Posted on 12/20/2021 3:19:48 PM PST by SunkenCiv
An analysis of modern DNA uncovers a rough dating scene after the advent of agriculture.
Once upon a time, 4,000 to 8,000 years after humanity invented agriculture, something very strange happened to human reproduction. Across the globe, for every 17 women who were reproducing, passing on genes that are still around today—only one man did the same...
Another member of the research team, a biological anthropologist, hypothesizes that somehow, only a few men accumulated lots of wealth and power, leaving nothing for others. These men could then pass their wealth on to their sons, perpetuating this pattern of elitist reproductive success. Then, as more thousands of years passed, the numbers of men reproducing, compared to women, rose again...
The team uncovered this dip-and-rise in the male-to-female reproductive ratio by looking at DNA from more than 450 volunteers from seven world regions. Geneticists analyzed two parts of the DNA, Y-chromosome DNA and mitochondrial DNA. These don't make up a large portion of a person's genetics, but they're special because people inherit Y-chromosome DNA exclusively from their male ancestors and mitochondrial DNA exclusively from their female ancestors. By analyzing diversity in these parts, scientists are able to deduce the numbers of female and male ancestors a population has. It's always more female.
So much for what our DNA can tell us. This study, published last week in the journal Genome Research, can't directly account for why the dip occurred...
Nature is a harsh taskmaster, but so, it seems, is human culture. Although the popular notion is that farming and settlement cushioned people against "survival of the fittest," this study shows that's not true. Something cultural happened 8,000 years ago that's marked us even today.
(Excerpt) Read more at psmag.com ...
That counts for a lot.
And while she can gather and cook she is very vulnerable when she is pregnant or nursing. So she is dependent on her man to keep her safe.
That of course is just the basics. Depending on the tribe things can get very complicated.
... and the mothers in law.
“Seventeen Girls For Every Boy!”
Actually, sharing in private, the women I know without children say they are perfectly content being childless, even into the difficulties of old age. I’m grateful that many people feel satisfaction by having kids so that society can continue, but it’s projection to assume everyone feels a need to go that route. You can’t see other people by looking in the mirror.
The cosmetic surgery business is real for a subsection of society. A cousin invited us to her daughter’s wedding with luncheon for 700 on the side lawn. My jaw dropped when we walked in and I finally understood the meaning of “beautiful people.” That small percentage does NOT look like the people we hang around with, and we’re certainly not as stressed as they are, as they try to keep their relevant other from straying to some other “beautiful person.”
seems to be a heck of a lot of conclusions to infer from a sample of only 450.
“No—the man that marries one of them has done an act of Christian charity which entitles him to the kindly applause of mankind, not their harsh censure—and the man that marries sixty of them has done a deed of open-handed generosity so sublime that the nations should stand uncovered in his presence and worship in silence.”
- Mark Twain, "Roughing It"
17? Here I thought I was greedy wanting just 3...
You’re forgetting about the wanderer, the warrior, the trader, et al.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but guys back then liked to dip their wicks as they traveled about. A lot still do.
What’s interesting is that men were happier back then than today. But women are happier today than in the past.
I don’t hear that women are happier today than in the past.
They are built for relationships. They’re not getting them. Rather they are out there working for the brand.
They took chances, they died.
Not my ancestors—although they might have run from the sounds of battle.
;)
If they had died without reproducing you would not be here. :)
Something else is that the Y does tend to pass only through the male line so any man who only had daughters who survived and reproduced would vanish out of the reproductive line while any woman who had only sons would still show up.
So part of this is math and biology.
Good catch! The archaeologists need to look for remains of ‘34 wagons.
All Europeans are descended from Charlemagne. The math pretty much demands it.
Each previous generation doubles, so assuming 3 generations per century, I have a million ancestors by the 1300s.
That was more than the population of Italy at the time.
If someone on the same continent in the 800s left any ancestors at all, then you are one of them. Guaranteed.
> If someone on the same continent in the 800s left any ancestors at all, then you are one of them. Guaranteed.
:^) Descendants?
HA! Oops, yes descendants. :)
Heh, reminded me of that line in HItchhiker’s Guide, “accident with a contraceptive in a time machine.”
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