> It seems as if you think somehow DNA didn’t exist as a means of transferring genetic information to offspring prior to it being discovered.

No that's not what I said. I said that DNA, though inherited, is irrelevant for determining cultural identity.

If I discover tomorrow that I carry YDNA haplotype J1, that doesn't make me Jewish, either culturally or ancestrally. Nobody could claim me as ancestrally Jewish based on that either.

Having a documented lineage stretching back many generations, however, would possibly do both, should I choose to embrace it.