DNA has been used for the first time to confirm a familial relationship between a historical individual and a living person – legendary Native American leader Sitting Bull and his great-grandson – according to a recent study.
Sitting Bull, whose real name was Tatanka Iyotake, was a member and tribal leader of the Lakota Sioux tribe. He lived from the 1830s through 1890 and led 1,500 Lakota warriors at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, wiping out U.S.
General Custer and five companies of soldiers
A team of scientists led by Professor Eske Willerslev of the University of Cambridge and Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre developed a new method for analyzing familial lineages with ancient DNA fragments that helped them make the link between Sitting Bull and his descendant, explained a press release.
Findings from their research were published in the journal Science Advances. Research was funded by the Danish National Research Foundation.
Traditional DNA analysis focuses on genetic matches between specific DNA in the Y chromosome passed down the male line or specific DNA in the mitochondria passed along maternal lines. Neither could be used in the Sitting Bull case.
Willerslev and his team instead analyzed DNA extracted from a scalp lock of Sitting Bull’s hair with a technique that searches for “autosomal DNA” in genetic fragments.
“Since we inherit half of our autosomal DNA from our father and half from our mother, this means genetic matches can be checked irrespective of whether an ancestor is on the father or mother’s side of the family,” said the press release.
It took scientists 14 years to find a way to extract usable DNA from Sitting Bull’s hair sample, which was extremely degraded after being stored for over a century at room temperature in Washington’s Smithsonian Museum.
The new technique developed by Willerslev and his team can be used when very limited genetic data are available, such as the Sitting Bull case. It opens a door for others to find connections to long-dead historical figures and to answer important questions based on old human DNA such as forensic investigations.
“In principle, you could investigate whoever you want – from outlaws like Jesse James to the Russian tsar’s family, the Romanovs. If there is access to old DNA – typically extracted from bones, hair or teeth, they can be examined in the same way,” said Willerslev.
Sitting Bull’s DNA sample was compared to other Lakota Sioux as well as his great-grandson, Ernie Lapointe. A match confirmed that Lapointe is one of the Native American chief’s closest living descendants.
Lapointe is a 73-year-old resident of South Dakota, a Vietnam veteran and a Sun Dancer.
“Over the years, many people have tried to question the relationship that I and my sisters have to Sitting Bull,” said Lapointe, who received Sitting Bull’s hair sample from the Smithsonian in 2007. Birth and death certificates, a family tree, and a review of historical records provided a strong case for the claim, and this research now provides more definitive proof of the connection.
“Sitting Bull has always been my hero, ever since I was a boy. I admire his courage and his drive. That’s why I almost choked on my coffee when I read in a magazine in 2007 that the Smithsonian Museum had decided to return Sitting Bull’s hair to Ernie Lapointe and his three sisters, in accordance with new US legislation on the repatriation of museum objects,” said Willerslev.
After reading the article, Willerslev contacted Lapointe and told him he was interested in performing a DNA analysis of the sample.
Lapointe previously told the Lakota Times that his mother urged him to keep his lineage a secret while growing up for fear of his safety.
“I think it is time that we natives tell our own stories,” Lapointe wrote in his book, Sitting Bull: His Life and Legacy.
Sitting Bull was killed while his warriors were trying to rescue him in late 1890. He was buried at Fort Yates and and his remains were moved in 1953 to Mobridge, South Dakota. Lapointe said she has concerns about care of the gravesite and that the location doesn’t have any connection to his ancestor or their people. He hopes to eventually rebury Sitting Bull’s remains in a more appropriate location.
Before those remains could be moved, they would have to be analyzed in a similar manner to the hair sample, said the press release. Under U.S. law, Lapointe owns the legal rights to Sitting Bull’s genetic data, so he can decide who should do the analysis.
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