Thank you Peter, just read it now, really interesting. I think it sets a new standard of analysis, a model of what I hope is carried on around the globe. I hope the authors are able to collect more testers, especially where they acknowledged weakness, and refine the results even further.
I echo your thought, and the thoughts of Auriette and Ellen below, in hoping these results become publicly available for comparison, both in the major companies producing ethnicity predictions, and perhaps something like generalized GEDmatch kits for each region identified in this report, and perhaps GEDmatch kits for each of the testers (minus any identifying info for those who wish to remain anonymous). More, I'd like to see an 'open source' database maintained somewhere, with all of the SNP's associated with both ancient and modern populations, and those associated with geocoded locations. It's probably an impossible dream, as it would involve at least some of the major DNA companies opening up their proprietary databases. But the current isolation of SNP ethnicity knowledge to independent companies is counter-productive. If they don't want to share with us (in a public database), then it still would be advantageous, for them and for us, to create private information sharing agreements between their companies, which could produce better predictions for each company. I hope they are at least trying to gain full access to the testers and results of this Irish study.
