News from DNA Consultants Explorers Club October 2022

In an interview by Emily Frances, host of the Israeli news show “Holy Land Uncovered,” author and DNA investigator Donald Yates discusses his own family traditions, which combine Cherokee, Choctaw and Sephardic Jewish roots.

Atala, Earliest Name for America
Matriarchy vs. Patriarchy – Part 4
Atala (Great Goddess) was the name given to the Americas when North Africans and Europeans first sailed to it, and its inhabitants were called Atalans. Ata meant “The Door, entrance to another dimension, death, Underworld, Land of Souls” in the Uskan (Euskaran, Basque) languages once widespread in North Africa and Europe. Atala, then, is believed to be a title for the White Goddess in her role as keeper of the gates of the Underworld and transformer of the dead.

Virginia Indian woman at a powwow. Credit Tony Alter from Newport News, USA, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Scientific Reference Sample Started for 11 Virginia Tribes
The Chamorro people, or Chamoru people, are the indigenous peoples of the Mariana Islands, which include the United States territory of Guam and the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia. The Chamorros are primarily Austronesian, but many also have European (Spanish) and East Asian ancestry. Today, significant Chamoru populations also exist in several U.S. states including Hawaii, California, Washington, Texas and Nevada.