Na-Dene languages

note the map.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na-Dene_languages

Originally posted by zeeblebot
note the map.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na-Dene_languages

I wonder how well the northern group can understand the southern Navaho bunch. There must be a great tale of immigration how the Navaho decended south from the main group in Alaska and Canada. I wonder what made them do that? Wars? Ice ages? I wonder how long ago that happened. I went to HS in Anchorage but did not get much of a chance to be with the natives.

mtDNA haplogroup A

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_A_(mtDNA)

I need to put some time into figuring out what the different ethnic groups are in the Americas.

I suspect the Uto-Aztecans were the group in control of the space in between.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uto-Aztecan_languages

Originally posted by sonhouse
I wonder how well the northern group can understand the southern Navaho bunch. There must be a great tale of immigration how the Navaho decended south from the main group in Alaska and Canada. I wonder what made them do that? Wars? Ice ages? I wonder how long ago that happened. I went to HS in Anchorage but did not get much of a chance to be with the natives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Athabaskan_languages

Originally posted by sonhouse
I wonder how well the northern group can understand the southern Navaho bunch. There must be a great tale of immigration how the Navaho decended south from the main group in Alaska and Canada. I wonder what made them do that? Wars? Ice ages? I wonder how long ago that happened. I went to HS in Anchorage but did not get much of a chance to be with the natives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_people#Early_history

The Navajo/Diné speak dialects of the language family referred to as Athabaskan. These people were once a single ethnic group that probably came from near the Great Slave Lake, in the modern Northwest Territories of Canada, having crossed the Bering land bridge thousands of years previously. In addition to language speakers residing in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, Athabaskan speakers are also found living today in Alaska and parts of northern Canada. An aboriginal people known as Dene live in an area centered around Great Slave Lake and have communities in the far north of adjacent provinces. The Apache, living in the American Southwest and other nearby areas, are also Southern Athabaskan speakers and are closely related to the Navajo/Diné. Despite the time elapsed, these people reportedly can still understand the language of their long-lost cousins, the Navajo.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
mtDNA haplogroup A

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_A_(mtDNA)

I need to put some time into figuring out what the different ethnic groups are in the Americas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogical_DNA_test#United_States_-_Native_American_ancestry

United States - Native American ancestry

Autosomal testing, Y-DNA, and mtDNA testing can be conducted to determine Amerindian ancestry. A mitochondrial Haplogroup determination test based on mutations in Hypervariable Region 1 and 2 may establish whether a person's direct female line belongs to one of the canonical Native American Haplogroups, A, B, C, D or X. If one's DNA belonged to one of those groups, the implication would be that he or she is, in whole or part, Native American.

As political entities, tribes have established their own requirements for membership, often based on at least one of a person's direct ancestors having been included on tribal-specific Native American censuses (or final rolls) prepared during treaty-making, relocation to reservations or apportionment of land in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One example is the Dawes Rolls. In addition, the U.S. government does not consider DNA as admissible evidence for enrollment in any federally recognized tribe or reception of benefits. Tribes are political constructs, not genetic populations.

Complicating factors in identification is recent evidence that indigenous North American mitochondrial haplogroups may not be limited to the five named. The vast majority of Native American individuals do belong to one of the five identified mtDNA Haplogroups. Many Americans are just discovering they have some percentage of Native ancestry. Some attempt to validate their heritage with the goal of gaining admittance into a tribe, but most tribes do not use DNA results in that way. These tests may be useful for adoptees to discover Native American ancestry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas

I saw history channel shows that seemed to have vikings all the way into what is now Minnesota and parts of Canada. Since they did not bring women with them, they were single men who most likely were taken in by various tribes. I wonder if any of those tribes have been tested for DNA evidence that that story could be true. That would be the Dene blood line mixed with viking. If that story is true, there should be evidence of that today in the 'pure' lines of tribal blood.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I saw history channel shows that seemed to have vikings all the way into what is now Minnesota and parts of Canada. Since they did not bring women with them, they were single men who most likely were taken in by various tribes. I wonder if any of those tribes have been tested for DNA evidence that that story could be true. That would be the Dene blood line ...[text shortened]... hat story is true, there should be evidence of that today in the 'pure' lines of tribal blood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Anse_aux_Meadows