A hair sample from legendary 19th-century Native American leader Sitting Bull has allowed scientists to confirm that a South Dakota man is his great-grandson.
Scientists took DNA from a hair sample of an Indian chief kept in Washington.
Ernie LaPont, 73, turned out to be his great-grandson.
The discovery is the result of a new technique that allows genetic information to be obtained from a fragmented sample of old DNA.
- Bonnie and Clyde - an appearance that deceives and creates illusions
- Vikings discovered America almost 500 years before Columbus, according to scientists
- The legend of a mysterious African samurai
"This DNA research is another way to identify the kinship with my great-grandfather," LaPont, who has three sisters, told Reuters.
"For as long as I can remember, people have questioned my connection to my ancestor. They will probably doubt the new findings as well," he added.
The technique was developed by a team of scientists led by Eske Willerslev from the University of Cambridge in Great Britain and the Lundbeck Foundation Center in Denmark.
Their results were published on Wednesday in the journal "Sajens advansis".
Previous studies, based on old genetic samples, tried to find matches using sex-based genetic markers.
Ernie LaPont (73) claims to be a descendant of Sitting Taurus on his mother's side, Professor Willerslev explained, which made it impossible to use earlier techniques.
Willerslev and his team found a way to localize an "autosomal chromosome" that is not sex-marked.
It took them 14 years to perfect the method.
- Found "left-handed DNA" - which changes the structure of the brain
- By "editing" DNA to remove genetic defects
- I gave away my DNA - can I have it back?
Willerslev said he had been fascinated by Sitting Bull since childhood and offered to find out to LaPointe if they were indeed related.
Before agreeing, LaPont asked Willerslev to participate in a ritual involving a doctor, drummers and chanting, so that the spirit of Sitting Bull would bless the trial, the scientist told the AFP news agency.
LaPointe, however, burned off most of Sitting Bull's hair - in accordance with the spirit's instructions - leaving researchers with only four centimeters, which Willerslev believed to be "catastrophic" at the time.
However, this forced the team to develop an innovative new method, he said.
Sitting Bull, whose real name was Tatanka-Jotanka, was the chief of the Sioux tribe.
He gained fame when he led 1.500 Native American warriors at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876, wiping out American General Custer and his Seventh Cavalry Division.
On behalf of the US government, the so-called Native American police killed a Sioux chief in 1890.
You may also be interested in a video about carnivals
Follow us on Facebook i Twitter. If you have a topic proposal for us, contact us at bbcnasrpskom@bbc.co.uk
Bonus video:
