Oct 23 2009
There are over 50,000 people in North America who define themselves as Hutterites, though you probably have never met one. One of the main branches of the Anabaptists, Hutterites live in self-sustaining communities throughout the rural northwestern United States and Canada.
Like their sister branches, the Amish and the Mennonites, the history and culture of [...]
Oct 14 2009
The Near East – a swath of land that encompasses the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, and everywhere in between – has been populated by humans longer than anywhere else in the world save Africa. It is where agriculture was born and spread into Eurasia. It is where the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt [...]
Sep 02 2009
There are many examples around the world of two distinct ethnic groups living side by side.
Sometimes these groups co-exist peacefully. Other times they do not.
Often two groups’ differences – along with circumstantial factors – lead to tension between them and sometimes violence. The Hutus and Tutsis of Rwanda, the Sunnis and Shiites of Iraq, and [...]
Jul 20 2009
It may be you’ve heard a rumor that males are on the brink of extinction.
Whatever you may think of that prospect, the rumor is false. But over the past decade, numerous studies have hinted that the Y chromosome, a male necessity, is going the way of the dodo.
Though other studies have suggested this idea may [...]
Jun 19 2009
Only 250 miles separates the island of Madagascar from the southeast coast of Africa. The short distance between the two land masses traditionally led the outside world to assume that the native inhabitants of Madagascar – known as the Malagasy – originally came from the west, probably from the present day southeast African nation of [...]
Jun 11 2009
Science is dynamic and ever changing. As new research is published, theories get revised, and hypotheses retested. The field of genetic ancestry is no exception: The flurry of published research just in the last five years has been staggering, and we can now piece together the histories of many groups from nearly all parts of [...]
Dec 29 2008
My surname — Holden — has gone through many incarnations since it originated in England nearly 700 years ago. Letters were added, then dropped. Some branches of my family added an extra “u” in the middle, while others changed the pronunciation entirely. Then, when my ancestors arrived in America over 200 years ago, the name [...]
Dec 24 2008
Before genetics came into the picture, researchers interested in the introduction of agriculture to Europe had only the archaeological record to go on — a limited collection of primarily stone and bone artifacts that left much room for interpretation. But as researchers began applying population genetics to the question of how farming spread across Europe, [...]
Nov 14 2008
The American Society for Human Genetics (ASHG) has released a statement outlining a set of recommendations for genetic ancestry testing.
At a press briefing on Thursday, members of the ASHG Ancestry Testing Task Force Committee discussed two main themes: the need for clear communication about the limitations of genetic ancestry testing, and the need for [...]
Oct 30 2008
About 3,500 years ago the Phoenicians expanded from their homeland in present-day Syria and Lebanon, using their superior maritime technology to establish trading posts across southern Europe and North Africa. They traded silver from Iberia, copper from Cyprus, and textiles from Morocco. They built cities in Sicily, Malta, and Tunisia that rivaled [...]
