The Human Journey: Tracking Human evolution through DNA analysis

For those interested in human evolution can participate in this National Geographic experiment.

https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/

I also sent my DNA samples for research. I was identified as belonging to the HAPLOGROUP [1] type L-M20. Find below the DNA analysis provided by National geographic to me. So looks like although there is no proof that we are descended from monkeys and apes, but we are all certainly descended from an African human male who lived in Africa 140,000 yrs.

Interestingly, this analysis is only for paternal lineage. The puzzle and riddle that has arisen from this study is that there is evidence of mass FEMALE only migrations distinct from mass MALE only migrations. Scientists do not have an answer as to why there were MALE ONLY migrations and FEMALE only migrations. Also, the first male genetic marker goes back to 140,000 yrs old. However, the female genetic marker is more than 140,000 yr old. Which means that Eve lived as a single female human lot longer than the male human Adam.

The common direct paternal ancestor of all men alive today was born in Africa around 140,000 years ago. He was neither the first human male nor the only male alive in his time. He was the only male whose offspring survived and spread out of Africa to colonize the planet. Most men, including your direct paternal ancestors, trace their ancestry to one of this man’s descendants. Dubbed “Y-chromosome Adam” by the popular press, he was neither the first human male nor the only man alive in his time. He was, though, the only male whose Y-chromosome lineage is still around today.  All men, including your direct paternal ancestors, trace their ancestry to one of this man’s descendants. The oldest Y-chromosome lineages in existence, belonging to the A branch of the tree, are found only in African populations.

Your branch of this lineage took part in the out-of-Africa migrations. They spread to the border region between West and South Asia around 30,000 years ago. Many from this lineage settled South Asia.

Branch: M42

Age: About 75,000 Years Ago

Location of Origin: Africa

Around 75,000 years ago, the BT branch of the Y-chromosome tree was born, defined by many genetic markers, including M42. The common ancestor of most men living today, some of this man’s descendants would begin the journey out of Africa, to India and the Middle East. Small groups would eventually reach the Americas. Others would settle in Europe, and some from this line remained near their ancestral homeland in Africa. Individuals from this line in Africa often practice cultural traditions that resemble those of their distant ancestors. For example, they often live in traditional hunter-gatherer societies. These include the Mbuti and Biaka Pygmies of central Africa, as well as Tanzania’s Hadza As M42-bearing populations migrated around the globe, they picked up additional markers on their Y-chromosomes. Today, there are no known BT individuals without these additional markers.

Branch: M168

Age: About 70,000 years ago

Location of Origin: Africa/Asia

As humans left Africa, they migrated across the globe in a web of paths that spread out like the branches of a tree, each limb of migration identifiable by a marker in our DNA. For male lineages, the M168 branch was one of the first to leave the African homeland. Moving outward from Africa and along the coastline, members of this lineage were some of the earliest settlers in Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australia. Some from this line would even travel over the land bridge to reach the Americas.

The man who gave rise to the first genetic marker in your lineage probably lived in northeast Africa in the region of the Rift Valley, perhaps in present-day Ethiopia, Kenya, or Tanzania.  Scientists put the most likely date for when he lived at around 70,000 years ago. His descendants became the only lineage to survive outside of Africa, making him the common ancestor of every non-African man living today.

But why would man have first ventured out of the familiar African hunting grounds and into unexplored lands? The first migrants likely ventured across the Bab-al Mandeb strait, a narrow body of water at the southern end of the Red Sea, crossing into the Arabian Peninsula soon after M168 originated—perhaps 65,000 years ago. These beachcombers would make their way rapidly to India and Southeast Asia, following the coastline in a gradual march eastward.  By 50,000 years ago, they had reached Australia. These were the ancestors of today’s Australian Aborigines.

