Mapping human history
Subtitle: discovering the past through our genes
By: Steve Olson
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 292
ISBN-13: 9780618091577
Subjects: Genotype; Population Dynamics; Human genetics; Migratie (biologie); Human population genetics; Variabilité génétique; Anthropologie physique et histoire; Physical Anthropology; Migrations; Human beings; Population Genetics; Physical anthropology and history; Mensen; Génétique des populations humaines; Variation; Evolutie; Genen; Biologische aspecten; Genetische variatie; Homme
Description: Until just a few years ago, we knew surprisingly little about the 150,000 or so years of human existence before the advent of writing. Some of the most momentous events in our past--including our origins, our migrations across the globe, and our acquisition of language--were veiled in the uncertainty of "prehistory." That veil is being lifted at last by geneticists and other scientists. Mapping Human History is nothing less than an astonishing "history of prehistory." Best of all, the story it tells, of why groups of humans differ and what those differences mean, pertains to our lives today. Steve Olson traveled through four continents to gather insights into the development of humans and our expansion throughout the world. He describes, for example, new thinking about how centers of agriculture sprang up from disparate foraging societies at roughly the same time. He tells us why we can all claim Julius Caesar and Confucius among our forebears. He pinpoints the ways in which the story of the Jewish people jibes with, and diverges from, biblical accounts. And, using very recent genetic findings, he explodes the myth that human races are a biological reality. In the tradition of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Olson's Mapping Human History offers an ambitious, original, and convincing narrative that reveals where we came from and how we became who we are possibly have biological origins.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [241]-275) and index.
Table of contents: title: End of evolution : African origins of modern humans; title: Individuals and groups :divergence of modern humans; title: African diaspora and the genetic unity of modern humans; title: Encounters with the other : modern humans and Neandertals in the Middle East; title: Agriculture, civilization, and the emergence of ethnicity; title: God's people : a genetic history of the Jews; title: Great migration to Asia and beyond; title: Sprung from a common source : genes and languages; title: Who are the Europeans; title: Immigration and the future of Europe; title: Settlement of the Americas; title: Burden of knowledge : Native Americans and the human genome diversity project; title: End of race : Hawaii and the mixing of peoples.