Ancestry DNA Confusing

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EMTLP
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Ancestry DNA Confusing

Post by EMTLP »

Has anyone gotten Ancestry DNA results that don't match your expectations? I have always thought of my Ancestry as 50% Italian since both my paternal grandparents were born in Avigliano and so on back many generations. My DNA results have a glaring omission Italy.

Thinking this was unusual I had a sibling do the test and got slightly different results but again no Italy!

Are the people of Avigliano, Potenza, Basilicata, Itay immigrants from lands afar? I don't really know the history of the area. Any thoughts?
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ddevirgilio
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Re: Ancestry DNA Confusing

Post by ddevirgilio »

I've participated in a number of DNA tests for genealogy purposes, and I've taken part in AncestryDNA since the early beta. From my experience, none of them have a geographic labeling as granular as "Italian". The most granular you can expect for a geographic area would be "Southern European".

However, with all of the conquests and migrations which occurred throughout the history of Southern Italy, I would guess that your DNA reflects the history of the area much like mine did. I had some really surprising results, but then I found some logic to it. At the risk of sounding like a shameless plug, if you'd like to learn more about my experience, I'll just direct you to my last blog post at http://blog.knowingnonno.com/ rather than rehashing it all here.

I had my mother take the AncestryDNA test too, and I'm still waiting on the results. I also plan to have my dad tested too. We'll see what comes up. It's definitely not a perfect science.
EMTLP
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Re: Ancestry DNA Confusing

Post by EMTLP »

The strange thing for me is that Southern Europe isn't part of my or my brother's results. I wish my father were alive so he could be tested. I think he would be fascinated with the results.
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ddevirgilio
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Re: Ancestry DNA Confusing

Post by ddevirgilio »

If you don't mind me asking, what were your results? Feel feel to PM if you'd prefer.
EMTLP
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Re: Ancestry DNA Confusing

Post by EMTLP »

sent you a pm
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