I am definitely a geneticist and not a genealogist. When I asked FTDNA (FamilyTreeDNA) as to how they determined Niall's genetic make-up, I believe they told me they used his teeth (from his corpse) to give them 67 marker cells, and the web site for him shows all 67 alleles (whatever that means). I compared my own 67 marker cells and I have them in hand. 63 of the 67 markers are identical to Niall's 67 marker cells. Beyond that I do not know very much at all. I suggest that SHE telephone FTDNA and ask them for more information. It may take a while, since their lab was in the direct line of IKE hurricane. They hope to be back on line within days. Hope this is not too confusing! Edward Ferrill McKee -------------- Original message from [email protected] (cecilia): -------------- > On Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:20:52 -0700, Kay Robinson > wrote: > > >[...] Can you tell me when "Niall of the Nine Hostages" > >subjected himself to DNA testing? I always thought that DNA wasn't > >discovered until the mid 20th century and that DNA mapping is an even > >more modern discovery.[...] > > Google is your friend. > > See http://www.familytreedna.com/matchnialltest.html for account of > why they think certain markers indicate descent from Niall. > > The page lists the markers. > > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message