This is a really strange question about DNA testing and I wasn’t sure which area to post it in, but since it’s kind of about an artefact….
In fact this has to be a contender for the weirdest post on here; ever.
I need some advice from someone with knowledge of DNA testing an artefact.
Suppose you had piece of soft body tissue that was dried and never buried. It’s been sealed in an airtight transparent case for centuries, probably since shortly after death. It’s shrived and has turned black.
Difficult to say the oldest sampled DNA in a study seems to have come from a person who died in 1930, but that does not mean older samples would not be viable.
The person died 400 years ago, and was male. He had the same surname as my family. They came from the same geographic area and there are other pointers to a family connection.
We know his name and that of both his parents, but have so far failed to trace his other relatives. We do know that the deceased old had no children. The suspicion is that we are descended from either a brother or male cousin of this 400 year old.
The deceased was born about 1560, so if we are descended from a sibling then the relationship is mid 1500’s, if it’s from a cousin then we’re looking even earlier.
What would be the chance of obtaining a viable DNA sample from a 400 year old dried sample of soft tissue?
One main problem would be contamination. How was the tissue sample taken? Was it touch by any living thing before the sample was taken? (Flies, other people, etc.) Has it still sealed or has it been handled since?
Would a DNA test be able to confirm or refute any form of relationship between living members of the family and the 400 year old who was not a direct ancestor?
Possibly not as the modern DNA sample would have been diluted by many generations of husbands or wives in the intervening generations. I would not rule it out but I doubt if any DNA would match and even if there was a match would there be enough to differentiate between the background DNA we all share?
Cheers
Guy
PS As a rough calculation we share half our DNA with our child, over 400 years than is a large number of chances that his DNA no longer appears in the DNA handed down to you.
