A new genetic study of male ancestry shows there were periods in human prehistory when just a few elite men controlled reproduction.
For example, one man about 190,000 years ago was the ancestor of 1,200 living men from 26 groups around the world whose genes were analyzed for the new study.
…Would the world have been different if it had been another man who had fathered much of the human race?
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Another finding of the study is that one man who lived in Europe about 4,000 years ago is the ancestor of half of Western European men, [study leader] Dr. [Chris] Tyler-Smith told The Telegraph. “In Europe there was huge population expansion in just a few generations,” he told The Telegraph. “Genetics can’t tell us why it happened but we know that a tiny number of elite males were controlling reproduction and dominating the population. Half of the Western European population is descended from just one man.”
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Nearly a year ago scientists reported in the journal Nature that the majority of European men are descended from just a handful of Bronze Age male ancestors.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Just a Few Men Controlled Reproduction in Prehistory and Dominate World Genetics Today
