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Cloth | 2002 | $29.95 / £18.95 | ISBN: 0-691-11532-X 256 pp. | 6 x 9 | 44 color photos. 54 halftones. 3 maps.
Shopping Cart | Reviews | Table of Contents An Interview with Spencer Wells
Around 60,000 years ago, a man--identical to us in all important respects--lived in Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How did this real-life Adam wind up father of us all? What happened to the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? And why, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do we come in so many sizes, shapes, and races?
Showing how the secrets about our ancestors are hidden in our genetic code, Spencer Wells reveals how developments in the cutting-edge science of population genetics have made it possible to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. We now know not only where our ancestors lived but who they fought, loved, and influenced.
Informed by this new science, The Journey of Man is replete with astonishing information. Wells tells us that we can trace our origins back to a single Adam and Eve, but that Eve came first by some 80,000 years. We hear how the male Y-chromosome has been used to trace the spread of humanity from Africa into Eurasia, why differing racial types emerged when mountain ranges split population groups, and that the San Bushmen of the Kalahari have some of the oldest genetic markers in the world. We learn, finally with absolute certainty, that Neanderthals are not our ancestors and that the entire genetic diversity of Native Americans can be accounted for by just ten individuals.
It is an enthralling, epic tour through the history and development of early humankind--as well as an accessible look at the analysis of human genetics that is giving us definitive answers to questions we have asked for centuries, questions now more compelling than ever.
Spencer Wells was formerly head of the population genetics research group at Oxford University's Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics and is currently a consultant to the biotechnology industry. The writer and presenter of the science film The Journey of Man, he has been a consulting scientist for several other film productions.
Reviews:
"The Journey of Man is fascinating and oozes charm. . . . [It] is packed with important insights into our history and our relationships with each other. . . . Who needs literature when science is this much fun?"--Chris Lavers, The Guardian
"Fortunately for the lay reader, Wells has a knack for clear descriptions and clever analogies to help explain the intricacies of the science involved. Both entertaining and enlightening."--Library Journal
"Wells does an excellent job of making complex scientific data accessible and weaves a tapestry of physical anthropology and archaeology as well as linguistics and, of course, genetics to piece together the rise of the agricultural society, the interrelations between far-flung languages, and the eventual settlement of humans into virtually every corner of the globe."--Elise Proulx, East Bay Express
"Spencer Wells chronicles the history of genetic population studies, starting with Darwin's puzzlement over the diversity of humanity he saw first-hand from the deck of the Beagle, and ending with the various attempts to classify human variation on the basis of different political and social agendas. . . . Wells has an insider's knowledge of the science and its excitement."--Rebecca Cann, Nature
"The Journey of Man is the best account available of the story of human origins and dispersals. . . . This is a first-class account of a whole new approach to the human story that allows human population history to be reconstructed in an unexpected and convincing way."--Colin Renfrew, The Times Higher Education Supplement
"The Journey of Man is a book that should be read, for undeniably the story Wells reveals will transform our understanding of ourselves."--Tim Flannery, New York Review of Books
Endorsements:
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Table of Contents:
List of Maps xi List of Figures xii Preface xiii Chapter 1: The Diverse Ape 1 Chapter 2: E pluribus unum 14 Chapter 3: Eve's Mate 41 Chapter 4: Coasting Away 61 Chapter 5: Leaps and Bounds 81 Chapter 6: The Main Line 100 Chapter 7: Blood from a Stone 122 Chapter 8: The Importance of Culture 146 Chapter 9: The Final Big Bang 184 Acknowledgements 197 Further Reading 199 Index of Pictures 208 Index 214
Subject Areas:
Biological Sciences Anthropology History of Science and Medicine, Philosophy of Science Cloth: Not for sale in the Commonwealth (except Canada) and Europe
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(What's this?) Contact Us Front Page > Emerging Explorers Documentary Redraws Humans' Family Tree
Hillary Mayell for National Geographic News
January 21, 2003 View Photo Gallery >>
By analyzing DNA from people in all regions of the world, geneticist Spencer Wells has concluded that all humans alive today are descended from a single man who lived in Africa around 60,000 years ago.
Modern humans, he contends, didn't start their spread across the globe until after that time. Most archaeologists would say the exodus began 100,000 years ago—a 40,000-year discrepancy.
Wells's take on the origins of modern humans and how they came to populate the rest of the planet is bound to be controversial.
His work adds to an already crowded field of opposing hypotheses proposed by those who seek answers in "stones and bones"—archaeologists and paleoanthropologists—and those who seek them in our blood—population geneticists and molecular biologists.
Over the last decade, major debate on whether early humans evolved in Africa or elsewhere, when they began outward migration, where they went, and whether they interbred with or replaced archaic species has moved out of scientific journals and into the public consciousness.
Wells addresses these issues in a new book, The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey, and a National Geographic documentary of the same title. In a straightforward story, he explains how he traced the exodus of modern humans from Africa by analyzing genetic changes in DNA from the y-chromosome.
"As often happens in science," he said, "technology has opened up a field to new ways of answering old questions—often providing startling answers."
