[there's an interesting discussion ongoing on a Melungeon list I am on and thought I might share some of the comments. Interestingly, this first comment I believe also relates back to a book I once read and mentioned, 7 Daughter's of Eve, abt the mtDNA that passes from only a mother to both sexes of her children....the originally gene pool of EVe oddly began in YES....AFRICA! I still suggest a must read book and its not that technical that anyone can read it and really enjoy it. And if any female wants to find out what dau of Eve they descent from, Oxford Ancestors do have the DNA kit, which BTW, I am going to do out of curiousity....and for whats it worth, I believe that DNA and the gene pool is going to give heavy insight into where our ancestors we research came from, why and why and where they settled.] Fr DM-"There was a program on Public TV a couple of weeks ago about that same subject. [Africa & Dr Parfit] The name of the program was "The Journey of man." The two are probably connected to the same research. It traced the movement of the gene pool from Africa to the rest of the world. A interesting point was that the oldest genes he could find was a tribe in Africa. He took samples of the DNA from that tribe and went looking for markers that matched other gene pools. He found that the first migrants from Africa went to Australia, passing right through India on their way. It is a mystery why they didn't stop in India first, but the markers show that they passed right through without stopping. It took some doing to figure out how they got to Australia. After settling in Australia they migrated back to India and settled that part of the world. Next he found that the gene pool moved to the mid east. From there it went first to China then to Europe. He also traced it across Siberia and into America. In effect his theory is that the mid east gene pool was the hub after it moved out of Africa, and except for the group in Australia, all other groups can be traced back to there." Fr D-"An interesting study was done in Africa by Professor Tudor Parfit. There had been a legend among a tribe of southern africans (Zimbabwe) that they were Jews. History had neglected this and many didn't believe it. He undertook genetic testing to prove or disprove their allegation. He did testing of the men looking at the Y chromosome for comparison to Askenazi Jews (European) and Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews. Basically he was looking for the Kohanim connection. And he found it. What he found out through talking to the elders of the tribe that there was legend that men had come from the east and had settled there and intermarried with the Africans. Professor Parfit was able to trace the trade route they spoke of from Yemen to South Africa. This tribe is called the Limba. Interestingly enough through some reading in a book written a few years ago by a white man that traced the lineage of his white family back to the black slaves they had owned, in other words intermarriage (a polite term used here). In the glossary I found that some of the slaves had come from the Limba tribe, in other words Jews. I believe this plantation and slave owners were either in Virginia or the Carolina's. The other so called lost tribes include the Jews of India and China, and other diverse areas of Africa not considered Northern Africa such as Yemen, Morocco, Tunisia, Eygypt etc. There are many sects of Judaism in Israel, those that survive from biblical times are the Samaritans and the Kaorites. At some point probably long before the time of Christ the Samaritans split off from the mainstream of Judaism the same as the Essenes and other sects. The Kaorites are descendents of Iranian Jews that rejected the idea that the Talmud was sacred. Anyway my two cents worth on lost tribes. I met professor Parfit at a lecture in SF. He was going back to S. Africa to do more DNA testing and wanted volunteers to assist. I had just spent most of my money travelling Israel and didn't have the time or finance to do another trip of that magnitude, but believe me it had me so excited." Fr B-"the age old barrier of race prevented people from taken them seriously, there is still an inability among the Askenazi to embrace Jews of color. The other barrier was of course geography. The trade route taken from Senna was long forgotten and actually no one believed anyone sailed so far. And the final thing was if you recall the Lemba (limba) told a story about the men having "clouds" on their heads, Turbans! I have learned to be a better listener the truth is out there. (X files). LOL Enjoy B "a case in point where oral history with time did prove out. And yet, the Lemba have been saying for 2500 years where they were from--including the name Senna as I recall--and also other "tip offs" such as Judaic practices. It took all this time for verification, but all the signs were always there.D." Fr D-" Oh yes, very interesting. I've been reading quite a bit on DNA, especially as it deals with Jewish ethnicities and/or cultures, and I believe there is yet so much that will be better defined as scientists perfect their knowledge. Thanks for letting me know Lemba/Limba is spelled both ways. I, myself, noticed I lumped Yemen with North Africa and don't think that's completely proper. D" _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail