I suppose you wonder what I have been up to for the last 140,000 years, so I shall tell you.
The National Geographic has been studying where all of us have been. All of us began walking in Africa; some stayed, some went back, some went just about everywhere it is possible to go.
In my case, both my mother and my father's ancestors ended up in Northern Europe, but some members of the family wandered off in other directions; everywhere possible.
The map, at right, is not from National Geographic, but it shows some of the pathways our ancestors took. Just keep walking across Russia to Alaska, and down to Tierra del Fuego, and to Australia.
Our genes carry large and small patches of who our long-since and recent relatives were, and this is what I have learned about myself.
From my mother's side, I know that people migrating from East Africa, about 67,000 years ago, went across the Sinai and to the north, into what is now Azerbaijan, and into the area between the Caspian and Black Seas, and crossed the Caucusus Mountains into the Balkans.
Later, about 55,000 years ago, other people who had lived in the Near East for thousands of years, followed. They, too, are my distant relatives. About 25,000 years ago, still more people came north, and introduced farming to Eurasia.
From 16,500 to 6,500 years ago, these people had moved into much of Europe, and my mother's geneological relatives are spread all over Europe.
Evidence from my father's geneology is a little different. Only a couple of years ago, scientists ascertained that all men alive today stem from men in Africa who lived from 300,000 to 150,000 years ago. Some of those ancestors of my father left Africa about 80,000 years ago, going lots of places: some to the Middle East, some to the Americas, some to Europe, and some stayed in Africa.
Aboput 70,000 years ago, the first common ancestor of every man living outside of Africa left the Rift Valley (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania). My genes also show scraps of people leaving Africa about 60,000 years ago, and others 55,000 years ago, who had lived in the Middle East, trudged north to the Caucasus and Central Asia.
I show a relationship to more people who came later, some of whom, instead of going north to Europe, went to Southern Asia, the Americas, Southwest Asia, Australia (Aboriginal people).
They kept coming from Africa, and regions nearer to Africa, whose scraps of genes I share. Some, who had migrated into what is now Russia, turned west toward Europe, and left their marks on our father's family, too. Our genes show a trace of someone in Central Asia (the date unknown), whose descendents are found in only about 1% of people in Central and Western Europe.
The people most closely related to my Mom are spread all over Europe. My Dad's ancestors concentrated more narrowly in Northern Europe, some in Eastern Europe, some in Italy and Spain, and the British Isles.
I, of course, am a mutt. National Geographic says I am 58% Northern European (Scandinavia, British Isles, coast of France), 13% Northeast European (Poland, Baltic countries, Finland), 13% Eastern Europe (Ukrane, Russia), 7% Italy and Southern Europe, 6% Southwestern Europe (Spain, Portugal), and 1.5% Neanderthal. And that does not quite add up to 100%, I assume because the Denisovans aren't talking, and some hanky-panky was not reported.
The two present day population that most resemble my genetic makeup are in the British Isles, and the Dutch. My particular genes show a bit more western Mediterranean likeness. I guess I can live with that: I always have.
I made Cioppino yesterday. I am something like that. We are a stew.
The National Geographic has been studying where all of us have been. All of us began walking in Africa; some stayed, some went back, some went just about everywhere it is possible to go.
In my case, both my mother and my father's ancestors ended up in Northern Europe, but some members of the family wandered off in other directions; everywhere possible.
The map, at right, is not from National Geographic, but it shows some of the pathways our ancestors took. Just keep walking across Russia to Alaska, and down to Tierra del Fuego, and to Australia.
Our genes carry large and small patches of who our long-since and recent relatives were, and this is what I have learned about myself.
From my mother's side, I know that people migrating from East Africa, about 67,000 years ago, went across the Sinai and to the north, into what is now Azerbaijan, and into the area between the Caspian and Black Seas, and crossed the Caucusus Mountains into the Balkans.
Later, about 55,000 years ago, other people who had lived in the Near East for thousands of years, followed. They, too, are my distant relatives. About 25,000 years ago, still more people came north, and introduced farming to Eurasia.
From 16,500 to 6,500 years ago, these people had moved into much of Europe, and my mother's geneological relatives are spread all over Europe.
Evidence from my father's geneology is a little different. Only a couple of years ago, scientists ascertained that all men alive today stem from men in Africa who lived from 300,000 to 150,000 years ago. Some of those ancestors of my father left Africa about 80,000 years ago, going lots of places: some to the Middle East, some to the Americas, some to Europe, and some stayed in Africa.
Aboput 70,000 years ago, the first common ancestor of every man living outside of Africa left the Rift Valley (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania). My genes also show scraps of people leaving Africa about 60,000 years ago, and others 55,000 years ago, who had lived in the Middle East, trudged north to the Caucasus and Central Asia.
I show a relationship to more people who came later, some of whom, instead of going north to Europe, went to Southern Asia, the Americas, Southwest Asia, Australia (Aboriginal people).
They kept coming from Africa, and regions nearer to Africa, whose scraps of genes I share. Some, who had migrated into what is now Russia, turned west toward Europe, and left their marks on our father's family, too. Our genes show a trace of someone in Central Asia (the date unknown), whose descendents are found in only about 1% of people in Central and Western Europe.
The people most closely related to my Mom are spread all over Europe. My Dad's ancestors concentrated more narrowly in Northern Europe, some in Eastern Europe, some in Italy and Spain, and the British Isles.
I, of course, am a mutt. National Geographic says I am 58% Northern European (Scandinavia, British Isles, coast of France), 13% Northeast European (Poland, Baltic countries, Finland), 13% Eastern Europe (Ukrane, Russia), 7% Italy and Southern Europe, 6% Southwestern Europe (Spain, Portugal), and 1.5% Neanderthal. And that does not quite add up to 100%, I assume because the Denisovans aren't talking, and some hanky-panky was not reported.
The two present day population that most resemble my genetic makeup are in the British Isles, and the Dutch. My particular genes show a bit more western Mediterranean likeness. I guess I can live with that: I always have.
I made Cioppino yesterday. I am something like that. We are a stew.
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