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 xiii
... language of the genes. In the same way that you wouldn't include 'water~dwelling' in a classification of fish, because all fish live in water, the identical bits of our genetic code tell us nothing about our history. The story is in the ...
... language of the genes. In the same way that you wouldn't include 'water~dwelling' in a classification of fish, because all fish live in water, the identical bits of our genetic code tell us nothing about our history. The story is in the ...
Page xiv
... languages in context better than any other part of our genetic code, and ultimately gives us the genetic answers we are looking for. Of course, in order to leave descendants, these early human groups must have included women; while the ...
... languages in context better than any other part of our genetic code, and ultimately gives us the genetic answers we are looking for. Of course, in order to leave descendants, these early human groups must have included women; while the ...
Page 2
... languages. They have very dark skin, and live primarily in small villages hacked from the forest. As we move further ... language — one which is as different from Nilotic and Bantu as they are from each other, even though they live close ...
... languages. They have very dark skin, and live primarily in small villages hacked from the forest. As we move further ... language — one which is as different from Nilotic and Bantu as they are from each other, even though they live close ...
Page 44
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Page 56
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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