Originally posted by Loki
Are you saying that scientists somehow figured this out?


I'd love to see the research, simply because the only thing that it would take to debunk this entire theory would be to find a slightly older skeleton.

I really just don't understand how they came up with this...what did they do, ask the first Y chromosome that they found to produce a copy of it's lineage?

The standard rate of mutation is known. Look at the differences between Y-chromosones over the world and calculate how long it must have taken to evolve like this from a common ancestor. Not a very precise technique, but still quite interesting.

The writer did a BAD job of explaining the concept.

Men didn't vanish, or arise suddenly and humans weren't reproducing by parthogenesis. There are plenty of fossils of male skeletons to match the fossils of female skeletons.

Nor have they conclusively traced all men back to a single man.

(I know why the writer sounds confusing... because now that I look at it, it's perfectly clear to me but trying to explain it without a long hour lecture will be a challenge.)

Indeed, other men sired the woman that the "ancestral Y-chromosome Adam" bred with... and sired "Adam." So think of his tribe; perhaps 20 or 30 nomad-hunters, one of many groups. It is possible for Adam and the male members of the small band or tribe to die (while off hunting, and perhaps not all at the same time) leaving only Adam's children plus the female children of the other hunters alive (they would NOT carry the Y chromosme because they're female.)

So we have Adam's sons and their wives and their children who grow and prosper... and the group becomes larger over time. The male members get wives from other tribes and they grow into a fairly large group. As wars and disease kill off the men of neighboring tribes, the Sons and Grandsons and Great Grandsons of Adam can come in and take those women and perpetuate the line simply by good fortune and being very ...err... popular with the ladies.

A genetic advantage (such as resistance to flu (much more deadly back then) would be enough to tip the balance.... or the holding of certain types of technology (really good arrows and bows as an example or good hunting techniques or early agriculture or domestication of animals,

Any social or technological or biological advantage gives them the edge in survival.

No huge disasters are required; only lucky breaks and popular males. (I've WAY oversimplified things but I hope this is clearer.)

exactly it just means some men have a common ancestor that really spread his genes around. Also, they cant test everyman in the world, if they did they would probably find other much older ancestors.

Originally posted by TheDemonHunter
An interesting story, but since you need male and female for natural human reproduction, how did this "Eve" procreate to allow the species to continue on for 65,000 years until the "Adam" came along?

Are we saying that the Y chromosome is somehow a mutation of some kind?

Maybe a crossover in species. I know that there was more than one humanoid species. For instance, it is believed that the neanderthals are extinct. Maybe two seperately evolving yet close races ran into each other along the way. The males killed off the other males from the competeing species but were close enough to mate with the females. Far out there....but an idea I guess.

[Edited on 4/12/2004 by Seapeople]

wait, everyone is saying eve was older than adam - i thought eve was created from the rib of adam?

oh and if u haven't read anything on sumeria/annunaki, u should check it out - after extensive reading and contemplating it will make u question religion/science as we know it...

[Edited on 18-4-2004 by carLito]