June 16, 2006--Fanaticism XXXIX--Off With His Head!
Did you read about the professor who stumbled upon the fact that he was a descendent of Genghis Khan’s?
Tom Robinson, a mild-mannered professor of accounting who lives in Florida, was identified as the descendent of the fierce Mongol warlord.
A British company, Oxford Ancestors, searching its client database to find matches with Genghis Khan, discovered that Robinson is one of his long-lost relatives. He is also the first man of European or American background to be so designated. Robinson had contributed a sample of his DNA to the company for another purpose and his genetic history popped out unexpectedly when Oxford widened its search for Khan relatives.
Apparently, Genghis Kahn’s seed was widely sown when he was out and about conquering the world and pillaging and raping. He was reputed to have also had the largest harem in the history of the world so there are literally millions of individuals in, how shall I put this, his extended family.
The DNA-based science that has reshaped our knowledge of when humans came out of Africa and when and where they went next is now being used for other, very different purposes. According to a report in the NY Times, for a few hundred bucks you can send a swab of cells from your inner cheek to places such as Oxford and, viola, before too long may also discover you are one of Kahn’s descendents. (See full article linked below.)
This form of commercial DNA genealogy is still in its infancy but already patterns are emerging: In England, for example, where class and status have for so long been associated with one’s ancestors, few are happy when the test results come back indicating you are, say, a descendent of Jack the Ripper. Rather the more popular is to find that you have William the Conqueror in your gene pool. Or at the very least, one of his barons. In the American South, being a descendent of Robert E. Lee trumps anyone else. No matter that the South lost the war.
And then of course there is the ever popular Marie-Antoinette who, though she lost her head, did leave some hair behind which was used to map her DNA, and so in this way she is giving everlasting pleasure to her descendents ten generations later.
Professor Robinson, though he wasn’t given a DNA test as a birthday present (this is now quite popular), is sort of pleased to be related to the great Genghis—he is quoted as noting that he, Robinson, has some pretty good administrative skills which after all Khan needed to manage his vast empire, not to mention his harem.
Tom Robinson, a mild-mannered professor of accounting who lives in Florida, was identified as the descendent of the fierce Mongol warlord.
A British company, Oxford Ancestors, searching its client database to find matches with Genghis Khan, discovered that Robinson is one of his long-lost relatives. He is also the first man of European or American background to be so designated. Robinson had contributed a sample of his DNA to the company for another purpose and his genetic history popped out unexpectedly when Oxford widened its search for Khan relatives.
Apparently, Genghis Kahn’s seed was widely sown when he was out and about conquering the world and pillaging and raping. He was reputed to have also had the largest harem in the history of the world so there are literally millions of individuals in, how shall I put this, his extended family.
The DNA-based science that has reshaped our knowledge of when humans came out of Africa and when and where they went next is now being used for other, very different purposes. According to a report in the NY Times, for a few hundred bucks you can send a swab of cells from your inner cheek to places such as Oxford and, viola, before too long may also discover you are one of Kahn’s descendents. (See full article linked below.)
This form of commercial DNA genealogy is still in its infancy but already patterns are emerging: In England, for example, where class and status have for so long been associated with one’s ancestors, few are happy when the test results come back indicating you are, say, a descendent of Jack the Ripper. Rather the more popular is to find that you have William the Conqueror in your gene pool. Or at the very least, one of his barons. In the American South, being a descendent of Robert E. Lee trumps anyone else. No matter that the South lost the war.
And then of course there is the ever popular Marie-Antoinette who, though she lost her head, did leave some hair behind which was used to map her DNA, and so in this way she is giving everlasting pleasure to her descendents ten generations later.
Professor Robinson, though he wasn’t given a DNA test as a birthday present (this is now quite popular), is sort of pleased to be related to the great Genghis—he is quoted as noting that he, Robinson, has some pretty good administrative skills which after all Khan needed to manage his vast empire, not to mention his harem.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
10:13 AM
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