Scientists are close to drawing the most precise map yet of mankind’s great diaspora, through studying DNA samples from a quarter of a million volunteers in different continents
You know that old Mark Twain jibe, of course, ‘Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.’
Well, I just read a very interesting article about some new genetic research into the early movements of homo sapiens – and this one paragraph struck me:
‘We can also see that just before humans left Africa, about 70,000 years ago, mankind was brought to the brink of extinction when Mount Toba, in Sumatra, erupted,’ said Wells. ‘It was the most powerful volcanic eruption for two million years and dropped thick ash and killed vegetation across the globe. Our research now shows Homo sapiens numbers dropped alarmingly at this time and we only just hung on as a species.’
It’s both a sobering and, ultimately, a comforting thought: That, as a species, we came close to being (near) non-starters and that we still, somehow, muddled through.
I’m not suggesting this means that there is some benign Force or angel, sitting on humanity’s collective shoulder, that will always save us from our own stupid insistence to put our finger in every electric socket that we come upon – but it does show that life is stubborn and can take a lot of abuse that’s thrown at it by uncaring fate. Our species is a testament to that, and the old Mount Toba story is just another example of it.
Anyway, I know that it’s always been fashionable with humans to predict that the end is neigh. All throughout history, at certain moments in time, the human population has been gripped by Apocalypse fever.
So, occasionally, I do wonder if much of the Global Warming panic (or enthusiasm) is just another instance of people doing what people have always done so well: Running around in circles, flapping their arms and shouting – almost gleefully, “We’re doomed! We’re all doomed!”
I’m not saying that is so, necessarily. The threats of Global Warming may be as serious as its most fanatic prophets promise their disciples & detractors that it will be but us humans do tend to overreact, from time to time. That’s just one of the side effects of having evolved such marvellously complex and fertile brains, I’m afraid.
Getting back to evolution though, and to that article I just read. It’s another fascinating story – and isn’t it amazing what our scientists can do when they are not busy developing ever more clever weapon systems or age-defying facial creams?
So, I’ll shut up now and give you a few more samples from that article. Go and use the link to that whole story, when you’re through reading this, though. Unlike a certain beauty product company we all know, it’s worth it:
Sixty thousand years ago, a small group of African men and women took to the Red Sea in tiny boats and crossed the Mandab Strait to Asia. Their journey – of less than 20 miles – marked the moment Homo sapiens left its home continent. The motive for our ancestors’ African exodus is not known, though scientists suspect food shortages, triggered by climate change, were involved.
Now scientists are completing a massive study of DNA samples from a quarter of a million volunteers in different continents in order to create the most precise map yet of mankind’s great diaspora. Last week, in Tallinn, Estonia, they outlined their most recent results. ‘As the ultimate ancestor begat son, who begat son and so on, they picked up mutations in their DNA that we can now pinpoint by gene analysis,’ said project leader Dr Spencer Wells. ‘When we look at these markers’ distributions we can see how our ancestors moved about.’
(Private James “We’re doomed” Frazer)
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