[muawiyah]

Somehow we have all gotten into the habit of thinking of human populations wondering around in groups and thereby forming isolated genetic pools. Both of the hypotheses discussed above assume this.

However, it is the ancient practice of humanity to "trade daughters" among and between tribes.

Then there's always the "wondering male hunting party" - no doubt it has an effect. But it's still the female side that is relocated from one group to another. Over time gene combinations that first appeared in Siberia ended up in Kenya. No one had to travel the distance. All they had to do was trade daughters from one tribe to another, whether as captives or wives, or maybe as just "good friends", and next thing you know "Eve" is in Kenya.

Our supposed "nearest simian relatives", the chimps, are also reported to trade the girls.

[blam]

I agree with your thoughts on the 'daughters.' But, I also believe there have been exiled/isolated groups throughout human history. These groups become isolated (Do some minor changing), come back together, mingle for thousand of years and then are isolated in different groups again. (Repeat the process for 100's of thousand of years). I think that Europe was the meeting place/mixing pot for these groups. If you pick Europe as a center point, then move away in all directions, at the extreme edges (Africa/Australia) are the most primitive societies. The European arena seems to have been able to adapt/adopt the best features from all these other cultures and evolve into the highly civilized cultures we see there today.

[Silly]

What is a "wondering male hunting party"?

Just wandering,

[parsifal]

"Then there's always the "wondering male hunting party"

This is true. Descendants of this group include Libertaranus Flaccidus, Geekus Wallflowerus, and Startrekus Virginus.

There was another group- "the wandering male hunting party"whose descendants include Bubbus Hillbillus, Lechus Buttofuccus, and the African offshoot, Jexxus Jaksonus.