IT took a genetic "telescope" and the DNA profile of around 500 people to establish.

Researchers in Edinburgh this week revealed more than 1% of Scotsmen are direct descendents of the Tuareg tribesmen of north Africa.

The semi-nomadic pastoralists who inhabit Saharan Africa have a lineage around 5,600 years old.

The tribe, who call themselves Tamasheq after their language, are known as the "blue men of Africa" for the distinctive indigo dye on their robes and turbans.

Unusually for a mainly Muslim people, it is males who wear a veil over their face, thought to ward off evil spirits and the wind-blown sands, while females are uncovered. Tuareg women can divorce their husbands and dominate domestic life in the desert camps.

The ancient tribe, who occupy regions of Libya, Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, which they call Azawad, was in the news this month following the coup in Mali.

A group of Tuareg rebels, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), seized an area in the north of Mali. The African Union, the EU and the US have all rejected their calls to be recognised as an independent state.

Almost all Westerners have left the north of Mali since Tuareg fighters took control of the area two weeks ago. The developments came after Mali's long-time president was ousted last month.

The Malian Tuareg, who claim to have faced discrimination because of their light skin, captured three cities – Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu.

Having fought several rebellions over the decades, the tribe have suffered from post-colonialism through political marginalisation, and were devastated by the 1984-5 drought and famine which forced many of them to become refugees.

Estimates of their number range from 300,000 to 1.5 million, while one of the earliest mentions of the tribe was by the Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th Century BC.

Trade has formed the basis of the Tuareg economy since camels were introduced to the Sahara 2,000 years ago, allowing the Tuareg to operate the trans-Saharan caravan trade in salt and gold.

The link between Scots and Tuareg was established by a new company called ScotlandsDNA, which charges people £170 to outline their genetic history.

It was set up last year by Dr Jim Wilson, a senior lecturer in population and disease genetics at Edinburgh University, and Alastair Moffat, historian and rector of St Andrews University.

They have collected the building blocks for 1000 Scots over the last four months. The first 500 heard the results this week in Edinburgh.

Dr Wilson was surprised by the link to the Sahara. He said: "I didn't believe it at first and checked it twice. But more than one, in fact quite a few of our participants, had this marker that is only found in and around the Sahara and among the blue men of the Tuareg.

"It was spread to Spain by the Moorish conquest, and then it came up the Atlantic margins, along the coast and up to France and then up to Scotland," he added.

Actor Tom Conti has found he shares his very rare DNA with Napoleon Bonaparte, while scientists believe comedian and presenter Fred MacAuley's ancestors were slaves, sold at the slave market in 9th-century Dublin.

.... Tuareg tribesmen