Out of Eden: The Peopling of the World Read online

  STEPHEN OPPENHEIMER is a world-recognized expert in the synthesis of DNA studies with archaeological and other evidence to track ancient migrations. He is a Research Associate at the Institute of Human Sciences, Oxford University.

  Praise for Out of Eden

  ‘Wonderfully readable and excitingly controversial . . . Readers who liked Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel will love this.’

  John Terrell, Director of Anthropology,

  The Field Museum, Chicago

  ‘To discover the real daughters of Eve, read on.’

  Martin Richards,

  Researcher in Human Evolutionary Genetics

  ‘Readable but authoritative.’

  Andrew Sherratt, Professor of Archaeology,

  University of Oxford

  By the same author

  Eden in the East:

  The Drowned Continent of Southeast Asia

  The peopling of the world

  STEPHEN OPPENHEIMER

  ROBINSON

  London

  Constable & Robinson Ltd

  55–56 Russell Square

  London WC1B 4HP

  www.constablerobinson.com

  First published in the UK by Constable,

  an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd 2003

  This revised paperback edition published by Robinson,

  an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd 2004

  Copyright © Stephen Oppenheimer 2003, 2004

  The right of Stephen Oppenheimer to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

  ISBN 1–84119–894–3 (pbk)

  ISBN 1–84119–697–5 (hbk)

  eISBN 978-1-7803-3753-1

  Printed and bound in the EU

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  Cover design: Simon Levy

  Cover image: Getty Images

  To my daughter Maylin and son David,

  to my wife Freda,

  and to my father and mother.

  To know where we are going,

  we have to know where we are;

  to know that we have to know where we came from

  Filipino version of an Oceanic proverb

  CONTENTS

  List of illustrations

  Acknowledgements

  Preface

  Prologue

  1 Out of Africa

  2 When did we become modern?

  3 Two kinds of European

  4 First steps into Asia, first leap to Australia

  5 The early Asian divisions

  6 The Great Freeze

  7 The peopling of the Americas

  Epilogue

  Appendix 1 The real daughters of Eve

  Appendix 2 The sons of Adam

  Notes

  Index

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  Figures

  0.1

  The ‘untidy tree’ of hominid evolution (New Scientist)

  0.2

  Brain size and cultural evolution (data from Elton et al., Ruff et al. [Prologue3,5], dating correction from McBrearty & Brooks [Prologue5])

  0.3

  Real maternal gene tree of 52 people (reconstruction and haplogroup assignment by Vincent Macaulay; data from Ingman et al. [Chapter 45])

  1.1

  Comparison of multiregional and out-of Africa models

  1.2

  Map of the northern route out of Africa (map based on Jonathan Adams [Chapter 19])

  1.3

  The multiple-exodus hypotheses

  1.4

  A single expansion from Africa (figure concept after Toomas Kivisild [Chapter 118])

  1.5

  Illustration of genetic drift

  1.6

  Map of the single southern route out of Africa (map based on Jonathan Adams [Chapter 19])

  1.7

  Timelines of climatic events and human expansions

  1.8

  Map of the Fertile Crescent corridor to Europe (map based on Jonathan Adams [Chapter 19])

  2.1

  Prepared cores, flakes and blades (Foley & Lahr [Chapter 25], after Clark 1969)

  2.2

  Map of areas of Neanderthal-Modern co-existence (after Bocquet-Appel & Demars [Chapter 211])

  2.3

  The worldwide spread of stone technology modes (after Foley & Lahr [Chapter 25])

  2.4

  Map of stone points found in Africa (McBrearty & Brooks [Chapter 25], after Clark 1993)

  2.5

  Modern behaviours and evidence of their time depths of acquisition in Africa (after McBrearty & Brooks [Chapter 25])

  3.1

  Map of the spread of Aurignacian pioneers into Europe (after Davies, and Gamble [Chapter 31])

  3.2

  Dates of intrusion of mtDNA lineages into Europe (after Richards et al. [Chapter 35])

  3.3

  The West Eurasian mtDNA tree

  3.4

  Map of the spread of gene lines into Europe

  3.5

  The West Eurasian Y-chromosome tree and geographical distribution

  4.1

  Map of the leap to Australia

  4.2

  The beachcomber mtDNA tree

  4.3

  Map of distribution of Nasreen and Manju in South Eurasia

  4.4

  The beachcomber Y-chromosome tree

  4.5

  Map of distribution of Abel, Cain and Seth in ethnic groups of Eurasia

  5.1

  Rough terminology for apparent racial differences (with help from David Bulbeck)

  5.2

  Map of distribution of skin colours (after Kingdon [Chapter 114])

  5.3

  Map of Mongoloid types and dental differentiation in East Asia

  5.4

  Spectrum of dental types from undifferentiated to Sinodonty (after Rayner and Bulbeck [Chapter 513])

