Israel in the Americas

DNA is always tricky and I appreciate you bringing this up MisterCurie. One aspect of Hispanic link must be a recognition of the history of Spain before and around the time of Christopher Columbus. For many centuries before this time Moorish Spain had been a tremendously open and vibrant society, the major centre of learning in Europe and welcoming to both Christians and Jews. The Jewish community in particular had flourished in Moorish Spain (I don’t have numbers but they were a lot of them at the time because it was a safe place). However as the Spanish kingdom developed and defeated the Moors AND the Inquisition was loosed life became impossible for the Jewish community and they either fled, were killed, or assimilated. The point is that quite a sizeable number of Jews, many with the Chonim marker no doubt, became Christians, married into Christians families and slowly lost their identity as Jews. This would however have given at least a small population of Spaniards who without knowing it carried the gene and went into the service with the King or moved to the New World for the opportunities offered there.

The Book of Mormon is likely still best served with a recognition that the Book of Mormon peoples lived in a limited geographic area, were never that large compared to the surrounding peoples, and that the likihood of finding their DNA traces is not impossible but likely very difficult. Keep in mind that Laman and Lemuel and their followers likely assimilated immediately into surrounding peoples probably becoming the elite and so adding some of their world view but instead of assuming that millions of people (the Nephites) were available to pass on their genes into the future (who were afterall completely killed out in the end) we have that first nucleus of perhaps 40 to 60 sharing their genetics with the surrounding already exisiting inhabitants of the land and it is from those 60 people that the DNA would have to be passed down.

Good post it is exciting to think about those priesthood genes showing up in that location.

DNA is pretty tricky, but it is remarkably accurate due to its necessary element of directing life.

The Book of Mormon is likely still best served with a recognition that the Book of Mormon peoples lived in a limited geographic area, were never that large compared to the surrounding peoples, and that the likihood of finding their DNA traces is not impossible but likely very difficult. Keep in mind that Laman and Lemuel and their followers likely assimilated immediately into surrounding peoples probably becoming the elite and so adding some of their world view but instead of assuming that millions of people (the Nephites) were available to pass on their genes into the future (who were afterall completely killed out in the end) we have that first nucleus of perhaps 40 to 60 sharing their genetics with the surrounding already exisiting inhabitants of the land and it is from those 60 people that the DNA would have to be passed down.

I think it is pretty hard to accept that the BoM occurred in a limited geographic area, given critical analysis of the text itself, with multiple references of the land being saved for people that God would lead to it, descriptions of abandoned cities that were perplexing to the Nephites (much more likely that they would assume the other people living there had abandoned the city), etc.

However, I did use to think that Laman and Lemuel going off to assimilate with the surrounding people would make a lot of sense and would explain the skin color change if they intermarried with the indiginous people and the curse could come from marrying “outside the covenant”. While studying the BoM recently, however, I found evidence that it would be much more likely for the Nephites to marry the indiginous people. In the Book of Jacob, Jacob calls the Nephites to repentence for:

Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you.

and in the next chapter

Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father—that they should have save it were one wife, and concubines they should have none

While it isn’t conclusive, it does suggest that the Nephites may have been practicing polygamy and with the small group of people that traveled with Lehi, it is only likely they could practice any form of polygamy if they were marrying the indiginous people. Of course, then the skin color change wouldn’t be explained by this intermarriage because the Nephites remained white.

Yes, the tribes of Israel shared one common male ancestor, Jacob whose name was changed to Israel. There is not very much change in the Y chromosome in 2 or 3 generations (unless there is a significant mutation). That means that the Y chromosome of male members of the tribe of Levi should resemble those from the tribe of Juda or Joseph.

I also believe in a scientific concept called the “Founder Effect”. The Founder Effect occurs when there is a small number of immigrants to a new location, a sort-of micro-immigration. This happens when one family (or a small number of families) settles in a new location. This Effect is seen mostly in Islands where people immigrated in one single wave via a ship. Ancient ships or vessels may not have been as large as modern ships and they may have only carried some numbers of immigrants.

From Wikipedia:

In population genetics, the founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. It was first fully outlined by Ernst Mayr in 1952,[1] using existing theoretical work by those such as Sewall Wright.[2] As a result of the loss of genetic variation, the new population may be distinctively different, both genetically and phenotypically, from the parent population from which it is derived. In extreme cases, the founder effect is thought to lead to the speciation and subsequent evolution of new species.

In the figure shown, the original population has nearly equal numbers of blue and red individuals. The three smaller founder populations show that one or the other color may predominate (founder effect), due to random sampling of the original population. A population bottleneck may also cause a founder effect even though it is not strictly a new population.

