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 81
... trace my genetic lineage back in time , I also have additional polymorphisms with names such as M9 and M89 – each one a unique change at a different position in my Y - chromosome sequence . I also have the marker M168 , which places my ...
... trace my genetic lineage back in time , I also have additional polymorphisms with names such as M9 and M89 – each one a unique change at a different position in my Y - chromosome sequence . I also have the marker M168 , which places my ...
Page 84
... trace images in the dust that are similar to the animals that you bring back to camp . You find this especially frightening , and quickly rub them out when you see them . Others in the clan have noticed , though , and there have been ...
... trace images in the dust that are similar to the animals that you bring back to camp . You find this especially frightening , and quickly rub them out when you see them . Others in the clan have noticed , though , and there have been ...
Page 173
... trace back more than 20,000 years . The search for the language of Adam and Eve promises to be a contentious and exciting field in the next few years , and genetics should be able to offer some input . A caveat The spread of languages ...
... trace back more than 20,000 years . The search for the language of Adam and Eve promises to be a contentious and exciting field in the next few years , and genetics should be able to offer some input . A caveat The spread of languages ...
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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