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Restaurant offers DNA test for link to Genghis Khan
Wednesday, July 7, 2004 Posted: 2:18 PM EDT (1818 GMT)


LONDON, England (AP) -- A London restaurant is offering diners the chance to learn whether they are descended from the rampaging Mongol ruler Genghis Khan -- and win a free meal if they are.

The promotion by the restaurant Shish has proved surprisingly popular, exemplifying how Genghis Khan, once reviled in the West as a tyrant, has gained new respect in his own country and among academics.

"We've had Mongolian people who've traveled across London to give us their details," said Hugo Malik, bar manager of Shish, which is giving away one DNA test at each of its two London branches every day through Friday. "They said, 'Grandad always used to tell us we were descended from Genghis Khan."'

Grandad may have been right. Oxford Ancestors, the firm doing the testing, says 16 to 17 million men in Central Asia share a pattern of Y chromosomes within their genetic sequences that indicates probable descent from Genghis Khan, who conquered vast tracts of Asia and Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries and sired many offspring.

"He was an all-conquering tribal leader," said David Ashworth, a geneticist who is Oxford Ancestors' chief executive. "He took their cities, he took their land, he took their women."

Lacking any tissue samples from Genghis Khan, the tests are based on an assessment of probabilities.

The tests are part of the burgeoning field of bioarchaeology, which uses biological techniques to learn about our ancient ancestors. Founded four years ago by Oxford University geneticist Bryan Sykes, Oxford Ancestors offers DNA testing to people around the world eager to trace their genetic roots.

Sykes believes DNA can be used to map humanity's common ancestry. In 1994, he extracted DNA from the Iceman, a frozen 5,000-year-old corpse found in the Tyrolean Alps, and identified a woman living in Britain as his descendant.

Sykes' 2001 book "The Seven Daughters of Eve" claimed that 95 percent of Europeans are descended from seven tribal matriarchs -- he dubbed them Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine and Jasmine -- who lived between 10,000 and 45,000 years ago.

For 180 pounds (US$330), Oxford Ancestors will tell customers which maternal clan they belong to. The Genghis Khan test is part of a plan to do the same for paternal ancestry by mapping patterns of Y chromosomes, the genetic material handed down from fathers to sons that changes little over generations.

Women have two X chromosomes, while men carry one X chromosome and one Y -- so only men can take the Genghis Khan test.

"At certain markers on the Y chromosome, if it matches the Genghis Khan pattern, then on the balance of probability you are descended from the Great Khan," Ashworth said.

Shish, a trendy diner specializing in grilled kebabs inspired by the cooking of Central Asia and the Middle East, says it is offering the tests in honor of the Mongolian government's decision to reintroduce surnames.

In the 1990s, Mongolia's newly democratic government decided to reverse the policy of 70 years of communist government, which banned surnames in an attempt to break the power of feudal clans. By the end-of-June deadline for registering surnames, more than half the population had chosen the name Borjigin, or Master of the Blue Wolf -- Genghis Khan's clan name.

It was latest step in the remarkable rehabilitation of the Mongol ruler.

Reviled in the west as a bloodthirsty conqueror and condemned in communist Mongolia as a symbol of a backward past, Genghis Khan is now celebrated by Mongolians as the father of their nation.

Many Western academics also have reassessed Genghis Khan's legacy, recasting him as a brilliant military tactician, innovative ruler and early globalizer whose empire, at one point stretching from the Sea of Japan to the Danube, saw an unprecedented mingling of goods and cultures along the Silk Road trade route linking China to Europe.

Ashworth said Genghis Khan's descendants should "feel a sense of pride that they are descended from such a successful leader of men."

"These ancient conquerors lived in a very different world to us, and where they got was because of their own hard work," he added. "We can't really judge them morally."

i'm asian, maybe i should take a trip to london to get tested