Genealogy /
Has anyone taken Genealogy DNA tests? [87]
One thing that has been touched but not fully explained in this thread is where the results come from.
There are two tests generally available, maternal and paternal.
The maternal tests your Mitochondria which are directly passed from mother to child. So the maternal test will look back at your mother's mother's mother's mother's (etc) line. Since this has remained unchanged they can identify its orgin... however they do that.
If you take the maternal test, you must be a male. Your brother or father could take it if you are female. It looks at the Y chromosome which again gets passed directly from father to son. So that is your father's father's father's...
So really only a small fraction of your DNA does get looked at. Regardless, when I have the money to blow I will do this! Maybe by the time I have the money the process will be really refined.