In elementary, middle, and high school we learn all about American historical events and the effects that they had on populations both short term and long term. Normally we rely on first- and second-person documents to verify or disprove any assumptions we make with regards to these effects. This no longer needs to be the case. Sequencing of the human genome has become more accessible to the common person, due to decreased costs and increased processing speed, to the point that researchers are now able to collect and compare personal sequences and the genetic ancestry they reveal. The information is then contrasted against historical or current documents in order to form a more accurate image of history.
Katarzyna Bryc and her team conducted such a study. By utilizing 23andMe samples from American customers and comparing them to the 2010 census, the team was able to examine the tie between US population self-identification and genetic ancestry. While this does not specifically reference historical events, further study using this information could potentially be conducted using oral accounts, family histories, and documents to accurately track what happened to the descendants of those affected by history.
Full article here.
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