[voyageur]

A computer simulation of human migration and breeding patterns has concluded that the common ancestor of all living humans lived a mere 3500 years ago, in East Asia.
Nature.com link

....
The figure of 1,500 BC might sound surprisingly recent. But think how wide your own family tree would be if you extended it back that far. Lurking somewhere in your many hundreds of ancestors at that date is likely to be somebody who crops up in the corresponding family tree for anyone alive in 2004.
...
To work out how much different groups of humans mingled, Rohde's team simulated the rates at which a few pioneering people made journeys across the world to meet and breed with other populations. Their model gave each individual a certain probability of quitting their home town, country or continent and striking out for pastures new.

...
The fact that the person probably lived in Asia is down to its prime position along the most commonly used migration routes, Rohde suggests. "East Asia is at a crossroads," he says. "It's close to the Bering Strait and the Pacific."

...
If we discount those living in the world's remotest places, the common ancestor becomes more recent still, says Mark Humphrys, who studies human family trees at Dublin City University in Ireland. "Looking at the whole sweep of the Americas, Europe, Asia, right across to Japan, I wouldn't be surprised if we had a common ancestor in the AD years," he says.

A single prolific parent can have a vast influence once their descendants begin to multiply, Humphrys says. "The entire Western world is descended from Charlemagne, for example," he says. "There's really no doubt."

Besides dating our most recent common ancestor, Rohde's team also calculates that in 5,400 BC everyone alive was either an ancestor of all of humanity, or of nobody alive today. The researchers call this the 'identical ancestors' point: the time before which all the family trees of people today are composed of exactly the same individuals.

[ManOfSteal]

That explains my craziness I suppose, eh?

[killer_735]

So, my girlfriend and I are distantly related?

Man, that's hot.

[cszar2001]

Wasn`t there a study a few months ago about only 7 distinct strands of mitochondrial DNA that showed a similar thing?

[OldManMac]

If I'm understanding this correctly, it only took a few years for the common ancestor of humanity to develop different skin colors, physiological variants, languages, etc?

[BlueSky]

This is bad news if it means I'm related to Michael Jackson. On the other hand, maybe it's time for me to make a claim on Marlon Brando's will.

[voyageur]

I don't think they're implying that there was only one skin color at that time; there was undoubtedly already a great deal of physical variability among humans. Just this one hypothetical ancestor (whatever his/her color) is common to the family trees of all of us today.

Another way to think of it is that each of us is related to thousands of people who were alive during that time (I have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, etc.), but the hypothesis is that you only have to go back 3500 years before you find one person who is a common ancestor in all our family trees. What they do seem to be implying regarding skin color is that there is no one alive today who is purely of one "race".

Cszar2001, I didn't hear about the mitochondrial stuff. That would be good biological evidence to support the theoretical.

[cszar2001]

Originally posted by voyageur:
I don't think they're implying that there was only one skin color at that time; there was undoubtedly already a great deal of physical variability among humans. Just this one hypothetical ancestor (whatever his/her color) is common to the family trees of all of us today.

Another way to think of it is that each of us is related to thousands of people who were alive during that time (I have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, etc.), but the hypothesis is that you only have to go back 3500 years before you find one person who is a common ancestor in all our family trees. What they do seem to be implying regarding skin color is that there is no one alive today who is purely of one "race".

Cszar2001, I didn't hear about the mitochondrial stuff. That would be good biological evidence to support the theoretical.

Here is a short overview concerning mitochondrial DNA:
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/genome/.../hg07f004.html

[Sealobo]

I have this little book... it's a record of my bloodline. My father used to keep it, but now it's with me. As the oldest son in the family, I am the 37th generation of the name Chau that passed all the way from Ching Dynasty, Chnia. Pretty cool.

[Secret__Police]

Originally posted by Sealobo:
I have this little book... it's a record of my bloodline. My father used to keep it, but now it's with me. As the oldest son in the family, I am the 37th generation of the name Chau that passed all the way from Ching Dynasty, Chnia. Pretty cool.

You're probably related to my Wife then.......

[cold_reality]

I always knew this world would end through rampant inbreeding.

