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In reply to the discussion: This message was self-deleted by its author [View all]PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,841 posts)I was completely flabbergasted by the Southern European, specifically Sardinian, thing.
They did indicate approximately how far back different ancestors entered my genetic line. For Sardinian it was a good 400 years ago, which makes sense in terms of what a tiny percentage it is.
I believe my friend who did National Geographic also had some Neanderthal show up. I'll be seeing her in about three weeks and will ask her for more details. Of course, she's a veritable United Nations in her ancestry. Some significant part is Chinese, and to look at her that's what's most noticeable. One of the things that showed up in her DNA testing was Turkey. There's a family story about some great grandparents (maybe multiple greats) who emigrated from Turkey to China. What a cool verification of that family story!
As proud of and as happy with my Irish origins, I've often felt that in some fundamental way I'm not a "real" American because of that. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't actually change my heritage, but I think that those with a greater mix are closer to the ideal of the melting pot.
The grandparents of my (ex) husband are Jews from Poland and Russia, although at the time they came here it was all the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I need to encourage him to have his DNA done. And my son.
As for the Neanderthal thing, here is something I learned quite recently. All of us whose ancestors left Africa and went to the rest of the planet, all of us (with the possible exception of Australian aborigines) have Neanderthal genes. Not just those of us whose ancestors went to Europe, but those who went to the rest of the world. I also learned that at least one Neanderthal skeleton has been found in Asia. How remarkable. Those whose ancestors remained in our collective ancestral homeland have no Neanderthal.
That's just another example of how we are all related, and so far as immigrants to this country are concerned, the only difference between any of us is at what point the immigration to this country occurred.