How many past generations does this test go back? Will it test going back a few hundred years?

That depends on your ancestry and the number of people of similar ancestry who have tested. Biggest group is European heritage. I have 6th and 7th generation matches going back to colonial New England because there was a good degree of pedigree collapse (genetic reinforcement due to small populations intermarrying) The majority of matches will be in the 4th cousin range. However, matches are pointless unless you have a decent family tree (at least 4 generations) and respond to messages because you will not be able to make the connections otherwise.

Are these results on a par with 23andme? Are they identical or is there more info or less?

In my opinion, there are benefits to doing both. Ancestry is FAR superior in the genealogy department especially since 23andMe now limits you to 1500 or 5000 matches depending on what kit you buy. On Ancestry, people are more likely to have family trees, meaning you are more likely to be able to figure out how they connect to you. 23andMe has benefits. They don’t charge extra for traits. They have health information for an extra fee. They do reports on Neanderthal. They have a different matching pool than Ancestry. So do both tests if you can. Ancestry if you can only do one for family history, 23andMe for health.

Do you get both maternal and paternal lines with this test?

Not distinct, separate lines, no. But you do get those results, just mixed up. AncestryDNA tests only autosomal chromosomes; that is, non-sex chromosomes. These are the 22 chromosomes everyone has regardless of gender. That means your results will show both your parents' ancestry, even if you're female, but it'll be combined - you won't be able to tell which parent provided which country or DNA result. For maternal- and paternal-specific ancestry (mtDNA and YDNA, respectively), 23andme provides this testing. AncestryDNA stopped doing it in 2014 (see https://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2014/06/12/comments-on-y-dna-and-mtdna-tests/). I recommend doing both AncestryDNA and 23andme for a more comprehensive picture of your background. And if you're female, ask a male relative (father, brother, paternal uncle) to do 23andme so you can extrapolate your paternal YDNA and haplogroup, since females do not carry the Y sex chromosome. Again, this is not available via AncestryDNA.If you are only interested in overall, general, "big-picture" results, and aren't concerned with specifics like which part of the world your maternal/paternal line came from per se, or your haplogroups, then AncestryDNA is the way to go.

Do the results give countries or just continents? I would like one that gives specific countries.

Just a general response to all the older responses to questions. All of the DNA companies are constantly changing their DNA results. The more people that have the test, that more data goes into improving the accuracy and/or improves the ability to be more specific. Therefore, just wanted to say, as time goes on, the older responses may no longer be valid.

AncestryDNA Genetic Test Kit: Personalized Genetic Results, DNA Ethnicity Test, Origins & Ethnicities, Complete DNA Test

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