Ancestry.com ethnicity accuracy problems

[MarcuccioV]

Okay, I'll start this off with the following statement:

"I know ethnic makeups and percentages are not an exact science, and discrepancies are bound to exist"

That being said, I'm curious to querying others (preferably with mixed ethnicity) who have both tested with Ancestry and other companies or uploaded their Ancestry results to another matrix (or more than one). Also anyone having tested with ONLY Ancestry but are confused by their results.

In my case, I originally tested with Ancestry.com. I then tested with 23&Me and further uploaded to FTDNA, MyHeritage, GEDMATCH and others.

Ancestry has gone through one update since I tested. I have done extensive paper trail research on both sides of my family (paternal side is predominantly northern European, maternal side Italian/Mediterranean/West Asian). On the paternal side, on many of the lines I have records dating back to the 14th century (or earlier in a couple of cases). Maternal side to the 19th century.

As for the DNA results, 23 & Me and most of those matrices I uploaded to align very closely with both paper trails as well as with one another (there is some variation, but it's relatively minor). Ancestry is WAY off in comparison.

Two of the problems I encountered with Ancestry were either missing ethnicities (found on all the other sites) as well as added ethnicities that I have no proof of. In both the original estimate and update, this exists but with different ethnicities both times. The update is even farther off than the original estimate. The estimate that is the least accurate (of course) is the southern European (under-reported).

I know it all relates to the population groups tested, but for a company that was supposedly the pioneer in the genealogical industry, how can they be so inaccurate..? I know some friends who have also tested with Ancestry & have confusing results as well.

Has anyone else been disappointed with their Ancestry.com results compared with other tests/matrices..?

[darkerhorse]

FYI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHhEUaL_UWo

I believe he ranks Ancestry last.

By the way, his voice reminds me of the narrator for "The Masked Magician". I'm usually good with voices. Anyone else hear the similarity?

[MarcuccioV]

Interesting how he rates them. His favorites, 23&Me & GEDMATCH, are also the most accurate for me based on my research. However, FTDNA & MH agree pretty closely with those two (at least in my case).

23&Me & GEDMATCH were also the only two that separated out Sicilian from northern & southern Italian...

[darkerhorse]

Doesn't he rank a lesser known company tops?

[MarcuccioV]

Doesn't he rank a lesser known company tops?

Not tops, per se, but highly. MyTrueAncestry.com. I have uploaded to it also, but I haven't revisited it lately. It was the ONLY one to find 2 ethnicities the others did not, but it focuses on ancient ancestry (how they differentiate I do not know).

They found (in trace amounts very deep) north African and Sardinian. Otherwise it aligned closely with all the other tests except Ancestry...

[darkerhorse]

Has any DNA testing (or uploading) helped you to pick up right after your paper trail ends?

For example, mine ends in the mid-1700s, and I wonder if DNA can pick up the trail in the mid-1700s and take it back a few more centuries, perhaps before Sicily?

[darkerhorse]

or confirm that my family line had been in Sicily since several centuries prior to the mid-1700s.

[MarcuccioV]

Has any DNA testing (or uploading) helped you to pick up right after your paper trail ends?

For example, mine ends in the mid-1700s, and I wonder if DNA can pick up the trail in the mid-1700s and take it back a few more centuries, perhaps before Sicily?

For me, absolutely. Especially the shaded map for 23&Me & my mtDNA. By paper trail alone (as you know) I'm stuck in the home commune (with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions), but through DNA I have ties to FOUR other provinces (including Sicily) that are obviously beyond the scope of the paper trail. It can't really provide a timeline (I wish it could) but it was very enlightening for me to see other regions beyond Lazio (especially considering their relative strengths).

In your case it's possible that Puglia, Calabria or another region might come up indicating more distant ancestry.

I guess you'll never know unless you test. In your case, 23&Me is probably the best. It's your option to upload you GedCom to others for comparisons. Some cost & some are free. GEDMATCH is the best of the freebies (basic version).

Be advised that depending on the results you might be inclined to check into more matrices. Just so you know.

[MarcuccioV]

An addendum to one of the above posts: 23&Me DOES include N African in my results, but combines it with W Asian...

[MarcuccioV]

An addendum to one of the above posts: 23&Me DOES include N African in my results but combines it with W Asian. Going by the map N Africa is not highlighted...

[MarcuccioV]

or confirm that my family line had been in Sicily since several centuries prior to the mid-1700s.

MyTrueAncestry (once you pop for a test & upload) would be the best answer for that. I'm at the "Knight" level which is a one-time $55 cost.

It shows my 'ancient' ancestries in percentages. My highest is Illyrian, followed by Pannonian and Roman. That makes up 55% of my ancient DNA. The Illyrian and Pannonian could be from either side (or both, most likely).

I thought this chromosome breakdown (C 17) would interest you (see below). This is ancient DNA.

Looking at their modern populations it's bit more confusing, as aside from French (which it lists as a minor population), NONE of my N European populations are listed; only Med bordered southern Europe (plus Portugal) and the strongest is Albanian-Tosk. But then they are known better for ancient ancestry, so I don't know how these relate to the modern populations.

Even my ancient ancestry seems to lean more southern than northern (as far as Europe is concerned)...

[darkerhorse]

Does that mean you had direct ancestors in Sicily 4,000 year ago?

Is the function of each chromosome known? For example, which determines eye color, height, etc?

[MarcuccioV]

Answer to your first question I assume is yes, however when it migrated north I don't know.

As to question 2 I don't know. It's possible, but I haven't dived very deep into that subject yet.

[darkerhorse]

I was wondering what chromosome 17 affects, as an example. Is it olive colored?

[MarcuccioV]

From a quick search, it appears C-15 is most associated with eye & skin colors, while hair (at least brown) is on C-15 & C-19. Not sure what C-17 is associated with. There isn't much info aside from diseases based on genetic mutations of C-17.