New Science to Fight the Old Science

Ancient DNA Revolution September/October 2024

By Eric A. Powell: North American High Plains  

https://archaeology.org/issues/september-october-2024/collection/ancestors-of-the-blackfoot/ancient-dna-revolution/

The Blackfoot Confederacy is today made up of four bands. The traditional lands of three of them, the Blood (Kainai), Piikani, and Siksika First Nations, are on the plains of southern Alberta, Canada, while the Blackfeet Tribe’s homeland is in northern Montana.  Many scholars have concluded that the confederacy is a relative newcomer to the High Plains.  Linguists classify the Blackfoot language as part of the Algonquin family, which includes many languages spoken by peoples living around the Great Lakes and on the Eastern Seaboard.  Since the nineteenth century, Euro-American anthropologists have argued that the ancestors of the people of the Blackfoot Confederacy must have originally lived near the Great Lakes.  At some point in the last millennium, they are thought to have migrated to the High Plains.  But the Blackfoot have no collective memory of a migration from the east.  Some of their stories do tell of a migration from the north that took place long ago, when giant beavers and camels still existed, but nothing in Blackfoot oral history matches the history anthropologists have written for them.  (I call that BAD HISTORY...)

A genetic study has now provided support for the Blackfoot people’s belief that they have lived on their traditional lands from time immemorial.  Working in partnership with the Blood (Kainai) First Nation and the Blackfeet Tribe, a team led by archaeologist Maria Zedeño of the University of Arizona and archaeogeneticist Ripan Malhi of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign analyzed DNA samples taken from six living members of the Blackfoot Confederacy and from the remains of seven ancestral Blackfoot. 

To their surprise, the researchers discovered that the Blackfoot did not share any genetic affinity with Algonquin groups, or, indeed, with any other Native American peoples.  Statistical analysis showed that the Blackfoot lineage probably broke off from other Native groups around 18,000 years ago.  The Blackfoot likely lived in relative isolation for millennia before interacting with Algonquin speakers.  These new insights into Blackfoot genetic heritage support recent linguistic research suggesting that the Blackfoot language has features that belong to an ancient language spoken by a people who lived in the Blackfoot Confederacy’s homeland.  These features are thought to have long predated the advent of Algonquin languages.

“This really confirms what we already knew,” says Gheri Hall, an archaeologist with the Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Office, who notes that the genetic evidence could help the tribe in future legal cases involving land disputes. “Now we can use the new science to fight the old science.”

Members of the Siksika First Nation, 1913

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consider deleting and destroying any genetic data held by the company

 

23andme files for bankruptcy protection

Officials, including California’s attorney general, question what will happen to the data collected by the firm.

Published 24 Mar 2025

Genetic testing firm 23andMe has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States amid weak demand and losses from a 2023 data breach. Its co-founder and CEO has resigned.

San Francisco-based 23andMe announced on Sunday that it will look to sell “substantially all of its assets” through a court-approved reorganisation plan.

The company’s shares fell 50 percent to 88 cents in Monday trading after co-founder Anne Wojcicki, who made multiple failed takeover bids, resigned as CEO.  23andMe did not say whether there are other interested bidders.  It will continue to operate during the sale process, having secured $35m in financing over the weekend.

Wojcicki intends to still bid on 23andMe as the company pursues a sale through the bankruptcy process.  In a statement on social media, Wojcicki said she resigned as CEO to be “in the best position” as an independent bidder.

“There is no doubt that the challenges faced by 23andMe through an evolving business model have been real, but my belief in the company and its future is unwavering,” she later added.

Officials, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, have questioned what would happen to the genetic data collected by 23andMe although the company’s privacy policies say the data could be sold to other firms.  The company said the bankruptcy process will not affect how it stores, manages or protects customer data.

23andMe garnered lots of attention from investors when it was first taken public via a special-purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) run by billionaire Richard Branson at a $3.5bn valuation in 2021.  Its market value peaked later that year at nearly $6bn due to booming interest in DNA testing kits, but demand has waned since, hurting 23andMe and its Blackstone-owned rival, AncestryDNA.

Sales of the consumer kits frequently picked up during the yearend holidays, but 23andMe has struggled to retain customers mainly because people would use the kits once and see little reason to order another one. Bernstein Research analysts said the market for ancestry testing kits might be close to tapped out.

In 2023, hackers exposed the personal data of nearly seven million 23andMe customers over a five-month period, dealing a major blow to the company’s reputation and compounding its growth problems. The breach raised alarm among customers concerned about their privacy and how DNA-testing firms handle their data.

23andMe eventually agreed late last year to a $30m settlement in a lawsuit related to the breach.

Founded on a promise

23andMe was founded in 2006 with a promise to revolutionise the future of genetics and healthcare. The company became known for its saliva-based DNA testing kits, purchased by millions of customers eager to learn more about their ancestry, and later dived further into health research and drug development.

But recent years have been far from smooth sailing for it. And Sunday’s voluntary bankruptcy filing caps months of turmoil.

In September, all of its independent directors resigned in a rare move after acquisition negotiations with Wojcicki.

The company then announced in November that it would lay off 40 percent of its workforce, or more than 200 employees, and discontinue its therapeutics division. And in January, the board’s special committee said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale.

Beyond the data breach, uncertainty about the company’s future overall has also led some to recently urge 23andMe customers to delete their data.

On Friday, days before 23andMe’s bankruptcy filing, Bonta issued an urgent alert reminding 23andMe customers of their legal rights under state law and called on them to consider deleting and destroying any genetic data held by the company. Bonta’s office pointed to 23andMe’s ongoing financial distress and “trove of sensitive consumer data” the company has amassed.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/3/24/genetic-testing-firm-23andme-files-for-bankruptcy-protection

 

ANCESTRY.com SOLD TOO:

After Ancestry caught wind of its users' data concerns, a company spokesperson stated that Blackstone would not have access to genetic or family tree information provided by users.  According to CBS News, the company has no plans to change its data storage or access rules. 

 

You trust them??
 

Native American DNA with Roberta Estes

 SOURCE

Research Like a Pro Podcast

Posted on August 31, 2022

I love to see families working together. Nicole Dyer and Diana Elder are a lovely mother-daughter genealogy team and hostesses of Research Like a Pro, a podcast through their genealogy research company, Family Locket. Their Research Like a Pro podcasts help genealogists “take your research to the next level.”

I was so pleased to be invited to join them for a discussion about my book, DNA for Native American Genealogy.

For those of you who don’t normally listen to podcasts and don’t have a podcast app, you don’t need one. You can just click to listen online, or they have kindly transcribed the session. The transcription is automated, so not exact, but still a great tool.

Interviews are interesting because the back and forth is so revealing and includes information not found in the book. As it turns out, their family had a Native American story too – and it was very similar to mine. That oral history which was accepted as fact in my family is what launched my search many years ago.

They “cheated” and opened by asking me about what drives and inspires me. I’m not interviewed live very often, and don’t think I’ve ever been asked this question before. If you’d like to hear me talk about what motivates me and gets me out of bed every morning, aka, “life’s pennies,” click here.

Of course, most of the hour was spent discussing Native American records and resources, including DNA evidence. We discussed ethnicity and how to actually USE it (yes, you can), vendors, their products and resources, Y and mitochondrial DNA, third-party tools, and how to integrate these resources successfully.

As a bonus, let me give you one of the tips I talked about that’s not in the book. Declined enrollment applications for the Five Civilized Tribes. If your family wasn’t enrolled, they might be found in the declined applications, which often provide a HUGE amount of family information. Here is a list of those resources at FamilySearch. Don’t miss the Cherokee by Blood book series by Jerry Wright Jordan and the Extract of Rejected Applications of the Guion Miller Roll of the Eastern Cherokee series by Jo Ann Curls Page.

Also, as an aside, in some cases, DNA testing has proven using Y or mitochondrial DNA that the declined enrollment was in error and the family did, in fact, have Native ancestors. That’s both heartbreaking and validating.

This was such a fun and informative hour. I swear, we talked about everything. While this podcast is focused on finding Native American ancestors, the DNA tools, tips, and research techniques are certainly relevant and useful for everyone, so please join us and enjoy!

If you don’t have my book yet, you can purchase it here:

• DNA for Native American Genealogy – by Roberta Estes, for those ordering the e-book from anyplace, or paperback within the United States
• DNA for Native American Genealogy – for those ordering the paperback outside the US
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• PODCAST