Bringing human evolution up to date with what have been the most recent findings of DNA evidence, beginning with the split of primates from apes through early hominid species, including the diaspora of homo erectus and Neanderthals perhaps 200,000 years ago, but then focusing on behaviorally modern humans.
Wade looks at evidence that behaviorally modern humans did not arise until about 50,000 years ago and probably left Africa shortly thereafter via the Red Sea, spread across the southern Arabian peninsula and into India, before splitting into different groupings on the Eurasian landmass. The breeding population for this diaspora may have come from as few as 150 females, according to DNA evidence.
Wade looks at the the beginning of speech, and makes quite a few inferences on early human culture as hunter gatherers living in small bands compared not only to known hunter gatherer troops, but also on Chimp society. Wade follows up with human populations in Europe during and after the ice ages, discussing the population pressures brought about during environmental extremes, especially in the short interglacial freezing known as the lesser dryas, and the efflorescence of humans with the retreating ice. He repeats much of Sykes evidence for the "seven daughters" theory. Also discusses the settling of human populations, before the advent of agriculture, and the genetic pressure brought about by that shift, including the gracialization of the human skull in more recent times.
Wade is at pains to point out that evolution is still very active and evident today, but some of his conclusions in this regard, especially in terms of race, seem a bit far fetched. He also shows the light that DNA evidence can cast on historical trends and questions, including Sally Hemmings, the mongolization of much of east Europe, the aboriginal ancestry of the British isles, and perhaps the genetic pressure for greater intelligence of Ashkenazi Jews who were forced into intellectually demanding roles in the late medieval ages.
Author: Wade, Nicholas
Date Published: 2006
Length: 320 pp & 12hr 50min
electronic print & audio
Narrator: Sklar, Alan
