The fallacy of DNA when used to identify someone's ethnicity

[Not a Cop]

Ok, enlighten me of the "correct" test that fits the criteria of science

You can start with posting or PMing me your gedmatch kit number.

[Lucas]

Have you tried 24Genetics? They give lot of information about world regions, in my case, it was super accurate with the info that I already have. You can do it from 23andme or FTDNA raw data also. They still have the father´s day offer:

DADDY10: 10€ discount on 49€+ orders
BIGDADDY15: 15% Discount on 250€+ Orders (Smart Packs)

Hope it helps!

Hahah Peterski sockpuppet You make account on The Apricity just to tell it in this thread?

[Sp_loa]

Phenotype almost never tells the whole story. DNA isn't accurate but it still might say something.
I have relatives that are Alpine-Gorid or very few who are even Nordids, and we are Jews, meaning we do have Levantine to some extent. Logan Lerman is Ashkenazi (meaning that it is reasonable to think that he will score 50% Samaritan+50% Tuscan on gedmatch) and still.... He looks 100% NW European. So.... you can never know by look.

[Norb]

aherne post GEDmatch admix please

[Norb]

Some months ago, I've decided to do an ancestry.com DNA test to see what I'm made of. As far as I know, half of my ancestors were German speakers, while the other half were Romanian speakers. However, among my German speaking forebears some had Slovak surnames, while among Romanian forebears some had Hungarian or Greek surnames and one looked Gypsy admixed.

So in January I've finally ordered an Ancestry DNA test and now results have arrived.

AncestryDNA results:

Europe East: 41% (they pinpoint Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland & Lithuania)
Great Britain: 22% (WTF!!!)
Europe South: 15%
Caucasus: 5%
European Jewish: 5%
Iberian Peninsula: 5%
Europe West: 4%
Finland/Northwest Russia: < 1%
Middle East: < 1%
Asia South: < 1%

Finding results pretty absurd, I've decided to download my DNA and upload it to other sites for a second guess.

MyHeritage results:

Eastern European: 69,0%
- Balkans: 57,9%
- Broadly Eastern European: 11,1%
Southern European: 12,4%
- Iberian: 12,4% (!!!)
Northern and Western Europe: 7,3%
- Scandinavian: 7,3%
British Isles: 0%
Ashkenazi Jewish: 2,1%
West Asian: 8,2%
East Asian: 1,0%

Then continued to GEDMATCH and got similar wildly different or plain absurd results. To me all of this sure looks like reading the horoscope (pretentious pseudo science in its purity). Therefore, I'll stick to racial anthropology which provides FAR more reliable results and proved itself to be a science (only not an exact one). Based on racial anthropology:

- my father (3/4 German, 1/4 Romanian) looks typical German: Nordo-Faelid mixed with some Alpine-Med
- my mother (1/4 German, 3/4 Romanian) looks typical Romanian: Nordo-Baltid mixed with strong Alpine-Med

If you look at them, or at their parents, their looks reflect their ethnicity. This is science!

aherne post GEDmatch admix please

[Lemgrant]

you are posting irrelevant stuff because you are mixed. Show us complete gedmatch results with admixture oracles. Also 23andme is the only serious company with detailed results now. They have no problem pinpointing Romania and Germany in your case.
https://www.23andme.com/publications/for-scientists/

[Voskos]

Wait till full genome sequencing becomes affordable.If that happens Youre gonna see some Greeks scoring up to 60% mena and north europeans up to 30% mongoloid.

[JosephK]

I've said it before and I'll say it again... this stuff only works if you're relatively, or largely "ethnically pure."

It is true that if you don't know something about your heritage, or if you're 'mixed'; there's no way any of this will help.

Neither 23andMe nor Ancestry can tell that my wife is 1/4 Southern Italian.

[Norb]

I've said it before and I'll say it again... this stuff only works if you're relatively, or largely "ethnically pure."

It is true that if you don't know something about your heritage, or if you're 'mixed'; there's no way any of this will help.

Neither 23andMe nor Ancestry can tell that my wife is 1/4 Southern Italian.

I didn't have any understanding of my ancestry before I took a test, and all I know now is that I am a certain % of a Country, but I think that is more to do with 23andme not being able to break down my 20% 'broadly' NW Euro and 66% British and Irish..

[Lemgrant]

I've said it before and I'll say it again... this stuff only works if you're relatively, or largely "ethnically pure."

It is true that if you don't know something about your heritage, or if you're 'mixed'; there's no way any of this will help.

Neither 23andMe nor Ancestry can tell that my wife is 1/4 Southern Italian.

That's a lot. She has many Italian matches on gedmatch or 23andme?