Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Adventurer]

DNA clue to presidential puzzle
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News



DNA results from Thomas Jefferson were a mystery
DNA tests carried out on two British men have shed light on a mystery surrounding the ancestry of Thomas Jefferson, America's third president.

In the 1990s, DNA was taken from male relatives of Jefferson to see if he fathered a son with one of his slaves.

They found the president had a rare genetic signature found mainly in the Middle East and Africa, calling into question his claim of Welsh ancestry.

But this DNA type has now been found in two Britons with the Jefferson surname.

Paternity case

It could have been introduced to Europe by the first modern humans to colonise the continent 40,000 years ago.

Another theory concerns the Phoenicians, an ancient maritime trading culture that spread out across the Mediterranean from their home in what is now Lebanon. K2 is relatively common in Lebanon, leading to suggestions that European K2s may be descendents of these ancient traders.

In 1998, Jobling and others completed an investigation looking at whether Jefferson, main author of the Declaration of Independence, fathered a son with Sally Hemings, a slave he owned.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6332545.stm

[Some people claim that the Phoenicians had settlements in southern England and did some mining there. We knew they lived in Spain, so that would probably explain having K2]

[ED209]

I heard recently in Britain they want to build a DNA database linked to surnames. So if they find some murderer's DNA they can link it to a possible surname.

There was a show in the UK a while back called 'How English Do You Think You Are?' which tested various people who claimed to be 100% English. Only one was found to be 100% North European (Carol Thatcher) the rest, though they looked white anglo saxon, had DNA from Asia, Russia, Africa and the Middle East(I should add this was a TV show so how scientific it really was I dunno). I'd love to see a 'How Korean do you think you are?' Watch a few faces drop as their Japanese/Mongolian/Polynesia ancestry is revealed.