Brief history of pygmy groups

2009/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Eboluzioa

Based on DNA studies, the team led by the genetic Paul Verdu of the French Research Center has concluded that the pygmy groups recently separated. In fact, within the Pygmies there are groups of different cultures, each with their culture, their language, their place of residence... Although anthropologists have conducted numerous studies to determine when groups were separated, they did not draw clear conclusions.

To clarify the issue, the DNA of people from 9 pygmy groups has analyzed and compared a total of 604 samples compared to those from 12 groups living in the area but not pygmies. Thus, they have discovered that until about 2,800 years ago all were one and from then on began to separate. It seems that the pygmies began to separate from those of normal height about 54.000-90,000 years ago, but they all lived in the same area. The Pygmies did not have sex with those of normal height, but yes with each other, so the group was uniform. Then, however, they were isolated and then began to separate into groups.