If some DNA from some long ago historical figure were available,

[raccoon]

say, Alexander the Great, could it be proven by DNA testing that you or I were a descendant of his?

[csziggy]

1. It is already thought that Ghengis Kahn spread his DNA over a wide area

Genghis Khan a Prolific Lover, DNA Data Implies
Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News
February 14, 2003

"An international group of geneticists studying Y-chromosome data have found that nearly 8 percent of the men living in the region of the former Mongol empire carry y-chromosomes that are nearly identical. That translates to 0.5 percent of the male population in the world, or roughly 16 million descendants living today.

"The spread of the chromosome could be the result of natural selection, in which an extremely fit individual manages to pass on some sort of biological advantage. The authors think this scenario is unlikely. They suggest that the unique set of circumstances surrounding the establishment of the Mongol empire led to the spread."

Much more at the link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0214_030214_genghis.html

So yes, if a distinct DNA signature could be attributed to Alexander the Great it could be tracked among his descendants, if he had any.

[eShirl]

2. I don't know if it could prove you were a *direct* descendant of that particular individual

especially if the person had siblings who had children

[zipplewrath]

3. It would require some definition

The differences between our DNA isn't all that great. That many generations back and you're talking about alot of combinations. You'd probably have to establish what degee of genetic "commonality" exists before one is declared a "decendant" of someone else. This probably gets even more confused since the genetic history suggests that we were all derived from a single female (lots-o-males though).

[Orsino]

4. No.

We'll never have enough data, I think, to establish that a given genetic marker in the DNA of Alexander the Great existed in none of that of his siblings and never arose elsewhere. It might be easy, however, to show that you and he shared a common ancestry more specific than that which we all share.

[RDANGELO]

5. For a man that far back you would probably need a known daughter.

The mitochondrial dna from a mother to an offspring is an exact replica. That is the way they determined some of the descendants of Thomas Jefferson.

[LiberalFighter]

6. Considering that he was born 356 BCE

that would be about 95 generations ago. Or over 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336 ancestors.

What are the odds he isn't an ancestor?

Modelling the recent common ancestry of all living humans

If a common ancestor of all living humans is defined as an individual who is a genealogical ancestor of all present-day people, the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) for a randomly mating population would have lived in the very recent past. However, the random mating model ignores essential aspects of population substructure, such as the tendency of individuals to choose mates from the same social group, and the relative isolation of geographically separated groups. Here we show that recent common ancestors also emerge from two models incorporating substantial population substructure. One model, designed for simplicity and theoretical insight, yields explicit mathematical results through a probabilistic analysis. A more elaborate second model, designed to capture historical population dynamics in a more realistic way, is analysed computationally through Monte Carlo simulations. These analyses suggest that the genealogies of all living humans overlap in remarkable ways in the recent past. In particular, the MRCA of all present-day humans lived just a few thousand years ago in these models. Moreover, among all individuals living more than just a few thousand years earlier than the MRCA, each present-day human has exactly the same set of genealogical ancestors.

[joshcryer]

7. Excellent point, nice link.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

8. My brother's in-laws

claim they can trace their ancestry all the way back to Jeebus.

[FiveGoodMen]

11. They're directly descended from Jesus?

That'll keep the theologians busy...

[Thor_MN]

12. These are often people who paid someone to find their ancestors

It's amazing how often people find out that they are related to historical figures, usually via "John from London, born somewhere between 1500AD and 1600AD". If someone is getting paid "by the ancestor", it's not too much of a stretch that any ancestor will do, especially if it leads to someone famous. And the people paying for that work take it as gospel, since they paid an "expert" to do the work.

I have done my own work and found that I am the descendant of lots of poor farmers, with the occaisonal poor guy that served in the military tossed in.

[Sancho]

9. Sort of...one of my favorite sites is Genebase

http://www.genebase.com/

They have a great set of learning tools. I've done DNA testing along with family members, and you can trace ancestry (maternal and paternal). Genebase has some fun comparisons with famous people to see how closely related you may be. Depending on the markers; you may be able to establish some likely linkage to a famous person. Genebase does DNA testing on hair samples and tissue samples available from famous people.

[Sancho]

10. Here's a better link to the Genebase famous person's page:

http://www.genebase.com/in/famousDnaIndex.php


"DNA testing is used widely by archaeologists and anthropologists to solve ancient mysteries and piece together puzzles of the past. Find out about their latest discoveries and studies and delve into the world of DNA archaeology... you might even find an ancient connection!"



GROUP STUDIES

The Earls of Konigsfeld
The remains of what are believed to be the Earls of Konigsfeld were...

An Ancient Scytho-Siberian Pair with Asian Ties
The Scythians were a branch of ancient Iranian peoples who...

Saka Prince and Princess
In 1997, an international archaeological expedition discovered an ancient...

Y-DNA STUDIES

Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 to July 4, 1826) was the third...


Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan (c. 1162-1227), born as Temujin, was a world renowned...


Niall Noigiallach
Niall Noigiallach aka "Niall of the Nine Hostages" (d450/455 ad.)...

mtDNA STUDIES

Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) was born November 2, 1755 in...


Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov
Tsar Nicholas II (1968-1918), the last Tsar of the Russian Empire was born...


Alexandra Feodorovna
Alexandra Fyodorovna (1872-1918), the last Tsaritsa of Russia, was born in...


Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip is most famously known for his role as the husband and consort...


Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria was the longest reigning British Monarch; her reign lasted...

[jody]

13. Please browse "Uncovering the ultimate family tree "

Uncovering the ultimate family tree BBC

"The 3,000-year-old skeletons were in such good condition that anthropologists at the University of Goettingen managed to extract a sample of DNA. That was then matched to two men living nearby: Uwe Lange, a surveyor, and Manfred Huchthausen, a teacher. The two men have now become local celebrities."

[Xipe Totec]

14. Let's do a little math experiment...

You have one father, two grandfather's, four great grandfather's and so on, and so on,

If we ignore inbreeding, that is...

So lets ignore it for the moment.

So the number of male ancestors you have is 2^g (two raised to the gth power), where g is the number of generations back to your ancestor, with your father being generation zero, grandfather 1....

The average generation interval, that is the time between generations is 25.9 to 28.9 years.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/110433666/abstract

Alexander the Great, lived around 300BC, or 2,300 years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great

dividing by the generation interval, yields 79 generations ago (using 29 years to be conservative).


That means that 2^79 males from Alexander the Great's generation are your ancestors.

That's 604,462,909,807,314,587,353,088 males in Alexander the Great's time are your ancestors....


The world population in the Time of Christ, 300 years AFTER alexander the great, was 200,000,000.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872248,00.html

In Alexander's time, that number was smaller, but let's assume it was the same.

Half of the population was male, so there were 100,000,000 males in Alexander the Great's time....


Dividing the number of male ancestors, by the number of living males in Alexander's time yields:

6,044,629,098,073,145


Assuming every male in Alexander's time contributed equally to your eventual birth, then every living male in Alexander's time is your ancestor, six quadrillion times over.


Isn't math interesting? :evilgrin: