Out of Eden - The Peopling of the World

Description

In a brilliant synthesis of genetic, archaeological, linguistic and climatic data, Oppenheimer challenges current thinking with his claim that there was only one successful migration out of Africa. In 1988 Newsweek headlined the startling discovery that everyone alive on the earth today can trace their maternal DNA back to one woman who lived in Africa 150,000 years ago. It was thought that modern humans populated the world through a series of migratory waves from their African homeland. Now an even more radical view has emerged, that the members of just one group are the ancestors of all non-Africans now alive, and that this group crossed the mouth of the Red Sea a mere 85,000 years ago. It means that not only is every person on the planet descended from one African 'Eve' but every non-African is related to a more recent Eve, from that original migratory group. This is a revolutionary new theory about our origins that is both scholarly and entertaining, a remarkable account of the kinship of all humans. Further details of the findings in this book are presented at www.bradshawfoundation.com/stephenoppenheimer/==========REVIEW:Oppenheimer's work is a masterpiece of breathtaking scope. He handles the many aspects of the migration of human genes in a masterful, entertaining, exciting and, above all, immensely informative way. He takes a huge puzzle and puts together the pieces in a coherent and convincing manner. He paints a very compelling picture of the timing and the routing of the movement of humans to populate every corner of the world and presents hypotheses for phenotypic differences between peoples. Anthropologists may quibble with some minor details, as did I, but these do not detract from what I have to call the majesty of the subject matter. His book successfully links genetic data with archeological evidence and, above all, with climatological data to plot the routes taken by our ancestors. I highly recommend this book.