Old World DNA in America & The Book of Mormon
Mounting DNA evidence from Donald Yates DNA consultants, DNA testing company.
Introduction
DNA evidence for the plausibility of pre-Columbian transoceanic contact and the Book of Mormon is Mounting as the science progresses.
By looking at allele marker mutations instead of just haplogroups (which are more often diluted out of small gene pools in a few dozen generations of mixing) DNA consultants, a Colorado DNA testing company specializing in integrating genetic and genealogical information into customized personal ancestry reports. Started by Donald Yates, the company is one of the few with scientists & researchers actively exploring the pre-Columbian diffusionism theory and thus actively testing for and publishing any data that might support such views.
Genetic Ties Between Oaxaca, Egypt, Armenia & Tonga
Their research has found specific markers in Oaxacan Zapotec native populations which genetically tie these groups to various places around the globe which match well with the Book of Mormon Continental model. Specifically locations intricately related to ancient Jewish populations such as Egypt, Cyprus and Armenia (see Jewish connections here). One of the most surprising locations the following genetic markers pointed to, was Tonga (Along with Samoa, Tong has been long held by LDS people as somehow related to the final lost voyage of Hagoth and his people.)
[Create map illustration here with all locations/dna listed below, and native groups from wiki language map.][TH01 is a widely used STR marker in forensic DNA analysis due to its high degree of polymorphism (variation) between individuals. This polymorphism allows for individual identification by comparing the number of repeats (alleles) at the TH01 locus.While TH01 can provide information about potential ancestry, it’s not a definitive indicator of a person’s exact origin or a primary tool for determining genetic ancestry. It’s often used in conjunction with other STR markers and population-specific databases to refine the analysis and provide a more complete picture. ]The allele THO1=7 is a very common Native American marker. It is found at high frequencies among all Oaxaca Indigenous peoples. It is worldwide in distribution, highest in the Middle East, specifically Egyptian populations.
The Triqui, a pocket of 30,000 people who live in a mountainous region in the southwestern part of the state called La Mixteca Baja, have the second private allele noted by the study. This is a value of *5.3 for the TH01 locus. While unknown in other Indian groups, this marker is of high frequency in the Iberian Peninsula. Its no. 2 match is Scotland. That it crops up among the Mixtec seems to be related to ancient visitations by Atlantic facing cultures. Its distribution is similar to what the Rare Genes from History panel calls the Odin Gene.[2]
The third private allele is perhaps the most interesting. Defined as an STR of 6.3 on THO1, it is peculiar to the Zapotecs of the Isthmus of Tehuanteco in Mexico but found elsewhere only in Tonga and Armenia! Thus, Zapotecs share origins with Pacific Islanders and Armenians. Could this be a trace of the ancient Sea Peoples? There is a persistent sign of the same type of distribution in the Helen Gene, which crops up in the Mixtecs, Chihuahua Indians, Cherokee and Shawnee. Our description as part of the Rare Genes from History panel bears being quoted in this regard:
This rare autosomal lineage marker was carried in ancient times all over the Mediterranean and survives in many island populations today. Notable appearances are in Cyprus, the Balearic Islands and the British Isles. The rough center of diffusion is ancient Troy, site of one of the world’s oldest civilizations and longest wars. Top matches today are Cyprus, Greece and Italy. Models of history associate the Helen gene with Greeks (often called Hellenes), Italians, Turks, and Sephardic Jews.