  5.5

  Map of the four routes into Central Asia

  5.6

  The Asian and Pacific mtDNA tree

  5.7

  Map of the entry of mtDNA lines into Central Asia

  5.8

  The Asian Y-chromosome tree

  5.9

  Map of the entry of Y-chromosome lines into Central Asia

  6.1

  World habitat changes at the last glacial maximum (map based on Jonathan Adams [Chapter 19])

  6.2

  Map of European refuges at the last glacial maximum (after Otte [Chapter 65] and others)

  6.3

  Map of East Asian refuges at the last glacial maximum (map based on Jonathan Adams [Chapter 19])

  6.4

  Map of the centrifugal migrations from Central Asia

  7.1

  Map of theories of entry into the Americas

  7.2

  Language numbers in the Americas and worldwide

  7.3

  Map of the entry of mtDNA lines into North America (map based on Jonathan Adams [Chapter 19])

  7.4

  Map of North America during the last glacial maximum (map based on Jonathan Adams [Chapter 19])

  7.5

  Map of post-glacial mtDNA re-expansions in North America (map based on Jonathan Adams [Chapter 19]) />
  7.6

  Map of the Asian sources of American founder lines

  7.7

  The American Y-chromosome tree

  Appendix 1

  Names used for mtDNA lines The world mtDNA tree

  Appendix 2

  Names used for Y-chromosome lines The world Y-chromosome tree

  Plates

  1

  Reconstruction of Australopithecus afarensis head (John Gurche)

  2

  Reconstruction of Homo erectus head (John Gurche)

  3

  Skulls of Australopithecus, Homo rudolfensis, H. erectus, H. rhodesiensis, Neanderthal and modern man (The Natural History Museum, London)

  4

  Reconstruction of Neanderthal head (John Gurche)

  5

  Newsweek cover (Newsweek)

  6

  Giraffe engraving at Fezzan (Robert Estall Photo Agency/David Coulson)

  7

  Satellite view of the Red Sea (MODIS Land Surface Reflectance Science Computing Facility)

  8

  Shells in reef at Abdur (Gail Smithwalter and Robert Walter)

  9

  Rhinoceros painting at Chauvet Cave (Ancient Art & Architecture Collection)

  10

  Cargo cult leader Yali (Peter Lawrence, from Road Belong Cargo, Manchester University Press, 1964)

  11

  Rock painting at Apollo II Cave (Robert Estall Photo Agency/David Coulson)

  12

  Sunghir bead burial (Novosti, London)

  13

  Gravettian figurines (The Natural History Museum, London)

  14

  Late Upper Palaeolithic carvings (The Natural History Museum, London)

  15

  Early Australian rock painting (Robert Richards)

  16

  The author sampling the Semang (Freda Oppenheimer)

  17

  Typical Mongoloid, New Guinean, Australoid, Caucasoid faces (Chris Stowers/Panos Pictures [top left], Isabella Tree/Hutchison Library [top right], Penny Tweedie/Panos Pictures [bottom right], Nick Haslam/Hutchison Library [bottom left])

  18

  The face of Eve (Discovery Channel)

  19

  Liujiang skull (Peter Brown)

  20

  Minatogawa skull (Peter Brown)

  21

  Figurine from Mal’ta (The St. Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg)

  22

  Mammoth bone shelter (V. Bogatyrev/Novosti, London)

  23

  Last of the Tehuelche people (from Through The Heart of Patagonia, by H. Prichard, William Heinemann, 1902)

  24

  James Adovasio at Meadowcroft (courtesy of Meadowcroft Museum of Rural Life)

  25

  James Chatters with Kennewick Man reconstruction (Herald/André Ranieri)

  26

  Participants at gene lab (Discovery Channel)

  27

  Reconstruction of Luzia (The Unit of Art in Medicine, The University of Manchester)

  28

  Olmec head (N.J. Saunders)

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  SINCE PUBLICATION of the landmark Cann, Stoneking and Wilson out-of-Africa paper sixteen years ago, many in countries from all round the world have contributed to the understanding of our past through the growing gene trees of modern humans. These include the participants in the studies, lab staff, PhD students and post-docs right up to the heads of particular laboratories. As far as possible I have tried to give appropriate credit by citing relevant papers; but while refereed publications are scientists’ main visible research product, they depend not just on thorough, careful, hard work, but to some extent on that more fluid and transferable currency, original ideas. Ideas, like good tunes move from lip to lip sometimes hiding their origins. They are rarely explicitly credited and, in multi-author papers, the originator is sometimes difficult to deduce.

