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[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

The other night I saw a new show on Spencer Wells's work on the 
evolution of y-chromosomal DNA.  One interesting thing that they 
mentioned was that Thomas Jefferson belonged to the Middle Eastern 
patrilineage.  They speculated that his Urvater was a Phoenician, but he 
could just as well have maybe been Etruscan (via Rome), or Jewish, or 
modern Arab, some of whom integrated into the culture of France 
following A. D. 711.

I found this webpage that summarizes the journey of our forefathers in a 
map.  If Etruscans were originally Middle Eastern, it would be through 
the line into Asia Minor marked in blue on the map.  Apparently northern 
Europeans really did really all once live in "mother Russia" after 
having crossed the Urals 30,000 years ago.

You can see many of the things I've mentioned in posts, on this map.  
For instance, you can see that the Athabaskans (really Austronesians, 
marked in black on the map) aren't nearly as closely related to the 
so-called Amerindians as the latter are to northern Europeans, both 
having originated in northwestern Asia around 35,000 years ago.  In 
fact, they share the distinction, as you'll notice if you study the map 
closely, of being the only two lineages of men who lived in an 
ice-covered landscape for tens of thousands of years.  They are the 
original ice people, and the Viking, Lapp, Chukche, and Inuit (back when 
they still lived a traditional lifestyle) are the perpetuators of that 
Ice Age culture.

Similar research has been done on mitochondrial DNA, which we all 
inherit from our mothers.  But for some women, SW's research creates a 
new sense of urgency, because they don't have Y-chromosomal DNA of their 
own.  So for female only children, or ones with only sisters, if dad's 
getting on a bit, then a window is closing on the opportunity to learn 
which patrilineage they belong to.

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2005/04/14/journeyOfMan2,0.jpg