Have you been watching PBS - Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates? If so, what you see on the television show is nothing like what you'll get.

I purchased the DNA test kit from Ancestry. I spit in the test tube (and it takes a LOT) and sent it back for these results. They will compare it to other DNA tests in their bank. They will send you information if there is a "relative" and you can link up with relatives and their posted family trees. In order to get the most from this test, it would also be helpful to join Ancestry and place your own ancestor chart on-line.

I recently read this was how sisters who had been separated as children found each other. You still need to do the actual search for your ancestors, although I did find a few new links from others who had their charts on-line. The test doesn't give you specific places, but general areas with modern day names of possible countries within that region.

57% Scandinavian

27% Eastern European

18% Central Europe

2% Unknown

Not sure if that helps you much.....

Thanks, Grainlady. No, I haven't seen the PBS show. I had my own DNA tested through 23andMe, which looks back to see where your ancestors were living 500 years ago. Any idea how far back Ancestry.com goes?

No Neanderthal? ;-) I've read that most people whose ancestors emigrated out of Africa have some Neanderthal genes. I do.

Thanks for the tips. I may not have been clear enough in my original post. My relative is in her twenties, and is not thinking about a family tree at this time. I don't think she's interested in meeting distant cousins either, although I could be wrong about that. She's curious about what parts of the world her long-ago ancestors came from.

As I mentioned above, my 23andMe DNA test (which I uploaded to GENmatch, BTW) told me where my ancestors were living 500 years ago. So Ancestry doesn't do this? I'm not in my twenties, so I think genealogy is fascinating. But I don't have the skills (nor the time) to trace even one line back 500 years--much less the huge tangle of lines one must encounter when you go back that far.

I'm not sure if this information will help your relative decide. Last year The Legal Genealogist posted this information about the 3 main DNA tests. There is a link within the article to the ISOGG Wiki comparison chart on Autosomal DNA testing which might offer additional help.

http://legalgenealogist.com/blog/2015/02/02/2015-most-bang-for-the-dna-buck/

That was interesting, Maire--thanks. It looks like 23andM3 or the National Geographic's Geno 2.0 would be her best bets. Too bad they're more expensive than a couple of the others. I'm glad I did 23andMe when it was still $99.

Imhappy&Iknow it posted this on the Home Decorating site last week. Apparently the 23&Me site is having 'issues' . I didn't test with them so I don't have any first hand information.

http://dna-explained.com/2016/03/16/closing-up-shop-at-23andme-and-the-trap/

I have tested at Ancestry and it did tell me my ethnic origins. I also have a large family tree connected to my results to try and help matches determine how we connect. I also uploaded my results to Gedmatch. I have received only 1 email from anyone on gedmatch and several from Ancestry. It has been fun for me trying to figure out connections and I have found some 2nd and 3rd cousins to connect with!

I’ve had my DNA done through
Ancestry and use it mostly for cousin matching. Within each person's ethnicity estimate, you can expand
each region to learn more about it.

Ancestry has a series of short
videos on their DNA test that I found very informative: https://www.ancestry.com/academy/course/ancestry-dna-101 There one video of less than 7 minutes that’s
specifically about ethnicity. You might
want to check it out. As I recall, it
said that the ethnicity estimates go back 500 to 1000 years.

Unfortunately, only Ancestry members can watch the "Ancestry Academy" videos. But from what you say, Iread15, I'm thinking the Ancestry DNA test would work well for my relative. Thanks, everyone! Now we'll just wait for it to go on sale. :-)

500 years ago you likely came from Africa. I would suggest doing some more reading about genetic origins. If her only question is which continent she came from, what is her objective? And be aware, her DNA test will be matched to other people who have tested, not the population as a whole.

500 years ago you likely came from Africa. I don't think so.

It's true that Homo sapiens have a common origin in Africa, but they began to spread out from there way earlier than 500 years ago. More like 50,000 years ago. Going back 500 years takes us only to the 1500s, the era of Henry VIII, for example.

videos on youtube

The interesting thing to me about this is the number of people ranting and raving that the government wanted to take DNA from criminals and that was "bad" but people line up and pay to put their DNA into a database. No judgments or opinions on it, just another thing I find interesting.

I just received a 23 & Me kit. I've been wanting to do this for years. I have to work the next few days so won't mail it out till Monday.