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DNA analysis provides insight into ancestry of enslaved African Americans in early US history

A view of the site of the Catoctin Furnace, an iron forge where enslaved people of African descent once worked, in Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland, U.S., in this undated photograph. Aneta Kaluzna/Handout via REUTERS
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Overview

  • Researchers analyzed DNA from an iron forge cemetery in Maryland housing remains of enslaved individuals
  • Genetic connections were found linking the enslaved people to present-day populations in West Africa
  • Descendants of the enslaved workers were identified, showing familial lineages
  • The study demonstrates how genomics can reconstruct ancestry erased by slavery
  • Enslaved people were largely excluded from historical records and treated as property rather than individuals