Thanks Marcio,
Please help me a bit more if you would.
Take just the male Y-chromosome. As I understand it, there are small
differences in each male due to mutations which occur at a somewhat
known rate. So if we trace backwards, we arrive at the most recent male
"father of us all" and call him "Adam". Forgetting about those who have
preceded him, this says that all other male humanoids living at that
time have failed to contribute to the line of male humans existing at
this time -- because each man can only have one father. Does this mean
that all the other men had lines of male children who eventually became
extinct? If not, what is the alternative?
Marcio Pie wrote:
>
> Hi Walter,
>
> > If every man in the world can trace his father's father's father back to
> > this "Adam", then how can there be any different father back there. I
> > know for a fact that only had one father and my sister only had one
> > mother. Ah, you say, through the paternal grandfather for me and through
> > maternal grandmother for sis. But that only works if the former had no
> > male children and the later had no female children. Otherwise, they
> > could back through the same chain to Adam/Eve.
> >
> > Where does all the cross breeding fit in?
>
> Both the mitochondria and the Y chromosome are passed on without
> recombination (although some people think that recombination in
> mitochondria may occur sometimes). For instance, your Y chromosome is
> exactly the same as your father's. This facilitates a lot estimates of
> coalescence times.
>
> > Something is eluding me. Can someone (say Glenn) help?
> >
>
> The wording used in these reports is misleading. The mtDNA Eve and the Y
> Chromosome Adam are known as the "most recent common ancestors." They are
> not the "ultimate" ancestors. For example, if we take the flood account
> "literally", our most recent "Y chromosome Adam" would have been Noah.
>
> >
> > Oh, and how can we know that all of the billions on this earth have the
> > same mtDNA and XY-DNA anyhow?
>
> By sequencing. And they are different.
Meaning they are different because of small mutations -- or is it deeper
than that?
Thanks
Walt
-- =================================== Walt Hicks <wallyshoes@mindspring.com>In any consistent theory, there must exist true but not provable statements. (Godel's Theorem)
You can only find the truth with logic If you have already found the truth without it. (G.K. Chesterton) ===================================
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