Native Americans: DNA From Sitting Bull's Hair Confirms US Man Is His Great-Grandson

- Sitting Bull, c. 1885.

- The Guardian, Reuters, Oct, 28, 2021. - Study is the first time DNA from a long-dead person was used to demonstrate a familial link between a living individual and a historical figure. -

A sample of Sitting Bull’s hair has helped scientists confirm that a South Dakota man is the famed 19th-century Native American leader’s great-grandson using a new method to analyse family lineages with DNA fragments from long-dead people.

Researchers said on Wednesday that DNA extracted from the hair, which had been stored at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, confirmed the familial relationship between Sitting Bull, who died in 1890, and Ernie LaPointe, 73, of Lead, South Dakota.

"I feel this DNA research is another way of identifying my lineal relationship to my great-grandfather,” said LaPointe, who has three sisters. “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.”

The study represented the first time that DNA from a long-dead person was used to demonstrate a familial relationship between a living individual and a historical figure - and offers the potential for doing so with others whose DNA can be extracted from remains such as hair, teeth or bones. The new method was developed by scientists led by Eske Willerslev, director of the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre at the University of Cambridge...

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/28/dna-from-sitting-bulls-hair-confirms-us-man-is-his-great-grandson