| DNA
Gene based anthropology continues to offer additional clues to our origins. Ancient bones and teeth provide helpful information about those who lived long ago and, to test the heritage of contemporary individuals a small brush rubbed gently against the inside of a person's cheek furnishes plenty of cells. Mitochondrial DNA is found in human cells, outside the nucleus. It is simpler than nuclear DNA and easier to analyze. Since it mutates at a fairly steady rate, scientists use it to estimate when a group of people migrated from their primary group. The amount of difference between the mitochondrial DNA sequences of two individuals indicates approximately how long ago they shared a common ancestor. The geographical origin of haplogroup X is unknown, although it is found in areas around the Atlantic Ocean, where Edgar Cayce reports Atlanteans settled. When researchers from Trinity College tested individuals in Ireland for haplogroup X they discovered that the relatively isolated Irish on the far west coast of that country, closest to where Atlantis was, have the highest concentration of this type. Haplogroup X is present among the Basques, the Finns and the Spanish. Northern Native Americans, such as the Ojibwas of the Great Lakes, the Sioux, the Yakima and 25% of the Iroquois tribes display haplogroup X. A small amount is also found among the Na-Dene-speaking Navaho. The North American strain of haplogroup X is somewhat different from the European strain, which indicates that the ancestors of those with it were related so long ago that it's presence here is not a result of recent intermarriages. Genetic evidence indicates that the first haplogroup X people arrived in America in 34,000 B.C. Others came in 28,000 BC and the great majority entered between 10,000 B.C. and 8,000 BC., all times when Edgar Cayce depicts large numbers of Atlanteans leaving their stricken land. Haplogroup X is not found in Asia, except for a very small pocket in the Gobi - another site which Cayce says attracted Atlanteans. Scientists say haplogroup X may be of European origin. They are unwilling to designate Atlantis as a site of origin since it does not exist today. It is very possible that when humans with haplogroup X genes departed from the central point of Atlantis some went to the American continent in the west and others traveled to Europe. This would explain the striking similarities between the tools and customs of the Solutrean people of southwestern Europe and the Clovis people on the North America continent.(See Chapter 6.) The numerous diversified physical characteristics of residents of the Pacific Islands, such as straight hair, curly hair, dark hair, light hair, long heads, round heads, tall people, short people and a variety of skin colors, indicate that in the past people freely journeyed over the ocean and intermarried. As scientists work on identifying the frequencies of variations in diverse populations which are apparent only at the genetic level, they are revealing the initial heritage of this vast area, and evidence is emerging that some of them originated at a central, unidentified point. Like haplogroup X around the Atlantic ocean, the origin of the ancient genetic marker haplogroup B is unknown. It is found in aboriginal groups in coastal Asia and the southwestern United States. Haplogroup B genes were also present in people who moved to the western coast of South America, some of whom reached that continent before 35,000 B.C.(ANCIENT SOUTH AMERICA, Little, Van Auken, Little, p.58-60.). The majority with haplogroup B arrived on the Pacific coast of South America around 11,000 B.C., a time when Cayce described earthquakes and volcanoes disturbing the peaceful land of Mu. The sophisticated research of scientists who continue to study the mitochondrial DNA of people of the islands in the Pacific reveals that some islands appear to be the place of origin of people with haplogroup B. The mountainous area of New Guinea provided shelter to hardy families forty thousand years ago, and there is no trace of an earlier site for their forebears. Thousands of years later their courageous descendants traveled eastward in double hulled canoes to live in the Solomon Islands.(THE SEVEN DAUGHTERS OF EVE, Sykes, Bryan Id., p.103) Similarly, in the South Pacific the haplogroup B ancestors of current residents arrived in that area so long ago that scientists can only say it was their place of origin. Genetic research is in its infancy and scientists have accessed the genomes of only a small number of ancient bones and living people. However, it is confirming that human beings sailed in the distant past, such as from New Guinea to the Solomon Islands. It is also indicating that waves of individuals emanated from a central point in the Pacific Ocean, perhaps the Motherland of Mu; for Hawaii and Rarotonga are 3,000 miles apart but there is a positive link between their inhabitants.(Id., p.93.) As the scientists who are striving to document the genetic makeup of all the people on the Earth compile evidence from current DNA, their tests will offer many more clues to the ancient heritage of the human race and confirm that maritime civilizations once lived on ancient islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. [ From Lemuria and Atlantis: Studying the Past to Survive the Future, by Shirley Andrews, pp.92-94]
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