Project Tracks Ancient Ancestors
Genographic Project Uses DNA to Locate Ancient Migration Routes
Jun 21, 2008
About three years ago, The National Geographic Society, IBM, geneticist Spencer Wells, and the Waitt Family Foundation launched the Genographic Project. It is a five-year effort to understand the human journey--where we came from and how we got to where we live today.
This unprecedented effort will map humanity's genetic journey through thousands of centuries. The scope is mind-boggling. The evidence is in our DNA.
Human Journey Began in Africa
The fossil record fixes human origins in Africa, but little is known about the great journey that took Homo sapiens to the far reaches of the Earth. How did we, each of us, end up where we are? How did our ancestors disperse all over the planet and leave us with a legacy of so many different colors and features?
Such questions are even more amazing in light of genetic evidence that we are all related—descended from a group of African ancestors who lived about 100,000 years ago. It is amazing to think this story survives in our DNA.
Public Invited to Participate
The Genographic Project is analyzing DNA contributed by hundreds of thousands of people for what is a culturally significant, high profile project.
The core of the project is collection of blood samples from indigenous populations, whose DNA contains key genetic markers that have remained relatively unaltered over hundreds of generations, making them reliable indicators of ancient migratory patterns.
The general public is invited to take part in the project by purchasing the $99.95 Genographic Project Public Participation Kit and submitting their own cheek swab DNA sample, allowing them to track the overall progress of the project, as well as learn their own ancestral migratory history. There are online instructions for doing this.
The kit includes a DVD overview of the project and the PBS film, "The Journey of Man", as well as a map charting known human migratory history and a detailed brochure about the project. The DNA sample kit, with instructions, is assigned a confidential ID by which you can anonymously access your results at the Genographic Project website.
What Is the Genealogy Link?
What does this have to do with genealogy? To be clear, your results will not provide names for your personal family tree nor tell you where your great-grandparents lived. Rather, they will indicate the maternal or paternal genetic markers your ancestors passed on to you and the story that goes with those markers. This history goes back not just centuries, but thousands of years.
More information on the Genographic Project is available at its website.
