Most histories of the Cherokee nation focus on its encounters with Europeans, its conflicts with the U. S. government, and its expulsion from its lands during the Trail of Tears. This work, however, traces the origins of the Cherokee people to the third century B.C.E. and follows their migrations through the Americas to their homeland in the lower Appalachian Mountains. Using a combination of DNA analysis, historical research, and classical philology, it uncovers the Jewish and Eastern Mediterranean ancestry of the Cherokee and reveals that they originally spoke Greek before adopting the Iroquoian language of their Haudenosaunee allies while the two nations dwelt together in the Ohio Valley.

Donald N. Yates is an American genealogist, cultural historian and DNA investigator. He lives in Longmont, Colorado. For more information visit his official site at www.donaldyates.com.

Donald N. Yates
Foreword by Richard Mack Bettis
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 217
Bibliographic Info: 32 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6956-7
eISBN: 978-0-7864-9125-4
Imprint: McFarland

Introductory Note by Cyclone Covey vii
Acknowledgments ix
Foreword by Richard Mack Bettis 1
Introduction 9
Chapter 1: Secret of the Keetoowah Priests 17
Chapter 2: Around the World 28
Chapter 3: DNA 42
Chapter 4: Ancient History of the Indians 58
Chapter 5: America’s Middle Ages 74
Chapter 6: James Adair and the Lost Tribes of Israel 86
Chapter 7: The Crown of Tennessee 98
Chapter 8: She Who Walks with the Little People 106
Chapter 9: Yom Kippur with the Cherokee 118
Chapter 10: Sequoyan Syllabary 129
Chapter 11: Phoenix Rising 135
Chapter 12: Sand Mountain 143
Epilogue 155
Appendices
A. Melungeon Male Data 157
B. Melungeon Mitochondrial Results 158
C. Surnames 159
D. Cherokee DNA Haplogroup Data 161
E. Anomalous Cherokee Haplogroups 161
F. “Anomalous” Cherokee Haplogroup Distribution 162
G. A Ptolemy in Uruguay 163
H. Ancient Greeks in Native America 163
Chapter Notes 166
Bibliography 179
Index 191

• “Illuminating”—Appalachian Heritage
• “Yates and his colleagues are to be congratulated for their discoveries and for understanding what they mean…it offers food for thought and concrete new data about the people of the Southeast”—Neara Journal
• “Provides the definitive evidence of relations between Jews, Greeks, Egyptians, and the Cherokee…engaging and useful”—American Indian Culture and Research Journal