Are there examples where molecular anthropology has refuted some kind of past knowledge about history?
Schurr: Sometimes genetic evidence helps eliminate certain situations that are sort of ambiguous or historically muddy. One example is with the black Lemba of the Mozambique in Southern Africa. They have Semitic languages and some aspects of Semitic culture, but yet they are largely Bantu in terms of their phenotypic appearance. So the question is: Why would a Bantu population speak a Semitic language and practice religious rituals that in some ways reflect Semitic or Judaic traditions? When you study the DNA of those individuals—at least on the male side—you see that there are Y chromosome haplotypes that trace their way up to Yemen and up into the Middle East. These chromosomes show a very clear Semitic link to the Lemba populations in the south. In this respect, we can clarify certain mysteries about a people’s history. In other instances, there are beliefs about origins which may not be scientifically based. One example might be the Mormon belief that Native Americans and Polynesia