The Journey of Man: A Genetic OdysseyPenguin Adult, 2003 M05 29 - 288 pages Around 60,000 years ago, a man, identical to us in all important respects, walked the soil of Africa. Every man alive today is descended from him. How did he come to be father to all of us - a real-life Adam? And why do we come in such a huge variety of sizes, shapes, types and races if we all share a single prehistoric ancestor?
In this fascinating book, Spencer Wells shows how the truth about our ancestors is hidden in our genetic code, and reveals how developments in the cutting-edge science of population genetics have made it possible not just to discover where our ancestors lived (and who they may have fought, loved, learned from and influence) but to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. |
From inside the book
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... diversity from around the globe , then we can calculate how many years have elapsed from the point when the stone dropped – in other words , to the ancestor from whom all of the mutated descendants must have descended . - Crucially ...
... diversity that can be found in any African village . Why does diversity indicate greater age ? Thinking back to our hypothetical Provençal village , why do the bouillabaisse recipes change ? Because in each generation , a daughter ...
... diversity within Africa , seen in the distribution of deep genetic lineages within the continent . While all African popu- lations contain deeper evolutionary lineages than those found outside the continent , some populations retain ...