The founder effect is a special case of genetic drift.[3] [4] In addition to founder effects, the new population is often a very small population and so shows increased sensitivity to genetic drift, an increase in inbreeding, and relatively low genetic variation. This can be observed in the limited gene pool of Easter Islanders and those native to Pitcairn Island. Another example is the legendarily high deaf population of Martha’s Vineyard, which resulted in the development of Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founder_effect

Because of the limited number of people aboard Lehi’s ship, I believe that this population was susceptible to Founder Effect. I am also studying the one particular genetic disease known as 5 alpha reductase deficiency. The enzyme, 5 alpha reductase is located on chromosome number 2. A deficiency in 5 alpha reductase renders results in reduced male fertility. Men with this disorder have fathered one or two sons, but there are no accounts of higher fertility rates. Father Lehi, exhibited normal fertility, but I believe that the daughters his sons married where Turkic and may have carried a mutation in the gene that codes for 5 alpha reductase. A mutation like this does not effect female fertility, but extremely reduces male fertility. Over just a few generations, one would expect to find fewer and fewer living males with Lehi’s Y chromosome markers.

I know this is a crazy theory, (very crazy), but I have wondered why this particular mutations appears in the Middle East, the Americas and around the Islands of the Pacific Rim. I have wondered if these people (or carriers of this gene) where not ancient mariners – people who traveled by boat. It is also possible that this mutation just arises spontaneously in Island populations and persists because the population does not intermarry with others. ??????????

This wouldn’t be a concern to me except that living populations with this mutation (Native Americans) insist that their ancestors where the Prophets and Holy Men of Old. Many have converted to the LDS Church and insist that the BofM IS an accurate account. That is why they joined the church. They are a rare people. They are rapidly becoming extinct. Males born with 5 alpha reductase deficiency appear to be females at birth, they do not virulize or become male phenotypes until about age 12. This is because the enzyme is necessary to convert Testosterone to the biologically active Dihyrotestosterone. Because their birth certificates say “female”, they are no longer allowed to legally marry in Utah, California or other Western States. Most will not have sex outside of marriage (many are LDS) this will mean that they can never father children. There reproductive rights have been effectively taken from them through passage of propositions. I think this is sad. I have wondered if these men were not a remnant of the house of Israel. I have wanted to protect them, to preserve them, to protect their sacred, God-given rights to reproduce, even if they have very low fertility. I am alone in this belief.

Dear MisterCuries,

I agree with you exactly. I know that ALL races are worth preserving – all races, creeds and populations. This particular groups has suffered from the effects of Native American/Anglo conflicts, fallout from nuclear testing, Hanta Virus, and poverty, but I think that their greatest enemy is IGNORANCE. They live in poverty, they do not have proper access to genetic counseling and legal services. The one thing that they do have is the strength of their beliefs, their family structure and traditions. Now that is being threatened by the modern interpretation of “traditional marriage” that does not include them.

Ok, my website was down for a couple of days, but here are some other links to DNA regarding the Book of Mormon that some of you might be interested in.

This one is about a tribe in Africa called the Lemba dating to the time of Lehi which has been found to have Cohen DNA.

http://www.mormonheretic.org/2009/05/31/similarities-between-the-lemba-and-lehi/

This one shows Cohen DNA found in South America (though I think it was later discovered this DNA probably came via the Spanish explorers. http://www.mormonheretic.org/2008/05/16/significance-of-cohen-haplotype/

Here is a book review by a rabbi who discusses Cohen DNA. (He even references the “Mormans”)

http://www.mormonheretic.org/2008/07/13/dna-and-tradition-guide-for-the-perplexed/

Here is an interesting documentary by a Jewish filmmaker who thinks he has discovered the Lost Tribes in many countries such as Ethiopia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, China, and India to name a few. He doesn’t have DNA evidence yet, but I found it interesting. I was surprised he left out the Lemba in South Africa.

http://www.mormonheretic.org/2008/05/16/significance-of-cohen-haplotype/

You are absolutely right, Swimordie,

Milkmaids and those who handled livestock actually had natural immunity to cowpox. Antibodies to cowpox where sufficiently specific to protect against the deadly smallpox virus. Native Americans simply had not acquired many of the immunities that Europeans had:

One important cause of Native American depopulation during European contact was epidemic disease. The sixteenth through nineteenth centuries saw many different diseases strike Native American populations with considerable frequency. Many of the diseases, such as syphilis, smallpox, measles, mumps, and bubonic plague, were of European origin, and Native Americans exhibited little immunity because they had no previous exposure to those diseases. This caused greater mortality than would have occurred if these diseases been endemic to the Americas.

http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2007_summer_fall/native-americans-smallpox.html