Posted on 05/12/2005 5:26:39 PM PDT by blam
Seafood was the spur for Man's first migration
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
(Filed: 13/05/2005)
The lure of a seafood diet may explain why the first people left Africa, according to a genetic analysis published today that overturns the conventional picture of the very first migration of modern humans.
The international project shows - contrary to previous thinking - that early modern humans spread across the Red Sea from the Horn of Africa, along the tropical coast of the Indian Ocean towards the Pacific in just a few thousand years.
And it suggests that the first migratory wave probably included fewer than 600 women, the mothers of all non-Africans alive today - including modern Europeans, whose ancestors splintered off from the group of pioneers around the Persian Gulf.
The new insight into the first human migration has emerged from DNA evidence described today in the journal Science by the Leeds biologist Martin Richards, the Glasgow statistician Vincent Macaulay and colleagues.
Early modern humans in East Africa initially survived on an inland diet based on big game but by 70,000 years ago, archaeological finds suggest their diet had changed to a coastal one consisting largely of shellfish.
However, climate change seems likely to have reduced the Red Sea's shellfish stocks, driving them to seek better fishing grounds.
Much of what we know about human migrations comes from studying mitochondrial DNA, that found in the "power packs" of cells, which is inherited maternally, from modern populations.
The amount of variation in mitochondrial DNA sequences among different groups reflects the amount of time since the groups diverged from each other.
The team studied DNA from aboriginal populations of South East Asia, notably the Orang Asli ("original people") of the Malay Peninsula, the direct descendants of the first modern people to settle in South East Asia.
Comparing their DNA with that of other people around the world allowed the team to piece together what happened in those formative years - helping to rewrite the human story.
Dr Macaulay said such studies of genetic diversity will help to reveal the genetic mutations behind many common diseases.
The work is backed by a second study, also in Science, by an Indian team that studied indigenous populations on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which lie between India and Myanmar.
The team from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad identified two relatively old populations of Andaman islanders that probably survived in genetic isolation there since the out-of-Africa migration.
• A French genetics study comparing strains of leprosy-causing bacteria indicate that the disease may have begun in East Africa, not India as previously thought, and then spread to the other continents through European colonialism and the slave trade.
The ability to trace an infection back to a certain region may help health workers to monitor the movement of the disease over time and determine the geographic source of new infections.
Oh man...I want that! Those are scallops surrounded by lobtails, shrimp and Alaskan King Crab legs....right???...I want that!>P?FMCDH(BITS)
FMCDH(BITS)
The liberals are direct descendants of what migratory wave?
Doesn't the popular theory of evolution hold that we evolved in water from single cell organisms, then (eventually) into fish and then onto land? Why leave the water if all we really needed was a fine piece o' bass?
Interestingly Europeans had come to America and established "fishing colonies...
A brave man it was who first an oyster et
thanks for posting that.
I saw a program advancing the aquatic ape theory. One of the more interesting facts cited was that body hair on humans lies in a hydrodynamic direction, while on apes, it sticks straight out of the skin. Also, they noted that there wasn't really a natural change in the hip that would allow the full upright posture. As you say, interesting, but unprovable.
I have a more plausible theory: youthful searching and the desire some people have to explore. We all know people like that. Hell, my brother and dad are like that.
I've read these sorts of things from time to time. I've read that this is also an explanation for the extra fat on females...they spent more time in the water (protection) than men and needed the fat for warmth. Also, the female long hair tradition gave the kids something to hang on to while they were in the water with mother. (???)
The bravest guy who ever lived was the first guy to eat an oyster.
I wonder how far they would have walked for cheesecake?
Sounds kinda fishy.
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That map is sooo cool Blam, I'd lost my link to it. Our history imbedded in our DNA is so amazing. I suspect a lot of people don't know about this yet.
There could be something to this theory. A Long John Silver was recently unearthed in rural Wyoming....
The fascinating thing about the "Journey of Mankind" animation is the interaction between population and climate. I think we're a lot better off with a warmer climate.
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