(dnaconsultants.com, ‘Indians from India in Ancient Mexico’)
| Allele | Detected in | Points toward |
| D3S1548=12 | Triqui [Mixteca Baja] (n=37) | India, Sub-Saharan Africa |
| D5S8181=5 | All Oaxaca indigenous | A big Sub-Saharan Africa marker, found almost nowhere else |
| D8=9 | Chontal [Maya] (n=29), Creek Indians, U.S./Mexico – Dieguenos | India, including Lepcha, highest in world is India Meitei (n=105) |
| D18S51=10 | Huave [Tehuantepec, lit. “Sea People”] (n=29), Zapoteco del Valle (n=40) | India is match nos. 1-3, 13-15, 20 etc. |
| D21S11=27 | Huave [Pacific side, Tehuantepec, lit. “Sea Peoples”] (n=29) | Sub-Saharan Africa, rare in New World |
| D21S11=34.2 | Tarahumara Indians (Chihuahua), Nootka (Canada), Creek Indians | India – Paraiyar (n=21), India – Tanjore Kallar (n=101) |
| FGA=29 | Mazateco (n=31), Triqui (n=37) | Ancient Egypt, no. 1 is Egyptian Copts – Adaima (n=100) |
| THO1=5 | Zoque [means lit. Sea Folk][i] (n=35) | Distributed thinly all over world, except Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Thuya Gene | Reaches 45% frequency in Amuzgo (n=30) | Egypt, Africa, absent in India, Asia |
| THO1=8, 8.3 | Scattered low in Oaxaqueño Indians | Sub-Saharan Africa, 36% of Namibians |
| vWA=10[ii] | Zoque (n=35) | Lepcha (n=48) is no. 1, Other India = nos. 2, 3, 4 etc. |
Note, that I believe that the Scottish DNA is coming from Mulekite of the people who in my model came through Scotland and merged with the people of Zarahemla.
It was also predominately allele mutation frequency research that has lent solid evidence of early Polynesian colonization of central and south America. Something long suggested by the diffusion of pre-Columbian sweet potatoes in both locations. You can read more about this debated topic in these articles from the Smithsonian Science Education Center, from Alexander Ioannidis, now famous 2020 article in Nature, and many articles like this one by Skoglund et al. from Pub Med Central.
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Understanding Why Jewish Global Colonies Have Weak ‘Jewish’ DNA Markers
Several known Jewish global colonies in Ethiopia (Beta Israel), Western Africa (Sahelian Jews), India (Bene Israel) and China (Kaifeng Jews) all show very week ‘Jewish’ DNA markers. In fact their DNA is 99% local. Which helps us see that in looking for evidence of unknown ancient Jewish colonies, the DNA evidence we should be looking for, would likely also be very subtle.
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Limited Genetic Evidence of Romans in Britain
While the Romans ruled Britain for centuries, studies suggest limited genetic evidence of their presence in modern Britain’s population. This is partly due to the relatively small number of Romans who settled in Britain and the greater genetic impact of later migrations like the Anglo-Saxons.
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Genetic Evidence for Medieval Central Asian Colonization of America?
DNA experts such as Harvard Educated professor Nathaniel Jeanson is another example of a well educated DNA expert who is able to deviate from the mainstream narrative guarded against by the gatekeepers of most institutions and explore more fringe-science (and even young-earth) ideas concerning the ancient colonization of America by assorted ancient peoples. He has found evidence in both DNA evidence and linguistics of migrations of Turkik people from central Asia at the time of the Huns and Mongols into North America from 300-1100 AD. He has several videos where he presents his evidence of migration.
The Ashkenazi Mutation in Colorado Indians
Another genetic mutation widely known as Jewish marker labeled 185delAG BRCA1 has been found in various locations around the world. Evidence which would suggest to LDS researchers, or those open to pre-Columbian global colonization, is explained away by modern geneticist as “parallel random mutation.” In other words, the EXACT same mutation randomly arose in multiple parts of the world. BRCA1 is a known marker coinciding with increased risk for breast cancer seen in high numbers among Ashkenazi Jews, Iraqis, Kuchin-Indians, Syrians, and populations of Turkey, Iran, and Tunisia. But it’s also strangely found in Colorado Indians, Malaysians, and Hispanics. Two articles in the European Journal of Human Genetics detail the occurrence of these mutations in Colorado and around the World (see Laitman, et al, and Mullineaux et al)
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Jewish DNA in Mexicans, Latinos and all Hispanics
Another poorly known genetic fact is that up 25% of Latinos & Mexicans have Jewish DNA. And its actually fairly difficult to date the arrival of that DNA into the population. However, because of the predominate notions of DNA evolution and New World migration across the Baring Land bridge during the last ice age, when Jewish DNA markers are found in any give population (such as the Colorado natives mentioned in the article above), it is simply assumed that the DNA came from POST-conquest (post 1517) European colonization, even though the truth is that in order to prove that, a complete line of skeletal DNA is needed from the archaeological record. (Which is rarely available). In fact many of the DNA markers that are utilized from the archeological record are actually of tenuous provenance–such as the Kennewick man of which we’ll speak more about shortly)
Most of the ‘Jewish’ DNA found in Latinos is in the form of haplogroup R1. Wikipedia can help readers understand that Haplogroup R1 is the second most common Y-DNA haplogroup found among Indigenous Americans after Y-DNA haplogroup Q.
