The Journey of Man: A Genetic OdysseyRandom House Publishing Group, 2012 M10 31 - 240 pages Around 60,000 years ago, a man—genetically identical to us—lived in Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How did this real-life Adam wind up as the father of us all? What happened to the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? And why, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do we come in so many sizes, shapes, and races? Examining the hidden secrets of human evolution in our genetic code, Spencer Wells reveals how developments in the revolutionary science of population genetics have made it possible to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. Replete with marvelous anecdotes and remarkable information, from the truth about the real Adam and Eve to the way differing racial types emerged, The Journey of Man is an enthralling, epic tour through the history and development of early humankind. |
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Page iv
... European Union. The author and publisher are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce extracts: The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin, published by Jonathan Cape, used by permission of The Random House Group Limited; “Buffalo ...
... European Union. The author and publisher are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce extracts: The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin, published by Jonathan Cape, used by permission of The Random House Group Limited; “Buffalo ...
Page 3
... European 'voyages of discovery'. By assuming the guise of ignorance, we can ask simple questions that seem trivial to us today, given our knowledge of history. The interesting thing about this thought experiment is that, until very ...
... European 'voyages of discovery'. By assuming the guise of ignorance, we can ask simple questions that seem trivial to us today, given our knowledge of history. The interesting thing about this thought experiment is that, until very ...
Page 8
... (European), as well as a poorly defined, blatantly racist category he called monstrosus — which included Darwin's Fuegians, among other groups. To Linnaeus, it seemed that the differences among humans were great enough to warrant this ...
... (European), as well as a poorly defined, blatantly racist category he called monstrosus — which included Darwin's Fuegians, among other groups. To Linnaeus, it seemed that the differences among humans were great enough to warrant this ...
Page 12
... Europe, where a somewhat darker strain emerged in the form of German racial hygiene. While eugenics began as a ... European immigrants, most of whom were illiterate, were expected to arrive at Ellis Island in New York knowing how to read ...
... Europe, where a somewhat darker strain emerged in the form of German racial hygiene. While eugenics began as a ... European immigrants, most of whom were illiterate, were expected to arrive at Ellis Island in New York knowing how to read ...
Page 14
... Europe and America, this era marked a 'collection' phase of physical anthropology — the early stages of a new field of scientific enquiry, when there is no unifying theory with which to analyse the data accumulated. There was only one ...
... Europe and America, this era marked a 'collection' phase of physical anthropology — the early stages of a new field of scientific enquiry, when there is no unifying theory with which to analyse the data accumulated. There was only one ...
Contents
1 | |
4Coasting Away | 61 |
Leaps and Bounds 8 | 81 |
Blood from a Stone 8The Importance of Culture 6 | 184 |
Acknowledgements | 197 |
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Common terms and phrases
actually Adam Africa agriculture analysis ancient animals anthropologists apes appear archaeological Asian Australia Cavalli-Sforza cent central Asia China chromosomes clan classification climate coastal colleagues common ancestor continent culture Darwin defined descendants developed difficult earliest early human east Asia Eurasian Europe Europeans evidence evolution evolutionary expansion favour field find first frequency genes genetic data genetic diversity genetic variation geneticists genome hominid Homo erectus human genetic human migration human populations hunter-gatherers hunting ice age impala India Indo-European Indo-European languages infer ingredients journey known languages leap lifestyle linguistic living marker Middle East Middle Eastern migration mitochondrial DNA modern humans molecules mtDNA mutations Native Americans Neanderthals Neolithic northern nucleotide origin past perhaps polymorphisms population genetics recent region route sample scientific Siberia significant simply soup recipes south-east Asia southern species spoken spread steppe suggests thousands trace unique Upper Palaeolithic western Y-chromosome lineages