The Time Traveler’s Suitcase

Creek historian Richard Thornton is interviewed about the Maya, Euchee, Apalache and others in the Southeast. Part One of Two.

Host Pete Ferrand interviews Georgia architect and author Richard Thornton about the surprising original diversity of American Indians in the Southern Highlands before they were crassly collapsed into only two federal groups, the Creeks and the Cherokees. When History Channel’s H2 network premiered a new series entitled “America Unearthed,” the opening episode on “American Mayan Secrets” was based on Thornton’s iconoclastic research and out-back rambles around Georgia. It became the network’s highest rated show ever. Thornton also says the story of Indian-White relations could have been – and still might become—much less antagonistic.

Meet the Kangaroos of Native American DNA. Host Pete Ferrand reads from a chapter in Real People Who Proved the Geneticists Wrong

about the so-called "anomalous" Cherokees who don't fit an ABC definition of American Indian.

Can genealogy be funny? It can with Melungeons.

Pete Ferrand travels to Newmans Ridge, Tennessee, where he witnesses a battle over the definition of the term Melungeon. Reading by Ginger Cuculo of the chapter "Cyberfeud on the Ridge" from Ancestors and Enemies: Essays on Melungeons, by Phyllis E. Starnes and Donald N. Yates

Ginger Cuculo, audiobook narrator.

Explore the interface between history, archeology and ancient DNA. The Time Traveler’s Suitcase is a biweekly podcast from DNA Consultants. The show is hosted by talk radio professional Pete Ferrand. Most of the episodes include an audiobook excerpt from the publications of Donald N. Yates, a DNA investigator and historian whose works include Old Souls in a New World, Merchant Adventurers of Rhoda and The Cherokee Origin Narrative. Each usually also has an interview with a leading scientist or historical expert.

DNA can rewrite history. Host Pete Ferrand interviews Dr. Eran Elhaik at the University of Sheffield in England on the exciting promise of ancient DNA testing. The world-renowned paleogeneticist discusses how the DNA of people who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago is recovered from ancient skeletons and archeological sites and how modern-day consumers can now explore their own genetic likeness and true descent with DNA Consultants’ new product line called Primeval DNA Tests. The seven peoples featured in the initial launch are Ancient Britons in Roman Britain, Ancient Israelites, Chumash Paleo-Indians, Egyptian Mummies, Ice Age Europeans, Stone Age Europeans and Medieval Vikings.

Cherokee DNA leaves everything up in the air. Hosted by Pete Ferrand, the premier episode of “The Time Traveler’s Suitcase” features three stories from a publication by DNA Consultants suggesting Cherokee Indians are genetically related to ancient Egyptians, Greeks and other Mediterranean peoples, including Jews. The first story of the podcast, “Maybe My Great-Grandmother Really Was a Cherokee Princess,” explodes the myth that American Indian ancestry was adopted by many Southerners out of racial guilt. The second, “Trail of Fears,” discusses who is and who is not Indian. The third is about the textbook case of Nancy Cooper v. The Choctaw Nation, which stretches back to the 1890s, and the billion-dollar Individual Indian Monies scandal, which closed the Bureau of Indian Affairs for eight years.