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Sitting Bull's Gandson


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Pretty cool  :bc:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59062133

Sitting Bull: DNA confirms great-grandson's identity

Published
28 October 2021
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Sitting BullIMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Sitting Bull famously led 1,500 Native American warriors at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876

A sample of hair belonging to the legendary 19th century Native American leader Sitting Bull has allowed scientists to confirm that a South Dakota man is his great-grandson.

Scientists took DNA from a tiny sample of Sitting Bull's hair that had been stored in Washington DC.

It showed that Ernie LaPointe, 73, is his great-grandson.

The new method allows analysis of family lineages with DNA fragments from long-dead people.

It opens the door to the prospect of matching other historic figures to their living descendants.

"I feel this DNA research is another way of identifying my lineal relationship to my great-grandfather," Mr LaPointe, who has three sisters, told the Reuters news agency.

"People have been questioning our relationship to our ancestor as long as I can remember. These people are just a pain in the place you sit - and will probably doubt these findings, also."

Ernie LaPointe in 2011IMAGE SOURCE,ALAMY
Image caption,
Ernie LaPointe, 73, has been confirmed as Sitting Bull's great-grandson

The new method was developed by scientists led by Eske Willerslev, director of the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre at the University of Cambridge.

The novel technique is based on what is known as autosomal DNA in the genetic fragments extracted from the hair. It took 14 years to perfect the method.

Mr Willerslev said he had been fascinated by Sitting Bull since he was a child and offered his services to Mr LaPointe around a decade ago. Sitting Bull's scalp lock was repatriated to Mr LaPointe by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC in 2007.

But before handing over the lock, Mr LaPointe asked Mr Willerslev to take part in a ceremony involving a medicine man, drummers and chanting, where Sitting Bull's spirit gave his blessing to the study, the scientist told the AFP news agency.

Mr LaPointe burned the majority of the lock - in line with the spirit's instructions - leaving the researchers with just 4cm, which Mr Willerslev believed was "disastrous" at the time.

 

However, this forced the team to develop their innovative new method, he said.

Sitting Bull, whose real name was Tatanka Iyotake, famously led 1,500 Native American warriors at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, wiping out US General Custer and five companies of soldiers.

He was shot dead in 1890 by the "Indian Police" acting on behalf of the US government.

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29 minutes ago, Kivalo said:

Pretty cool  :bc:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59062133

Sitting Bull: DNA confirms great-grandson's identity

Published
28 October 2021
Share
Sitting BullIMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Sitting Bull famously led 1,500 Native American warriors at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876

A sample of hair belonging to the legendary 19th century Native American leader Sitting Bull has allowed scientists to confirm that a South Dakota man is his great-grandson.

Scientists took DNA from a tiny sample of Sitting Bull's hair that had been stored in Washington DC.

It showed that Ernie LaPointe, 73, is his great-grandson.

The new method allows analysis of family lineages with DNA fragments from long-dead people.

It opens the door to the prospect of matching other historic figures to their living descendants.

"I feel this DNA research is another way of identifying my lineal relationship to my great-grandfather," Mr LaPointe, who has three sisters, told the Reuters news agency.

"People have been questioning our relationship to our ancestor as long as I can remember. These people are just a pain in the place you sit - and will probably doubt these findings, also."

Ernie LaPointe in 2011IMAGE SOURCE,ALAMY
Image caption,
Ernie LaPointe, 73, has been confirmed as Sitting Bull's great-grandson

The new method was developed by scientists led by Eske Willerslev, director of the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre at the University of Cambridge.

The novel technique is based on what is known as autosomal DNA in the genetic fragments extracted from the hair. It took 14 years to perfect the method.

Mr Willerslev said he had been fascinated by Sitting Bull since he was a child and offered his services to Mr LaPointe around a decade ago. Sitting Bull's scalp lock was repatriated to Mr LaPointe by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC in 2007.

But before handing over the lock, Mr LaPointe asked Mr Willerslev to take part in a ceremony involving a medicine man, drummers and chanting, where Sitting Bull's spirit gave his blessing to the study, the scientist told the AFP news agency.

Mr LaPointe burned the majority of the lock - in line with the spirit's instructions - leaving the researchers with just 4cm, which Mr Willerslev believed was "disastrous" at the time.

 

However, this forced the team to develop their innovative new method, he said.

Sitting Bull, whose real name was Tatanka Iyotake, famously led 1,500 Native American warriors at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, wiping out US General Custer and five companies of soldiers.

He was shot dead in 1890 by the "Indian Police" acting on behalf of the US government.

That is pretty cool.

15 minutes ago, Mainecat said:

What’s a Gandson?

Something you’ll never have.  Good riddance.

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2 minutes ago, Highmark said:

So why does "DC" have some of Sitting Bull's hair?

You think that’s weird?  You should read up on the shit we hold in our Nat’l archives…..and what we do to protect them.

Shit, weird as it may sound, I wouldn’t doubt if we kept parts, if not the whole, of Osama in there.

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4 minutes ago, Zambroski said:

You think that’s weird?  You should read up on the shit we hold in our Nat’l archives…..and what we do to protect them.

Shit, weird as it may sound, I wouldn’t doubt if we kept parts, if not the whole, of Osama in there.

But we were told his remains were buried at sea. :lol:   No doubt there are some macabre items in the National Archives. 

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14 minutes ago, Highmark said:

But we were told his remains were buried at sea. :lol:   No doubt there are some macabre items in the National Archives. 

Yuh.  We get “told” a lot of things.  DC is really busy spinning us.  

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