Reflections of Our Past: How Human History Is Revealed in Our Genes

In this gem of a book, Relethford, an anthropologist at SUNY Oneonta, examines how members of his field use genetic information to shed light on human origins and prehistory, and he questions some orthodox views along the way. Through intuitive examples and friendly analogies, Relethford shows the lay reader why our closest living relatives are the African apes and how one's method of genetic classification depends on the questions one is trying to answer. Examining how our genetic variations inform us about our origins, he tentatively challenges current views by proposing that not all of our ancestors originated in Africa 150,000 years ago--some came from other continents. Then there is the question of what happened to the ill-fated Neanderthals: Relethford shows that differences between Neanderthal and present human DNA are not as great as we might think, and concludes that perhaps Neanderthals were bred out of existence by mixing with a numerically superior gene pool. The remainder of the book shows how genetic data from living human populations can be used to reconstruct the past. The author touches on the Kennewick Man controversy (the skeleton found in Washington state was dated at 9,600 years old yet appeared European), concluding that he was probably not Caucasian but in fact a precursor to Native Americans. There are also chapters on the origins of the Polynesians, the genetic history of Ireland and ever-interesting case studies of genetic admixture such as the Jewish diaspora and the Thomas Jefferson-Sally Hemings affair.