How accurate are those DNA tests that show your ethnic makeup?

Factual Questions
1

I’ve always wondered what various ethnic groups went into my DNA. My direct family line is Jewish - 100 percent - yet not all of us “look” Jewish. There are dark people with big noses, but there are relatives with blond hair or red hair, blue eyes and green eyes, and/or small pointed noses and light skin. This means that, obviously, there are ethnic groups other than the original Semites who managed to get into that bloodline over the course of two thousand years or so. I think this is mostly as a result of rape; there may be a tiny number of European Gentiles who intermarried with Jews, but this is miniscule compared to the number of Jewish women who were raped by various marauding conquerors of every conceivable ethnic origin all over Europe.

I’ve always wondered how many of those people exactly went into who I am today, from a strictly biological standpoint, since human biology and specifically the physical attributes of different groups has always fascinated me. There must be Russians, Poles, other Slavic groups and probably Hungarians and maybe even Turks in there - my mother’s side is all Ashkenazi, from Poland, Ukraine and various parts of Russia. One side of my father’s family lived in Thessaloniki, Greece since around 52 AD - they were of the ancient Jewish community in Greece, one of the oldest in the entire world. I recently read that Thessaloniki was taken over by the Normans in the early 13th century. Could I conceivably have Norman genes? That might account for the very prominent blond highlights that show up in my hair when it is longer.

It would be interesting to see what different “racial” groups went into my DNA. But can this be accurately pinpointed in the manner that I’m describing - like, genes traced to certain Medieval tribes like Normans, Huns or Magyars? Or can they only be traced to geographical areas in Europe? Has anyone taken one of these DNA tests? What have you found?

2

My family did the National Geographic DNA test. That one, in particular, is not very precise, since they only pinpoint what group either your mitochondrial DNA (mother’s mother’s mother’s etc) or Y chromosome (father’s father’s father’s etc) came from. They divide the whole of the human race into about 20 migration groups.

My maternal uncle (who of course shares my mitochondrial DNA) took it, and was disappointed to find out that his Irish self came from…Ireland! Yes, he belongs to the group that migrated to the British isles.

My dad, on the other hand, was a huge surprise. My father’s family is 100% Ashkenazi Jewish. Yet his Y chromosome belongs to one of the American Indian groups. The only way we can figure this is that our male ancestor was one of those Siberian natives who missed the boat (so to speak) to America, and whose descendant later hooked up with some Russian Jewish girl. Ancestry is weird!

3

Hmm…well, if there was one that was more accurate and specific than that, I’d take it. I think I’d be willing to pay the extra money. Is there one that can pinpoint specific tribes rather than just regions?

4

No, not that I’m aware of.