# I got my DNA test back **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 9, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084 "2017-11-09T00:55:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/1 "2017-11-09T00:55:55Z")
It says I have more Neanderthal in me than 97% of those tested. That explains a lot. Not a hint of the of the Native American ancestor my father promised me. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/2 "2017-11-09T00:59:41Z")
why can’t the Neanderthal have been in what is now the US? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/3 "2017-11-09T01:04:17Z")
> [@](#): > > It says I have more Neanderthal in me than 97% of those tested. That explains a lot. Don’t keep us in suspense - how Neanderthal are you? > [@](#): > > Not a hint of the of the Native American ancestor my father promised me. Don’t forget that not all genes get passed along. Though, of course, a lot of people think they have Native American ancestry and don’t. Here’s a funny one: as I understand it, my uncle shows no Native American ancestry on [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com) test. Yet was able to get membership in the tribe based on his DNA. From the way he described it, (mentioning mothers), this test was may have checked mitochondrial DNA since it was his mother’s mother’s mother (his great grandmother, that he knew as a child) that was Native American. This was well over a decade ago, though, and I can’t swear my memory is accurate. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/4 "2017-11-09T01:13:46Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > why can’t the Neanderthal have been in what is now the US? > > 😃 Little known fact: Neanderthals had the right leg shorter than the left. They couldn’t leave Eurasia because they kept walking in circles. Perhaps **Paul in Qatar** can confirm. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/5 "2017-11-09T01:26:33Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Don’t keep us in suspense - how Neanderthal are you? It does not say, only that I got more than 97% of other people they have tested. My wife is saying I have a well-developed brow and deep-set eyes. Elsewise, 96.8% European. Nothing special. No diseases, I am happy to report. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/6 "2017-11-09T02:08:22Z")
Which testing service did you use? I am considering this for a Birthday present for SO. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/7 "2017-11-09T02:51:22Z")
If I spent money, and all the report said was I was 99 percent European, I’d be sooooo pissed off. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/8 "2017-11-09T02:53:09Z")
When I took the Nat-Geo survey a few years ago, it said that I was something like 1.8% Neanderthal and 0.7% Denisovan. So, at least I am 97.5% _h s s_ – although, one expert opinion has conclusively identified me as a “drooling mongoloid”. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/9 "2017-11-09T03:03:28Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > If I spent money, and all the report said was I was 99 percent European, I’d be sooooo pissed off. Mine said 99.8% Eastern European Jew, which was what I expected. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/10 "2017-11-09T03:20:16Z")
How is everyone getting these strange percentages? You’ve got to go back a long, long, time, don’t you? And I don’t suppose that people were really cross cultural in, say, C.E. 1000. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/11 "2017-11-09T03:29:59Z")
The Nat-Geo survey that I took pRt in had a resolution of something like ten millennia and reached back c. 250K years. It showed my forebears coming out of where Tanzania is, up across the Arabian peninsula, across most of Siberia and then back into Northern Europe. It was more of an ancient history thing. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/12 "2017-11-09T03:52:34Z")
I got 100% European, surprising since there were so many stories of Native American ancestry. But the most shocking was the .4% Ashkenazi Jew. Where the heck did that come from? I suspect from my Dutch ancestors, because otherwise I’m French/English/Irish/Scottish. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/13 "2017-11-09T04:30:17Z")
**Telemark,** I’m about 96% Ashkenazi, 3% East Asian, and very little Neanderthal. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/14 "2017-11-09T04:46:15Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I got 100% European, surprising since there were so many stories of Native American ancestry. But the most shocking was the .4% Ashkenazi Jew. Where the heck did that come from? I suspect from my Dutch ancestors, because otherwise I’m French/English/Irish/Scottish. Wine, beer, **&** whisk(e)y; remind me never to get into a drinking contest with you! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/15 "2017-11-09T13:58:06Z")
> [@Buttercup\_Smith](#): > > Which testing service did you use? I am considering this for a Birthday present for SO. 23 & Me. I think it costs $200 or so. But then they send you a half-price coupon. It came back a month earlier than promised, after two weeks. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/16 "2017-11-09T15:14:34Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > It says I have more Neanderthal in me than 97% of those tested. That explains a lot. I haven’t been tested, but one look in the mirror tells me I got more than my share of 2%. 🙂 > [@](#): > > Not a hint of the of the Native American ancestor my father promised me. You and most other people with that story. NA ancestry is surprisingly absent in white and black Americans (generally speaking). ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/17 "2017-11-09T15:57:46Z")
I am also 100% European. Mostly Dutch, English and Irish with a bit of Scandinavian thrown in. That is what I expected. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/18 "2017-11-09T16:08:00Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Mine said 99.8% Eastern European Jew, which was what I expected. That’s what I was fully expecting, but ended up with “only” 93% Eastern European Jew. Trace amounts of Middle Eastern, Finland/Northwest Russia, and a few others along those lines. The only completely unexpected one was Polynesia, but it showed up as \<1%, so it may not even be legitimate. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/19 "2017-11-09T16:25:14Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > 23 & Me. I think it costs $200 or so. But then they send you a half-price coupon. It came back a month earlier than promised, after two weeks. If you want a more complete report, you can then download your genome from 23&Me and run it through Promethease. I’m only in the 83rd percentile for Neanderthal ancestry, but every time someone on Twitter makes a caveman joke I reply with a GIF of the Geico caveman crossing his arms and getting pissed off 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084/20 "2017-11-09T17:29:37Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Little known fact: Neanderthals had the right leg shorter than the left. They couldn’t leave Eurasia because they kept walking in circles. > > Perhaps **Paul in Qatar** can confirm. My mother’s and my sister’s DNA from ancestry doesnt show Neanderthal, my husband has a shorter leg than the other, that explains his Neanderthal ways!! :smack::smack: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-dna-test-back/801084.md?page=2)