Old World Roots of the Cherokee: How DNA, Ancient Alphabets and Religion Explain the Origins of America’s Largest Indian Nation,
by Donald N. Yates
Most histories of the Cherokee nation focus on its encounters with Europeans, its conflicts with the U. S. government, and its expulsion from its lands during the Trail of Tears. This work, however, traces the origins of the Cherokee people to the third century B.C.E. and follows their migrations through the Americas to their homeland in the lower Appalachian Mountains. Using a combination of DNA analysis, historical research, and classical philology, it uncovers the Jewish and Eastern Mediterranean ancestry of the Cherokee and reveals that they originally spoke Greek before adopting the Iroquoian language of their Haudenosaunee allies while the two nations dwelt together in the Ohio Valley.
Donald N. Yates is an American genealogist, author, and principal investigator at DNA Consultants. He holds a Ph.D. in classical studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has published popular and scholarly works in cultural and ethnic studies, history, and population genetics. Softcover, 7X10, 207 pages, photos, apendices, notes, bibliography, & index