We are all related to man who lived in Asia in 1,415BC

Telegraph ^ | David Derbyshire

[SunkenCiv]

Using a computer model, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology attempted to trace back the most recent common ancestor using estimated patterns of migration throughout history. They calculated that the ancestor's location in eastern Asia allowed his or her descendants to spread to Europe, Asia, remote Pacific Islands and the Americas. Going back a few thousand years more, the researchers found a time when a large fraction of people in the world were the common ancestors of everybody alive today - while the rest were ancestors of no one alive. That date was 5,353BC, the team reports in Nature.

[SunkenCiv]

I couldn't find this posted as a topic (or even within a topic) anywhere on FR using either the search engine, or Google; nor could I find the source in the "do not post" list, so despite its age, here it comes. :')

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[SunkenCiv]

Although some groups of people may have lived in isolation from the rest of the world for hundreds of years, the researchers say no one alive today has been untouched by migration.

What that means is, the researchers can't be trusted with a burned out match.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
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[JoeSixPack1]

Gives new meaning to "Made in China".

[Outland]

Yup. Now where did the Chinese come from?

[nickcarraway]

Imagine this guy's child support garnishments.

[Lokibob]

What happened to the Irish guy that sired 1/2 of England and 15% of New York City? He was on FR just 2 days ago.

[djf]

PBS had a great show on this called "Journey of Man" where some scientist traces the markers on the Y chromosome.

The oldest populations he could find were the Kalahari bushmen in Africa. The next oldest was, interestingly, a population of folks in southern Australia.

He seems to have pretty conclusively proven that 50,000 years ago, or 2,000 generations, we are all Africans.

[darkocean]

We are all related to man who lived in Asia in 1,415BC

The guy's name was Noah.....

[Outland]

My theory indicates that liberals came from a different planet.

[blam]

We are all related to man who lived in Asia in 1,415BC

By David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent
The Telegraph (UK)
(Filed: 30/09/2004)

Everyone in the world is descended from a single person who lived around 3,500 years ago, according to a new study.

Scientists have worked out the most recent common ancestor of all six billion people alive today probably dwelt in eastern Asia around 1,415BC.

Although the date may seem relatively recent, researchers say the findings should not come as a surprise.

Anyone trying to trace their family tree soon discovers that the number of direct ancestors doubles every 20 to 30 years. It takes only a few centuries to clock up thousands of direct ancestors.

Using a computer model, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology attempted to trace back the most recent common ancestor using estimated patterns of migration throughout history.

They calculated that the ancestor's location in eastern Asia allowed his or her descendants to spread to Europe, Asia, remote Pacific Islands and the Americas. Going back a few thousand years more, the researchers found a time when a large fraction of people in the world were the common ancestors of everybody alive today - while the rest were ancestors of no one alive. That date was 5,353BC, the team reports in Nature.

The researchers, led by Dr Steve Olson, stressed that the date was an estimate.

"Nevertheless, our results suggest that the most recent common ancestor for the world's current population lived in the relatively recent past - perhaps within the last few thousand years," he said.

He added: "No matter the languages we speak or the colour of our skin, we share ancestors who planted rice on the banks of the Yangtze, who domesticated horses on the steppes of the Ukraine, who hunted giant sloths in the forest of north and south America and who laboured to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu."

Although some groups of people may have lived in isolation from the rest of the world for hundreds of years, the researchers say no one alive today has been untouched by migration.

[SunkenCiv]

I smell Reparations! ;')

[SunkenCiv]

Probably heard about the Chinese guy's child support arrearage and went into hiding.

[SunkenCiv]

Those "oldest population" stories are a lot of fun, but they aren't scientific. Cultures with larger family sizes (such as those in river basins, where agricultural surplus made civilizations possible) wind up with larger populations and that (by the criteria used by those researchers) make other regions older -- even though they aren't.

[djf]

Well I was gonna bump this to blam to see what he knew about older archeology facts. 50,000 years seems short to me, I've heard estimates that there were substantial human populations as much as 125,000 years ago.
It is also interesting that one of the findings was the relative ancient age of some of the Australian aboriginals, esp since Bucky Fuller went to his grave fully convinced that the cradle of civilization was NOT Africa, but was in fact far southeastern sino/asia.

I imagine we will never know for sure, but I think the dig data gives us better info than the genetic stuff.

[SunkenCiv]

agreed, and until the continental shelf is better known...