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Post by grumpybill on Nov 26, 2018 12:17:56 GMT -5
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 4,059
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Post by gemfeller on Nov 26, 2018 15:32:35 GMT -5
grumpybill, According to a book I'm reading, mitochondrial DNA is said to be an unreliable way of interpreting ancient specimens. Don't have time to look up the cite today but you might enjoy the book though it's slightly technical. It deals with how advances in modern DNA science are rewriting the field of "pick and shovel" archaeology, especially as to ancient human migrations. It's "Who We Are and How We Got Here" by David Reich. Brifely, Reich's observations on mitochondrial DNA are stated in this quote: "From the outset, it was clear that most of the information about the human past present in mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome data had already been mined, and that far richer stories were buried in the whole genome. The truth is that the genome contains the stories of many diverse ancestors -- tens of thousands of independent genealogical lineages, not just the two whose stories can be traced with the Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA. To understand this, one needs to realize that beyond mitochondrial DNA, the genome is not one continuous sequence from a single ancestor but is instead a mosaic."
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Post by grumpybill on Nov 26, 2018 15:44:01 GMT -5
Thanks, gemfeller . I'll look into that book and maybe add it to my Santa List.
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