I am also fairly certain that humanity doesn't really understand its own history. Go further back than about 700 BC and the understandable recorded history largely stops.
I thought you said that you descended from horse thieves. I guess they must have been very good at it.
Many Europeans even have some Neanderthal genes so it's all a mixed bag indeed. But looking at my family, I don't see any middle or southern European influences in their appearance. My wife's family is much more interesting, and also was much more influential. She has ancestors from several European countries. -- Pitralon forever - Real pens have a nib - If it doesn't tick, it's not a watch.
I forget exactly how long ago it was(maybe pre-british control),but there was a Prince in western India who had became interested in the Jewish people.He invited to Jews to settle in his area.This led to a thriving community in that area.From what I understand most of those people migrated to Israel after it's founding.There are still a few in that region from what I read.There was also Portugeuse Goa ....although I am not sure of the religous makeup of that colony.Probably mostly Catholic.....but who knows.
When I travel, I've had Danes and Germans address me in their respective native tongues, thinking I was one of them.
It turns out I may be descended from royalty. All I have to do is send them a check to get them to the States so they can access their Swiss Bank account, and I can make my claim to the throne. Oh they need my Social Security number as proof of my identity as well. Soon it will be Toggles for everyone.
When you're done, check out my exclusive prospectus offering initial ownership in a condo development on the far side of the moon. Cool?
I took an Ancestry DNA test last year and here are my results. To the naysayers, I gave Uncle Sam DNA samples when I enlisted so the Government could have gotten the information whenever they wanted.
The more people that feed information into the databases, the more accurate it can get. As for security concerns, considering that to get a driver's license, they illegally require fingerprints and a social security card, and then turn everything over to the feds _anyway_, there's no point in getting excessively concerned. I suspect that Ancestry.com and some of the others have people's identities encrypted. My folks did it, and it's interesting. On my father's side of the family, we've been in North America for about 400 years or so. Maybe a bit more. My mother's side, less so, but still a while. The interesting part? That long in a melange, and almost all of the DNA is from the British Isles and extreme Western Europe, not including anything south of Belgium.
I think you all are right to be concerned. Remember Henrietta Lacks. Most, if not all, of these commercial products have terms and conditions that give them IP rights to the results. Because they are not medical practices, they are not covered by HIPPA. They are free to sell the results to anyone they wish, including, but not limited to, employers, insurance companies and maybe government agencies. If they come up with a commercial product based on your DNA, you not be entitled to anything. You may be able to get this done through a medical lab, or as part of a clinical study or trial, and retain your privacy and IP rights. Always read the fine print. Look for some investigative reporting on this topic.