Because it is so pervasive, initially there was debate about the origin of haplogroup R1b in Native Americans. Two early studies suggested that this haplogroup could have been one of the founding Siberian lineages of Native Americans, however this is now considered unlikely, because the R1b lineages commonly found in Native Americans are in most cases identical to those in western Europeans, and its highest concentration is found among a variety of culturally unaffiliated tribes, in eastern North America.
R1 (M173) is found predominantly in North American groups like the Ojibwe (50-79%), Seminole (50%), Sioux (50%), Cherokee (47%), Dogrib (40%) and Tohono O’odham (Papago) (38%). Its highest frequency is found in northeastern North America, and declines in frequency from east to west. In southwestern Native American tribes the frequency of this haplogroup is as low as 4%. [General Mexican population = 25%, Pueblo/Hidalgo Otomi Hñähñús (62.3%), Hidalgo Nahuas (15.9%), and Tepehuas (11.6%)] (wikipedia: Genetic history of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Gomez, 2021).
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An LDS Geneticist Discusses DNA & The Book of Mormon
A good starting point for understanding the provenance issue in human genetics is the serious of Interview of well known LDS geneticist Hug Perez, the below video is only part one is a several part series, so be sure to watch them all.
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Many ethnic Tepehua and Hñähñú Otomi speaking peoples from around the regions of Hidalgo and Puebla share J1 & J2 Middle Eastern DNA.
Haplogroup J1 & J2 are another genetic marker prevalent among both Jews and Mexicans. Modern researchers tend to assume this variation arrived into Mexican populations through postcolonial Sphardic or Spanish Jews.
Quite a few ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilisations flourished in territories where J2 lineages were preponderant. This is the case of the Hattians, the Hurrians, the Etruscans, the Minoans, the Greeks, the Phoenicians (and their Carthaginian offshoot), the Israelites, and to a lower extent also the Romans, the Assyrians and the Persians. All the great seafaring civilisations from the middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age were dominated by J2 men.
Outside the Caucasus, the highest frequencies of J2 are observed in Cyprus (37%), Crete (34%), northern Iraq (28%), Lebanon (26%), Turkey (24%, with peaks of 30% in the Marmara region and in central Anatolia), Greece (23%), Central Italy (23%), Sicily (23%), South Italy (21.5%), and Albania (19.5%), as well as among Jewish people (19 to 25%).
The Phoenicians, Jews, Greeks and Romans all contributed to the presence of J2a in Iberia. The particularly strong frequency of J2a and other Near Eastern haplogroups (J1, E1b1b, T) in the south of the Iberian peninsula, suggest that the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians played a more decisive role than other peoples. This makes sense considering that they were the first to arrive, founded the greatest number of cities (including Gadir/Cadiz, Iberia’s oldest city), and their settlements match almost exactly the zone where J2 is found at a higher frequency in southern Andalusia.
Is it possible any of the J DNA in modern Latinos dates from pre-colonial populations? Until more researchers allow themselves to consider the possibility and actually test for these markers (without reassigning them to ‘new’ groups) we’ll never know.
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Does Haplogroup X prove Middle-East Diffusionism?
Perhaps, but not necessarily. The problem with Haplogroup X2a as a marker for Lehite migration both its diffusion are and pre-Book of Mormon skeletons like the Kennewick Man. Note on the map of haplogroup diffusion area that it is FAR more pervasive north of the Great Lakes then in the areas that most Book of Mormon models would put Lehites. Especially in Heartland Model’s we would expect to see the greatest ‘Near-East’ Lehite DNA in the core areas where Lehites landed and mixed such as Florida (landing site), the Ohio Valley or Nauvoo area. Instead we find it associated with the Northern Great Lakes and Algic speaking tribes spoken of by Nathaniel Jeanson. This doesn’t seem to fit what we’d expect, and is worse than the Jewish markers we see in Cherokee groups (who DID live in areas thought to contain Lehite people in the Heartland and Continental models).
