More Detailed Ethnic Background?

[E. Kahlert]

I read today's article in the Sacramento Bee that mentioned this website and I couldn't wait to order a test kit to find out if there were any surprises in my genetic heritage.

I can trace my father's family back to the 1430's in England, but my mother's family were more recent immigrants and didn't keep detailed records (I can trace them back about four generations to Germany and Ukraine).

Unfortunately, after reading a bit on this website, it appears that the test results will only give a person's genetic background in the most broad terms (e.g., 81% European, 12% East Asian, 7% Native American).

I was looking for a test that could confirm or invalidate my current research -- something that would give results like "50% English, 25% German, and 25% Slavic" or "50% English, 13% German, 12% Jewish, 13% Slavic, 12% Central Asian."

Does anyone know of a place that performs tests to this level of detail? Even if it were inordinately expensive, I would like to know if (and where!) such a place exists.

Thanks in advance for any replies -

[admin]

Re: More Detailed Ethnic Background?

Originally posted by E. Kahlert
I read today's article in the Sacramento Bee that mentioned this website and I couldn't wait to order a test kit to find out if there were any surprises in my genetic heritage.

I can trace my father's family back to the 1430's in England, but my mother's family were more recent immigrants and didn't keep detailed records (I can trace them back about four generations to Germany and Ukraine).

Unfortunately, after reading a bit on this website, it appears that the test results will only give a person's genetic background in the most broad terms (e.g., 81% European, 12% East Asian, 7% Native American).

I was looking for a test that could confirm or invalidate my current research -- something that would give results like "50% English, 25% German, and 25% Slavic" or "50% English, 13% German, 12% Jewish, 13% Slavic, 12% Central Asian."

Does anyone know of a place that performs tests to this level of detail? Even if it were inordinately expensive, I would like to know if (and where!) such a place exists.

Thanks in advance for any replies -

Hi,

There's no test that will give you this level of detail.
On the other hand, our Y-DNA and mtDNA tests, (straight paternal and maternal lines) will give you both deep ancestry as well a comparison of your results with our Recent Ethnic Origins database, which contains over 14,000 records, and could give you hints about your more recent ancestry in terms of regional origins. The breakdown will be in terms of # of entries and not percentages.