  Work on mitochondrial DNA was pioneered in the US, during the late 1970s, by Wesley Brown and Douglas Wallace. The late Allan Wilson, the senior author on the 1987 Cann paper, is acknowledged by all to have been an inspiration to those who followed him. In this book I cite mainly papers from after that time. With the increasing pace of research during the 1990s and after the turn of the twenty-first Century, new people entered the scene. Without underplaying the work of many other groups and associates, I would like to identify what I regard as an inner circle of scientists who have pioneered the ‘phylogeographic approach’ to tracing prehistoric human movements. Based in scattered parts of Europe, in some ways they are self-identified, since several other geneticists disagree with their methods. Among this inner circle are geneticists Martin Richards, Antonio Torroni, Silvana Santachiara-Benerecetti, Peter Forster and Toomas Kivisild working with Richard Villems. Their work was revolutionized by the mathematics required for the new tree-building. Again I would like to identify Hans-Jürgen Bandelt poly-math and mathematician and Vincent Macaulay physicist, statistician and mathematician, who did much to pioneer such methods and have both helped many teams including several, recently, from Russia and China. In a tensely competitive research field members of this group are surprising in the degree to which they all share their insights with each other.

  The Y chromosome picture was pioneered initially by English geneticists from Leicester (Mark Jobling and Matt Hurles) and Oxford (Chris Tyler-Smith), but has subsequently been dominated by well-financed American laboratories with Peter Underhill’s (under Luca Cavalli Sforza) and Mike Hammer’s teams being the best examples. With large panels of gene markers, they have made extraordinary strides in bringing the Y-chromosome tree up to the same fine detail as that of mtDNA. Since mtDNA is relatively short there is a limit to what she can reveal and the Y chromosome will inevitably overtake her although dating will continue to be a problem. Lluis Quintana-Murci (now in Paris) made significant contributions to both the mitochondrial and Y chromosome stories.

  When not expressing my own ideas and opinions, I have cited relevant papers that signaled a particular advance. Giving credit, where due, can be as important a function of the bibliography as that of showing the text-argument really is evidence-based. Popular genetics books without bibliographies run the risk of giving the reader the impression that the author worked it all out on his own. But citing publications is only one aspect of acknowledging my debts in compiling this book. While writing Out of Eden I have received an enormous amount of help directly from various people in terms of their time spent patiently explaining things to me, constructively criticizing my ideas, and offering their own insights. First and foremost is Martin Richards who, by good luck, I contacted when his own boss was unavailable a few years ago. Martin has given of his time unstintingly, including a critical reading of the book. He is, in my view, one of the main illuminati in this field. Next, in terms of hours on the phone and otherwise, is Vincent Macaulay followed by Hans Bandelt, Peter Forster, Toomas Kivisild and Chris Tyler-Smith. For the Malaysian Orang Asli genetic study, in addition to UK coauthors Catherine Hill, Martin Richards, William Meehan, James Blackburn, Mike Ward and Douglas Clarke, I would also like to thank our overseas collaborators, in particular Adi Taha without whose extraordinary efforts the study would have failed, Patima Ismail my Malaysian genetics collaborator, David Bulbeck who encouraged me to follow the route of his study, Muhamad Mahfuz Bin Nordin, and Norrulhuda Mohamad Halim, Norazila Kassim Shaari, Joseph Maripa Raja, Antonio Torroni, Chiara Rengo, Orang Asli participants, the JHEOA and, of course, Discovery Channel for financial support.

  There are other geneticists who have given me their time and insights. Over several years and while writing this book, I attended a magnificent series of guest seminars organized by the late Ryk Ward covering many aspects of bioanthropology. Tim Crow explained his view of human speciation on the Y-chromosome to me. Chris Tyler-Smith, Peter Underhill, Mark Jobling, Matt Hurles, Mark Stoneking and Lluis Quintana-Murci have all given good counsel. Roger Dawkins and Joe Williamson kindly read my p
roofs in record time and offered very useful advice.

  I have also had much educational help from archaeologists, including particularly Derek Roe, who taught me hands-on about blades, Andrew Sherratt, who corrected some of my misconceptions on the importance of size reduction and hafting in the Palaeolithic, again hands-on, read the whole book and gave constructive criticism on the Prologue and Chapters 2–3, David Bulbeck, who read Chapters 4–7 wearing both his archaeological and anthropological caps. Zuraina Majid took me through the cultural sequence of Lenggong Valley pebble tools. Susan Keates gave much assistance in references and read Chapters 5 and 6 for me. Seife Berhe organized the Eritrean field visit and kindly took me over the ancient reefs he had found. Ipoi Datan facilitated my visit to Niah caves. Graeme Barker, Ian Lilley, Chris Stringer, Mike Morwood, Tim Reynolds, Beatrice Clayre, Sandra Bowdler, Rob Foley, Marta Lahr, William Davies, Paul Pettitt all gave me their time and insights.