The Journey of Man: A Genetic OdysseyRandom House Trade Paperbacks, 2003 - 218 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 32
... 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 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 ...
Page 39
... 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 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 ...
Page 56
... 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 ...
... 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 ...
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Common terms and phrases
actually Adam Africa agriculture analysis ancient animals anthropologists apes appear Asian Australia Cavalli-Sforza cent central Asia China chromosomes clan climate coastal colleagues common ancestor continent culture Darwin defined descendants developed earliest early human east Asia Eurasian Europe Europeans evolution evolutionary expansion extinct favour frequency genes genetic data genetic diversity genetic pattern genetic variation geneticists genome hominid Homo erectus human diversity human genetic human migration human populations hunter-gatherers hunting ice age impala India Indo-European languages infer ingredients journey known last ice age leap lifestyle linguistic living marker Mediterranean Middle East Middle Eastern migration million mitochondrial DNA modern humans molecules mtDNA mutations Native Americans Neanderthals Neolithic non-African northern nucleotide origin past perhaps polymorphisms population genetics recent region route sample Siberia simply soup recipes south-east Asia southern species spoken spread steppe suggests thousands trace unique Upper Palaeolithic western Y-chromosome lineages