To: Homestead mailing list digest <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [Homestead] Journey Of Man
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 07:29:01 -0800
The other night I saw a new show on Spencer Wells's work on the
evolution of y-chromosomal DNA. One interesting thing that they
mentioned was that Thomas Jefferson belonged to the Middle Eastern
patrilineage. They speculated that his Urvater was a Phoenician, but he
could just as well have maybe been Etruscan (via Rome), or Jewish, or
modern Arab, some of whom integrated into the culture of France
following A. D. 711.
I found this webpage that summarizes the journey of our forefathers in a
map. If Etruscans were originally Middle Eastern, it would be through
the line into Asia Minor marked in blue on the map. Apparently northern
Europeans really did really all once live in "mother Russia" after
having crossed the Urals 30,000 years ago.
You can see many of the things I've mentioned in posts, on this map.
For instance, you can see that the Athabaskans (really Austronesians,
marked in black on the map) aren't nearly as closely related to the
so-called Amerindians as the latter are to northern Europeans, both
having originated in northwestern Asia around 35,000 years ago. In
fact, they share the distinction, as you'll notice if you study the map
closely, of being the only two lineages of men who lived in an
ice-covered landscape for tens of thousands of years. They are the
original ice people, and the Viking, Lapp, Chukche, and Inuit (back when
they still lived a traditional lifestyle) are the perpetuators of that
Ice Age culture.
Similar research has been done on mitochondrial DNA, which we all
inherit from our mothers. But for some women, SW's research creates a
new sense of urgency, because they don't have Y-chromosomal DNA of their
own. So for female only children, or ones with only sisters, if dad's
getting on a bit, then a window is closing on the opportunity to learn
which patrilineage they belong to.