It is also likely that a fluctuation in climate may have contributed to your ancestors’ exodus out of Africa. The African ice age was characterized by drought rather than by cold. Around 50,000 years ago, though, the ice sheets of the northern hemisphere began to melt, introducing a short period of warmer temperatures and moister climate in Africa and the Middle East. Parts of the inhospitable Sahara briefly became habitable. As the drought-ridden desert changed to a savanna, the animals hunted by your ancestors expanded their range and began moving through the newly emerging green corridor of grasslands.

Your nomadic ancestors followed the good weather and the animals they hunted, although the exact route they followed remains to be determined. In addition to a favorable change in climate, around this same time there was a great leap forward in modern humans’ intellectual capacity. Many scientists believe that the emergence of language gave us a huge advantage over other early human species. Improved tools and weapons, the ability to plan ahead and cooperate with one another, and an increased capacity to exploit resources in ways we hadn’t been able to earlier, all allowed modern humans to rapidly migrate to new territories, exploit new resources, and replace other hominids such as the Neanderthals.

Branch: M89

Age: Around 50,000 Years Ago

Location of Origin: South Asia or West Asia

The next male ancestor in your ancestral lineage is the man who gave rise to M89, a marker found in 90 to 95 percent of all non-Africans. This man was born around 50,000 years ago in northern Africa or the Middle East.

The first people to leave Africa likely followed a coastal route that eventually ended in Australia. Your ancestors followed the expanding grasslands and plentiful game to the Middle East and beyond, and were part of the second great wave of migration out of Africa.

Beginning about 40,000 years ago, the climate shifted once again and became colder and more arid. Drought hit Africa and the grasslands reverted to desert, and for the next 20,000 years, the Saharan Gateway was effectively closed. With the desert impassable, your ancestors had two options: remain in the Middle East, or move on. Retreat back to the home continent was not an option.

While many of the descendants of M89 remained in the Middle East, others continued to follow the great herds of wild game through what is now modern-day Iran to the vast steppes of Central Asia.

These semi-arid grass-covered plains formed an ancient “superhighway” stretching from eastern France to Korea. Your ancestors, having migrated north out of Africa into the Middle East, then traveled both east and west along this Central Asian superhighway. A smaller group continued moving north from the Middle East to Anatolia and the Balkans, trading familiar grasslands for forests and high country.

Today, geneticists have found the lineage in 1 to 2 percent of Pakistani and Indian populations. However, it is about 4 percent of some Austro-Asiatic-language-family-speaking groups in India. It is about 9 percent of some Dravidian-language-family-speaking groups in India, and it is 9 to 10 percent of male lineages in Sri Lanka. In Borneo, it is about 5 percent of the population. In Malaysia, it is about 6 percent of the population.

Branch: P128

Age: About 45,000 years ago

Location of Origin: South Asia

The next male ancestor in your ancestral lineage is the man who gave rise to P128, a marker found in more than half of all non-Africans alive today. This man was born around 45,000 years ago in the Middle East or Central Asia.

The descendants of P128 migrated to the east and north, picking up additional markers on their Y-chromosomes. This lineage is the parent of several major branches on the Y-chromosome tree: O, the most common lineage in East Asia; R, the major European Y-chromosome lineage; and Q, the major Y-chromosome lineage in the Americas. These descendant branches went on to settle the rest of Asia, the Americas, and Europe; many others traveled to Southeast Asia.Today, P128 individuals lacking these additional markers are rare in most populations, and are most commonly seen in Oceanian and Australian Aboriginal populations. 

Branch: M20

Age: About 30,000 Years Ago

Location of Origin: South Asia or West Asia

Traveling hunters, this man and his early descendants lived on the big game of the grass savannas of Asia. Today, this lineage has a moderate frequency in India (about 10 percent). However, in many isolated population groups in southern India the frequency is much higher. It makes up a striking 48 percent of Kallar male lineages in southern India. It is 9 to 10 percent of the male population among Bukharan Arabs. It is 4 to 5 percent of the Uyghur population. It is 1 to 2 percent of the Hui population. In Turkey, it varies between 12 and 57 percent, depending on the region tested.