The identification of seventeen living people with closely matching mitochondrial sequences to Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi is a finding that requires careful interpretation, and the careful interpretation is actually more interesting than a simplified version would be.

The seventeen individuals are not necessarily direct lineal descendants of Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi himself.

Mitochondrial DNA is inherited through the maternal line exclusively, and it accumulates mutations at a rate that means two people sharing the same mitochondrial sequence might have a common maternal ancestor who lived anywhere from a few generations ago to many centuries ago.

The shared sequence tells us that the seventeen volunteers and Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi all trace their maternal lines to the same ancestral woman — but that ancestral woman might have lived several generations before Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi himself.

To be more specific: Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi had a mother.