If traces of Jewish DNA could be found in the Lemba, why not in Native Americans, if the Book of Mormon is true?
As we’ll see immediately below, several typical Jewish or Middle Eastern haplogroups are found in Native Americans, including two Y-chromosome haplogroups and, as discussed above, the mtDNA haplogroup X. Further evidence may be there, but can readily be overlooked, or may be obscured by the extensive intermingling of peoples that may have occurred in the New World. Still, we don’t really know what genetic markers Lehi and his group had, so it’s hard to know what to look for. Perhaps further analysis of Ht18, or the haplogroups X and H in the Americas will provide more answers. One point to remember is that the long-term survival of founding haplotypes in small groups surrounded by other haplotypes requires specific types of marital behavior. If members of a population tend to marry within the group, mtDNA and Y-chromosomes from the group may be preserved. If the men regularly marry outsiders, mtDNA may be lost. If women in the group marry men from outside groups, Y-chromosomes can be l
Related Questions
- If traces of Jewish DNA could be found in the Lemba, why not in Native Americans, if the Book of Mormon is true?
- If baptism was known in the Americas, as the Book of Mormon teaches, why was it unknown among Native Americans?
- Does the Q lineage family provide a link between ancient Israelites and Native Americans?
