A few years ago, I submitted my DNA for analysis with Ancestry.com, 23 and Me, Family Tree and Gedmatch.com. The findings have been amazing! For example, Gedmatch analyzed my raw dna for pre-historic matches and found a match to the family of a small boy buried in Clovis, Montana about 12,600 years ago. This is the earliest known Native American family. I am a direct descendant of those pioneer Americans from long ago. And I’m sure other Americans today are too. That's a neat thing to know. Of course, I was interested in my West African ancestry. I found I match most closely as a person of mixed ancestry to the Bamoun, Igbo and Hausa peoples. I even discovered fourth cousins in Vietnam. My journey of self-discovery has been wonderful and I wish every person the same at some point.
My DNA segments strongly match ancient remains found in the following populations — Spain, Croatia, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Ireland, Switzerland, Georgia, Turkey, Hungary, Early Anglo-Saxon years 400-545 AD, Roman 200-400 AD, Siberia 24,000 to 50,000 years ago, Greenland, Czech, Estonia, Brazil.
For me, it is eye opening to know how much of the ancient world informs and survives in me today. The exact DNA segments that kept a Roman alive in 200-400 AD have descended down the centuries and help keep me alive today! Not only is that cool to know but it reaffirms my distaste for racial tribalism. I am truly more than one ancestry. I am the walking legacy of our genetic world.
Imagine how different discussions of race would be if everyone knew, and accepted, their full, abundant genetic selves.
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