. For historical matches, I believe* they only use Y-DNA (direct male line) and mtDNA (direct female line), as Autosomal DNA (your typical Ancestry and MyHeritage tests) is too diluted after so many generations (ie. sharing mum's and dad's DNA). At such small amounts, pretty much everyone would "match" everyone else - but 99.99% would be false matches, and unprovable by other means. Also Y-DNA and (especially) mtDNA mutate at much slower rates than Autosomal, meaning it's feasible to estimate a date range for matches (ie. number of generations back to common ancestors).

* happy to be corrected.
 






alanfp

Active member
Feb 23, 2024
71
I normally state my ethnicity on box-ticking forms as "100% Anglo-Saxon with perhaps just a dash of Viking".
 


Questions

Habitual User
Oct 18, 2006
25,462
Worthing
I’m 14% Italian and 86% ****.
 


Albion and Premier League latest from Sky Sports


Top
Link Here