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I have done an Ancestry.com DNA test that revealed 32% Native American. I was looking for a specific region or tribe--searching for my great-grandmother, who was native american. my grand father is no longer living. he did have one son and 5 daughters--i am the descendant of one of the daughters.

What test would you recommend to help identify a region or tribe?

I don't even know my great-grandmother's maiden name.

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Unfortunately, there isn't a DNA test that will give you a specific tribe or region. Also, all/most indigenous American populations will appear as Native American in your Ancestry DNA results.

Your best bet for determining tribe/region is to work on your paper trail.

Another thing to think about is that 32% is high for a single great-grandparent being the source of that DNA/ethnicity. I think you're looking for two people at the great-grandparent level who were indigenous Americans.


I should expand a bit on why there aren't any DNA tests that narrow down indigenous American ethnicity to tribe/region.

Ethnicity results are calculated by comparing your DNA to reference sets that are organized by ethnicity. There are lots and lots of reference sets for European populations and the British and many other groups. And some companies have worked very hard to collect DNA to create new reference sets for otherwise overlooked populations (for example, MyHeritage has the largest number of Jewish ethnicity sets).

For a number of reasons, indigenous American populations (I think especially in the US) have been reluctant to participate in studies that require giving DNA samples. And many people who claim that they are some large percent Native American often turn up not having it (which can be because they either aren't, or because the reference sets aren't good enough).

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