Melungeon-L Archives

Archiver > Melungeon > 2002-06 > 1024687036


From: "Jim Bowery" <>
Subject: Re: [Melungeon] No DNA Data -- No Credibility
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 12:17:23 -0700
References: <OE13V9LvuKebm4M2S0g00000c1e@hotmail.com> <001d01c21949$254b6400$799a6444@nv.cox.net>


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Maggard" <>
> From: "Jim Bowery" <>
> > So it would appear from the news reports that the bottom line is that
Dr.
> > Jones is not going to release his data:
> >
> > 1) Not ANY of his Y chromosome data
>
> He did release the Y-chromosome data for the 20 of 30 samples

Where is it?

Not in any of the 4 or so press stories. Not anywhere around the internet
nor on any messages in this list.

Data that is inaccessible is -- inaccessible.

If they can't make their data at least as accessible as their rhetoric then
the ethical thing to do is cut out the rhetoric and supply what few facts
they can.

> > 2) Only enough of his mtDNA data for us to conclude that the sample of
> > Melungeon women chosen has no more Native American and African heritage
> than the average "white".
>
> That's not at all what he said.
>
> Read the MHA press release.

I did and I read 3 other articles.

Here is what the press release said:

Actually the MHA press release is less informative in this regard than one
of the stories:

QUOTE
http://knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_1221290,00.html

Results indicated ancestry combinations of about 5 percent Native American,
5 percent African and the rest what Jones called a European-Asian category
to which at least 65 genetically distinct groups could have contributed.
The study "closes the door" on all theories that rejected the idea of any
African connection, but it also leaves many other doors still open and
cracks several new ones, Jones said. Beyond that, he said, "there is nothing
truly definitive about this study."

ENDQUOTE

OK, so according to Jones, a "5% African heritage" in some population means
that population has an "African connection". 5% just so happens to be the
typical level of African genes in ALL southern "whites"!

As for the MHA press release's references to northern India and Turkey,
these matrilines are known for their LACK of geographic specificity and the
ones supposedly from founding mothers of the Melungeons could just as easily
have been from more recent immigrants. In this context it is clear that the
sentence, "Six more fit in the European category but had genetic
characteristics associated with people from northern India or Turkey." is
singularly uninformative.

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