However, perhaps the biggest problem with using haplogroup X as evidence for Book of Mormon diffusion is the Kennewick man. A native American skeleton found on the banks of the Columbia River near Kennewick Washington which had primary Y-DNA haplogroups of Q-M3 and his mitochondrial DNA of X2a, and yet the skeleton dated to 8500 BP! The ONLY way X2a could POSSIBLY be associated with Lehite DNA is if the radiocarbon date of Kennewick man was contaminated by the carbonate rich waters of the Columbia river and soils which he was buried in.
This IS a possibility given that other skeletons attributed to that age do not seem to have similar DNA. For instance, Anzick-1 belongs to the Haplogroup D4h3a & Q-L54*(xM3). Similarly, the Peñon III Woman skull from the Valley of Mexico doesn’t appear to have xM3 DNA. So in a Book of Mormon context, it might be that haplogroup X2a comes from Jaredite populations (using the Jaredite as Clovis model), OR the Clovis aged skeletons used to date this mutation are incorrect.
Remember that X is one of the rarest mitochondrial haplogroups in terms of frequency, yet one of the most widespread geographically. It is found throughout Europe, North Africa, the Near/Middle East, in most of Central Asia, parts of North Asia, and among Native North Americans (X2a). X is currently divided in four top branches (X1, X2, X3 and X4). 99% of Europeans belong to X2, which is further divided in 15 subclades (X2a to X2o). The most common subclades in Europe are X2b and X2c.
The highest frequencies of X have been observed among the Druzes of Lebanon (15%), among the Abkhazians of Georgia (10%), on the island of Orkney (7%) in northern Scotland, in Lombardy (6%), and in most ethnic groups of the North Caucasus (4-5%). Note THESE ARE THE SAME DISTRIBUTIONS AS THE OAXACA THO1 ALLIELS FOUND BY DNACONSULTANTS.COM!
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DNA Consultants Cherokee Study
In 2008 DNA Consultants, Inc. initiated comprehensive DNA testing of the Cherokees living on the Qualla Reservation in western North Carolina. The North Carolina Cherokees were chosen because after 180 years in the west, Oklahoma Cherokees are so thoroughly mixed with other ethnic groups, that any DNA test marker obtained would be meaningless.
The laboratory immediately stumbled into a scientific hornet’s nest when the results were issued on a press release in April 2010. 2 That Cherokee princess in someone’s genealogy was most likely a Middle Eastern or North African princess. Its scientists have labeled the Cherokees not as Native Americans, but as a Middle Eastern-North African population. The implication is that they are indeed, the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. DNA Consultants, has now tested a much larger population on the North Carolina Reservation and gotten similar results. The Cherokees seem to be the people that Brent Kennedy thought the Melungeons were.
The Cherokees tested had high levels of DNA test markers associated with the Berbers, native Egyptians, Turks, Lebanese, Hebrews and Mesopotamians. Genetically, they are more Jewish than the typical American Jew of European ancestry. So-called “full-blooded” Cherokees had high levels of European DNA and a trace of Asiatic (Native American) DNA. 80 Some “card-carrying” Cherokees had almost no Asiatic DNA. The European DNA contained a much higher level of DNA test markers associated with the Iberian Peninsula that was typical of Caucasian Americans. The level of haplogroup T in the Cherokee (26.9%) approximated the percentage for Egypt (25%), one of the only lands where T attains a major position among the various mitochondrial lineages. The lab claims that their skin color and facial features are primarily Semitic in origin, not Native American. (be sure to read the Full Article containing details on statistical bias at this link)
Questions To Ask:
-why did you take a special interest in Oaxaca and the Zapotecs?
-what are the main references for the story of rhoda, the kings there, and the septamarian kingdom?
