Autosomal DNA tests

I did an autosomal DNA test with FamilyTreeDNA. The Population Finder results were very misleading since they use only the groups with the highest portion of certain DNA markers. For example Finnish for northern European. These markers actually peak with in Finland but are also found at 41% in the País Vasco per the 1,000 Genomes project. Does this mean the people of the País Vasco are 41% Finnish? No, it means that both people of the País Vasco and the people of Finland share some ancestors. Those ancestors were most likely originally from somewhere else and their descendants ended up in those locations and others. One thing Population Finder was very close on is my Native American (Mexican Indian) ancestry at 11% +/- 1%. Even though I have mulatos libres in my ancestry the African portion did not even register.

One of the great things about Family Finder, apart from the cost of the sale price, is the ability to download the autosomal DNA results. This allowed me to use my own data and compare it against multiple databases that are freely downloadable which Dienekes Pontikos has incorporated into his Dodecad software, which is also freely downloadable at http://dodecad.blogspot.com/2011/09/do-it-yourself-dodecad-v-21.html and his latest globe13 calculator which includes an Amerindian population analysis, as well as another 12, and is at http://dodecad.blogspot.com/2012/10/globe13-calculator.html

The globe13 calculator analyzed my ancestry and broke it down into the 13 populations of Siberian, Amerindian, West_African, Palaeo_African, Southwest_Asian, East_Asian, Mediterranean, Australasian, Arctic, West_Asian, North_European, South_Asian, and East_African.

Being able to analyze my data against all of those other databases, and break them up into 13 populations, has made my Family Finder test worthwhile. 23andme also allows for downloads of autosomal DNA. Ancestry.com does not yet allow it. This was an extremely awful oversight. It is like going to the store and buying multiple items and not being given a receipt on how much you were charged for each item. So far, Ancestry.com doesn't tell you the values of each DNA segment you have. They only tell you the total according to their terminology. This will supposedly change in the future, but customers shouldn't have to wait. National Geographic Geno 2.0, which is done by FamilyTreeDNA, is supposed to allow you to download your data. All of the companies use the same process for extracting your DNA but Ancestry.com doesn't allow you to use your own DNA results. The autosomal matching with any company is extremely sketchy based on my results and those of others.

In short, my suggestion is for every member that gets an autosomal DNA test should do it with a company that allows downloads, learn to download their markers, use DIYDodecad v 2.1, use the calculators published by Dienekes, and to be able to read the spreadsheets of each calculator in order to accurately interpret the results. The caveat is that some populations cannot be proven, only deduced, even with DNA.

If there is anyone that has questions about this or would like assistance in this please let me know. It can get complicated for people of mixed ancestry.

Saludos
Armando