FAQ
Do you have any questions? Anything at all? Use the Activity Feed or contact Watson directly. If a question is asked often enough, we will note it here.
I. I have taken a DNA test, but not with FamilyTreeDNA. Can I still join?
Yes! If you've tested with AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, or 23andMe you can still join the project after uploading your raw results to FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA). You must do this first.
These are official downloaf instructions from each company:
Once you've got the files downloaded onto your computer, you can upload them to FTDNA using the autosomal transfer form.
The optional $19 Transfer Unlock fee drops to $9 USD during sales times. In March 2026 it was free with a coupon code.
II. As administrators, what can you do with my DNA results?
This partially depends on the access level (Minimal, Limited, Advanced) you grant for either all administrators, or individual persons. Limited is default until you change your settings.
If you have DNA matches across any of the three testing types and grant Limited or Advanced access, we can see your matches and view any family tree you have attached to your account, and that is about all we care to do so that we can help you interpret those things. When you set your access level, there is a comparison checklist of the things that each level will grant. Note that "Minimal" is simply useless.
As for what, we don't have a huge family tree in the background. This project does not store data outside of the FTDNA site, which is in-line with existing terms and policies. If you have Y-chromosome or mitochondrial DNA results, these will be grouped on the private member-only pages. For an idea of what this looks like, refer to the Y-DNA results overview for the Dykes project or any other public results from various other FTDNA projects.
The Opt in to Sharing toggle switch merely determines whether your Y-DNA or mtDNA results will be visible on those members only pages. It is advisable that you leave this on for the benefit of other members.
III. Can this project be used for health research?
The project is for whakapapa purposes first and foremost, which itself can help participants learn about their family's medical history, particularly by researching death certificates or other documents. FTDNA offers no way to interpret DNA data through a medical lens.
IV. Which company should I test with?
Refer to advice from the University of Strathclyde, under the bold "Cousin matching (autosomal test)" section. If you have raw data from another company, you should upload it to FTDNA for free. FTDNA welcomes transfers from all the other big players. Visit: "Tested With Another Company? Upload Your Data For Free!" The optional transfer unlock is often discounted $9 USD during sales, otherwise you can continue with FTDNA's more advanced Y-DNA and mtDNA tests.
Just so you know, dear reader, $59 AUD near the end of the year would be half price, if there were some hypothetical rival company. Just saying.
V. How does this kaupapa benefit Kāi Tahu?
This depends on the test you take. Your autosomal results will be useful for close family matches, by triangulation. Your mtDNA and/or Y-DNA can be used in tandem to clarify autosomal matches, and to look back in time to the earliest Polynesian settlers of Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu. Using those tests, we can learn all kinds of things about our ancestral lines beyond remembered oral tradition. If we have multiple Y-DNA results from within our iwi, we can ascertain which 1848 kaumātua descended from which hapū in cases where this is not known.
Ideally, we want everyone to fit somewhere in the whakapapa, in the wider Kāi Tahu story. DNA can narrow that down, but we always need kits across all three tests to compare against.
VI. I already know my whakapapa – why would I need a DNA test?
Anō te pai! Whakapapa is the foundation of who we are – this project doesn't replace or question it, it supports it. DNA testing—for genealogical purposes—is another tool, not a better one: it helps strengthen lines, patch gaps, and catch errors where records fall short. It can show forgotten descent paths and find lost kin. It also helps correct colonial paper trails and uncover lost or hidden ties. Even if your own line is strong, your DNA adds weight to the Kāi Tahu whole. One test can help many, not just you. The more who join in, the stronger our truth stands.
Anō te pai! Whakapapa is the foundation of who we are – this project doesn't replace or question it, it supports it. DNA testing—for genealogical purposes—is another tool, not a better one: it helps strengthen lines, patch gaps, and catch errors where records fall short. It can show forgotten descent paths and find lost kin. It also helps correct colonial paper trails and uncover lost or hidden ties. Even if your own line is strong, your DNA adds weight to the Kāi Tahu whole. One test can help many, not just you. The more who join in, the stronger our truth stands.
VII. Does this project have TRoNT or Papatipu Rūnanga backing?
There is no official endorsement or institutional support in place. The group operates independently as a kaiwhakapapa interest and research effort rather than as part of any iwi organisation.
The Whakapapa Unit of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu is responsible for registration and must rely on documented whakapapa and legally defensible evidence. Interpretation of consumer genetic genealogy tests sits outside that process. In rare situations where biological relationships need to be verified, controlled DNA testing may be undertaken through scientific partners such as the New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science (PHF Science).
That said, some individuals working in the wider whakapapa space recognise that many whānau already have commercial DNA tests and can find them confusing. Independent education and interpretation can help people understand what those results can and cannot show, and why the formal registration process requires documentary evidence.
VIII. Do you research Waitaha and patupaiarehe? Monica Matamua has relatives in Peru and Persia, proven by DNA testing.
We do, sure. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ The Waitaha stories, as most folks know them, evolved from those of our own teachers and elders.
What folks get wrong about Monica's (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Maru, Whanganui Māori) DNA results is exactly how little they understand DNA testing. Her results were perfectly consistent with Polynesian haplogroups, given the level of testing she used—the National Geographic Genographic survey (as shown here and here).
Non-Polynesian bits like 28% northeast Asian, 20% southeast Asian, and broad "Oceanian" that could even include Aboriginal Australians, are a direct result of the Genographic project having very few Polynesian or Māori reference samples. Lacking enough data, they compared her DNA to nearby populations and reported similarities. This is a well-known quirk of commercial DNA testing: databases are heavily skewed toward Western/European populations (Turanga, 2025).
For context, when I had my fully European father do the Genographic survey, his results were Y-DNA R-Z156 and mtDNA H1. FTDNA later refined these to R-FTD38441 (ancestral path) and H1-T16189C!, because the Genographic survey only tested to a level sufficient for broad patterns, not fine-grained lineages.
Mrs Matamua’s results came back B4 on Genographic. That's exactly what you'd expect: B4 is the ancestral haplogroup of the "Polynesian motif." For comparison, my relative is B4a1a1m1 (ancestral path)—finer detail.
🐱: "My genetic marker says I'm in the Felidae family, and many Felidae live in the Americas. That proves I'm a jaguar."
—Or—
Mudkip's DNA shows it's in the 'Monster' egg group, and many of those come from Kanto. Therefore Mudkip thinks its ancestors were Blastoise.
Mudkip's DNA shows it's in the 'Monster' egg group, and many of those come from Kanto. Therefore Mudkip thinks its ancestors were Blastoise.