From a story in today’s Mormon Times:
The first rumblings about DNA and the Book of Mormon came about 10 years ago, according to Perego, a senior researcher at Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation.Critics cobbled together data from a variety of early DNA studies and came to the unsurprising conclusion that the studies indicated an Asian origin for Native Americans.
This, the critics argued, proved that the Book of Mormon was false. They claimed that the book says the continent was empty and if it was empty, then all Native Americans should have Lehi’s Israelite DNA, not Asian DNA.
Ugo Perego, well-known in genetic genealogy circles, talks with the journalist about the compatibility of our current understanding of Native American origins and the Book of Mormon. According to Perego, there are possibilities solutions to this apparent conundrum:
“Try to ask this question to a population geneticist: ‘Is it possible that a small family from Israel could have arrived in America, to a largely populated continent, and that no genetic evidence would survive after 2,600 years?'” Perego says. “Why don’t they ask that question? That is exactly the question they need to ask.”
Read the article to learn more.
The article is part 1 of a 4-part series.
Blaine,
Do you know if Wallace Bunnell Smith has taken a DNA test? I would like to know what Joseph Smiths Haplogroup was.