[FulcrumPilot]

This news should get the Palestinians and the Israeli's to inter-marry rampantly and love each other intensely now!!

[itai195]

Originally posted by voyageur:
If we discount those living in the world's remotest places, the common ancestor becomes more recent still, says Mark Humphrys, who studies human family trees at Dublin City University in Ireland. "Looking at the whole sweep of the Americas, Europe, Asia, right across to Japan, I wouldn't be surprised if we had a common ancestor in the AD years," he says.

A single prolific parent can have a vast influence once their descendants begin to multiply, Humphrys says. "The entire Western world is descended from Charlemagne, for example," he says. "There's really no doubt."

Wow, that really seems hard to believe. Not saying it's wrong, just ... strange.

[Logic]

A bio-tech company here on Iceland(deCode Genetics) have a database of all the Icelanders ancestors. I've never had to go back more than 7 generations to find out that my friends and my fiancee are related. So this doesn't really surprise me, though it being this short time frame does come as a surprise. Anyone know if this is related to the HUGO project?

[d4nth3m4n]

I cant shake the geography of this. how many people had that kind of range? (i know its not necessarily ONE person doing all the moving) but, come on, this is most likely only theoretical.

so who was this romeo?

[voyageur]

Originally posted by Logic:
A bio-tech company here on Iceland(deCode Genetics) have a database of all the Icelanders ancestors. I've never had to go back more than 7 generations to find out that my friends and my fiancee are related. So this doesn't really surprise me, though it being this short time frame does come as a surprise. Anyone know if this is related to the HUGO project?

Is that Kari Stefansson's project?

[voyageur]

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
so who was this romeo?

An Asian hottie, apparently.

[voyageur]

Originally posted by voyageur:
An Asian hottie, apparently.

edit: Looks like it might be Sealobo's great-great-etc. grandpappy.

[Logic]

Originally posted by voyageur:
Is that Kari Stefansson's project?

Yup. It's been surrounded by controversy from day one and the government didn't listen to a single of the committees on the topic but it has been good for the economy and for people in certain fields(molecular biologists, biochemists, computer engineers etc etc). One of the things he's been able to do is to build up the most detailed microsatellite genetic map in the world. It involves more than 5000 microsatellite markers, 146 families and more than 1200 meiotic events. He's been making some pretty good discoveries but I'm afraid it will always be in some trouble because of the legal "help" he got.

[Sealobo]

Originally posted by Secret__Police:
You're probably related to my Wife then.......

could be, if she's HOT.

[Timo]

Fascinating.

And no doubt Sealabo is a direct descendant of The Man.

(or do I hear Woman roaring?)

[voyageur]

Originally posted by Timo:
Fascinating.

And no doubt Sealabo is a direct descendant of The Man.

(or do I hear Woman roaring?)

ROAR
Funny how many assumed it must be a man....

[d4nth3m4n]

Originally posted by voyageur:
ROAR
Funny how many assumed it must be a man....

wouldn't it make a lot more sense if it were a man?

woman- 15-20 direct descendants TOPS
man- hundreds possible.

there, i dont think this is a case of an "eve" as much as it is an "adam"

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

We are all Gods children, the end.






P.S. Even the dinosaurs.

[voyageur]

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
wouldn't it make a lot more sense if it were a man?

woman- 15-20 direct descendants TOPS
man- hundreds possible.

there, i dont think this is a case of an "eve" as much as it is an "adam"

Probably right. Unless Eve's children were significantly more fit in an evolutionary sense (number of offspring surviving to reproduce successfully).

[d4nth3m4n]

Originally posted by voyageur:
Probably right. Unless Eve's children were significantly more fit in an evolutionary sense (number of offspring surviving to reproduce successfully).

still in the course of 3500 years, i would assume that this common ancestor would have needed more than 20 children to be so prolific.

sorta off topic- i wonder how much of an impact evolutionary fitness played in 1500b.c. although i agree that a low instance of infant mortality would be rather essential.

[Secret__Police]

Originally posted by Sealobo:
could be, if she's HOT.

Yes, she is very hot