Of course, not everyone agrees with him.
Search for Origins
The use of population genetics and molecular biology in human origins research has been extremely important in helping to resolve a long-running debate on where modern humans first evolved.
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In Journey of Man, Spencer Wells traces human evolution from Africa through Asia to the Navajo people of North America.
Photograph copyright Mark Read, National Geographic Channels International
Journey of Man premieres on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television station in the United States on Tuesday, January 21, 2003, at 9:00 p.m. Check the PBS Web site for your local schedule.
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[This message has been edited by kenndo (edited 19 June 2005).] [/QB]
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: For 14ihiws News Letter 3 Genomic Diversity in Southern India Progress Report: This special chapter of the 14ihws begins a new era and a newer commitment to an inernational effort and collaboration amongst the international community. The project aims at studying selected and interesting southern Indian populations and breeding isolates for various genetic polymorphisms that would unravel the mysteries of migration and susceptibility to infectious and autoimmune diseases / disorders. The results will explain various biological phenomenon of migration and expansion of communities in Southern India was the second continent to be occupied by man, giving rise to the Dravidian culture. The participant can chose his / her own genetic system to study and investigate the samples provided. At the end of the day, all data will be collated and interpreted by the anthropology component. The following samples are available for study: the intending further collaborators are welcome to enroll by filling up the enclosed form and sending it to the organizer: The Progress report of this workshop component is given below.
14th IHWG - Genomic Diversity in southern India Table 1: Samples available for study as on date: S.No Distribution Population Sampled* Random$ Male Female 1 Plains Random Panel 84 84 2 Piramalai Kallar 205 205 84 121 3 Yadhava 239 239 129 110 4 Sourashtran 106 106 46 60 5 Iyer Vadama # 6 Iyer Brahacaranam # 7 Hills Moolukurumba 161 95 34 61 8 Kurumba 151 90 41 49 9 Irula 352 235 107 128 10 Paniya 346 168 92 106 11 Kota 103 77 32 45 12 Thoda 192 82 25 57 13 Kanikar 48 44 20 24 14 Coastal Paravar 138 126 49 77 Total 2125 1551 659 838
* More than one member from a family available for study for confirmation of polymorphisms / new variants # sampling in progress $ sample size will be made 100 in each population
Table 2: Plan of study and participating laboratories (tentative list)$
S.NO CASTE/TRIBE HLA B HLA DRB1 KIR NRY mitDNA 1 Randomn Panel P P U P K 2 Piramalai Kallars Ps U Ws K 3 Yadhava Ps U Ws K 4 Sourashtran B U Ws K 5 Iyer Vadama P P X P 6 Iyer Brahacaranam P P X P 7 Moolukurumba B R P M 8 Kurumba B R P M 9 Irula B R P M 10 Paniya P P X P M 11 Kota P P X P M 12 Thoda P P X P M 13 Kanikar B X P 14 Paravar P R P
Note: Tentative programme of the committed participatinglaboratories Further polymorphisms / loci in MHC or other genome can be added As a quality control, necessary international / in-house reference standards need to be included while studying these samples.
List of Participating Laboratories: B Balakrishnan India K Kivisild Estonia M McElreavy France X Middleton UK U Parham USA P Pitchappan India R Rajalingam USA W Wells UK Note: s Already studied bold already under study
Background: ‘Journey of Man’ National Geographic / PBS channel, “All of us are literally Africans underneath the skin, Brothers and Sisters separated by mere 2000 generations” Thus concluded Spencer Wells, the geneticist from Oxford, narrating the ‘Journey of Man’ in his National Geographic Channel International exclusive telecasted on 15th December 2002 for the first time in India. This two hours documentary was telecast in U.S.A on 21st January in PBS channel. As Luca Cavalli Sforza, father of human population genetics from Stanford says ‘Genetics is the biological history’ and it has traced the migration of man around the world. Prof. RM. Pitchappan, Senior Professor & Head, Department of Immunology, School of Biological Sciences played a crucial role in this discovery, identifying the first coastal migration of modern man (Homo sapiens) from Africa to Australia, through India, 50,000 years ago. The study identified two major waves of migration out of Africa: first a coastal migration 50,000 years ago and the second migration to Central Asia, 45,000 years ago. The second migration expanded in Central Asia lead dispersal towards Europe, Americas, south Asia and China. The NRY marker for the first coastal migration was M130 and for the second was M89 leading to M9. M9 expanded in Central Asia and gave rise to M 45 marker of people who colonized Europe, M175 the Chinese lineage and M20 the Indian lineage. The three populations studied by Pitchappan viz. Piramalai Kallars, Yadhavas and Sourashtrans, had big surprises: All these people living now in Madurai possessed 5-7% M130 marker. This marker is present in, 10% of Malaysian, 15% of New Guineans and 60% of Australian Aborigines men! This confirmed the first coastal migration from Africa to Australia, through India: an evidence that could not be obtained by archaeology has been obtained by genetics, as Pitchappan exclaimed in the film. The second surprise was Piramalai Kallars possessed the highest frequency of M20, 50%, a 30,000 years old