Adam and Eve did not meet

2001/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

The DNA analysis of survivors today is very useful for tracking evolution and human footprint over time.

Thanks to mitochondrial DNA, researchers have discovered that we are all heirs to a woman who lived 140,000 years ago. This does not mean that we came from a single woman, but while a mitochondria DNA advanced, the rest disappeared. Stanford University's Peter Underhill team has conducted a similar research based on the male Y chromosome and found that Adam lived 59,000 years ago. But how is it possible to have common ancestors and not know us? The prevailing chromosomes today were not all generated at once. The mitochondria DNA that has reached us was imposed 143,000 years ago, but for unknown reasons, the stronger Y chromosome did not appear until 84,000 years later. Underhill research has confirmed that human origin is in Africa. Like fossils, genetics will reveal where we come from. But not where we go.