marker found in low frequencies in Middle East. Yadhavas possessed a higher frequency of M172, a 10,000 old derivative of M89 - the root of all the central Asian populations. Sourashtrans of Madurai possessed a 10,000-year-old M17 in higher frequencies: it is an offshoot of M45 enroot to the European M173 (ref. Fig above). The study thus suggests that India is replete of various populations migrated time immemorial, evolving and living in sympatric isolation. This isolation reflects in many Immune response gene (HLA) studies of Prof. Pitchappan in health and disease status of various populations and it has relevance in various disease susceptibility, vaccinology and pharmaco-genomics. Thus the Piramalai Kallars and Yadhavas studied by Pitchappan may represent earlier Dravidian populations: Their HLA class II polymorphism suggests a big role for migration, though selection seems to operate on this population in creating this diversity. It has been suggested that proto Dravidian language was first spoken from Fertile Crescent to Middle East and the whole of India some 10,000 years ago. Dravidian culture might have been quite popular earlier days though. In the opinion of Prof. Pitchappan Dravidian were more a culture, and then a linguistic family and the last a ‘sub-divided gene pool’. The finding raises many interesting questions on the origin and antecedence of Dravidian culture itself: it might be an ancient culture in this part of the world. The vedic hymns composed by a small group of song composers in Hind Kush ranges, settling in Swat Pirak culture, gave birth to Hindu philosophy and spread through several regions of India (Kochhar 2000). The influence of vedic people was seen only at the late phase of Harappan culture (1500 BC). Nonetheless, the Vedic philosophy and Manu Smiriti laid down rules and code of conduct for a Brahman and a society. Thus many subsequent migrant populations from different directions adopting Vedic rituals and culture must have become an integral part of the south Indian society. No wonder Dozhansky exclaimed ‘caste system was the grandest biological experimentation ever done on Homo sapiens’ (1973). The sympatrically isolated southern Indian populations thus open up a new vista of science. A multipronged, concerted effort will pay rich dividends: hence this project on ‘Genomic diversity in sourthern Inia’. Further readings: · Kochhar R. 2000 The Vedic People: their History & Geography. Orient Longman, New Delhi. ISBN 81 250 1384 9 · Pitchappan, RM. 2002 Castes, Migration, Immunogenetics, Infectious Diseases & South India - Review - Community Genetics.5:157-161. · Shanmugalakshmi S, Balakrishnan K, Manoharan K & Pitchappan RM. 2003 HLA DRB1*, -DQB1* in Piramalai Kallars and Yadhavas, two Dravidian-speaking castes of Tamil nadu, South India. Tissue Antigens 61:451-464. · Wells, R.S., Yudlasheva, N., Ruzibakiev, R., Underhill, P., Evseeva, I., Blue-Smith, J., Jin, L., Su, B., Pitchappan, RM., Shanmugalakshmi, S., Balakrishnan, K., Read, M., Pearson, N., Zerjal, T., Webster, M., Zholoshvili, I., Zhirikvili, E., Gambarov, S., Nikbin, B., Dostiev, A., Akhnazarov, O., Zalloua, P., Tsoy, I., Kitaev, M. & Bodmer, W.F. 2001. The Eurasian Heartland: A Continental Perspective of Y-Chromosome Diversity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA.98: 10244-9. · Wells, R.S. 2002, ‘Journey of Man’ Penguin Press, ISBN 0-713-99625-0.
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: Site Index | Subscribe | Shop | Search
NG Live Home Tickets Locations Washington, D.C. Chicago, IL Minneapolis, MN > Seattle, WA NG Live Home > Seattle Tracing the Journey of Man Monday, May 16, 2005, at 7:30 p.m. ticket info
Photograph by Mark ReadPerhaps the oldest question asked by humans is "where did we come from?" Since the dawn of human history, people have sought answers to this question in mythology, philosophy, and religion. In modern times, archaeology and anthropology have shed new light on the question while framing it in more scientific terms. Now, a brilliant young scientist has found an answer to this ancient question in the blood coursing through our veins—and that of our fellow humans living around the world today.
As documented in a book and a PBS/National Geographic Channel film, both entitled The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey, Dr. Spencer Wells has learned to read the story of human prehistory in our living genetic code. By analyzing changes in the human Y chromosome—which mutates at a predictable rate but otherwise remains unchanged from generation to generation—Wells has traced the journey of biologically modern humankind. "Each drop of blood is a historical document," says Wells. "Our DNA tells the story of the journey of our species."
Wells' research indicates that modern Homo sapiens emerged from eastern or southern Africa—indeed that all modern humans are descended from a single man who lived in Africa around 60,000 years ago. Only since that time, about 2,000 generations ago, have modern humans spread out to populate the entire globe. "We're all effectively cousins, separated by 2,000 generations," Wells says.
Recently, Wells has been named a National Geographic Fellow. This gifted and eloquent young pioneer will share his most recent discoveries about the ongoing human journey, and outline plans for an ambitious new initiative he will be undertaking in 2005 with the support of National Geographic.
Location Tickets
Benaroya Hall S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium 200 University Street Seattle, WA 98111-3906
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