Brian Sykes in "The Seven Daughters of Eve" dramatizes and discusses the founding genetic lineages of Europe.
The information below is provided the review below written on Oct 21, 2008 by Sara E. Lewis.
Sykes says his book is about "the history of the world as revealed by genetics." He names the genetic clan groups and describes their world.
The Seven Daughters of Eve is a must read for anyone considering a DNA analysis to supplement genealogical work. Author Bryan Sykes' conversational and breezy writing style demystifies the science. Although most of the book describes his research path (see Understanding Genetic Genealogy), he lapses into the romantic visions of the daughters or clan mothers toward the end.
Differences in mtDNA Noted in 1987
A 1987 paper described how mitochondrial DNA shows human population evolution. If two people have a very similar mitochondrial DNA, then they are more closely related. They have a common ancestor who lived more recently in the past. People with very different mitochondrial DNA share a more remote common ancestor. Both males and females have mitochondria in all cells, but only women pass theirs on to offspring because only women produce eggs. Fathers pass on nuclear DNA (Y-DNA).
Out of Africa
Sykes applied the mitochondrial DNA knowledge to determine the progress of Homo sapiens out of Africa, the only place where there are fossils covering the last three million years from Homo erectus, to Homo neanderthalensis, to Homo sapiens. In 1997, DNA was sequenced from a Neaderthal and it had 26 differences from the average modern European, which indicates that they last shared a common ancestor about 250,000 years ago.
After collecting thousands of DNA samples from across Europe, Sykes fit the sequences into a scheme to show their evolutionary relationship to one another. He found seven clusters (haplogroups or clades) that frame the population of Europe. Six of the seven were older than ten thousand years. Historians had previously believed that agriculturalists overwhelmed the last of the hunter-gatherers on the European landscape after the last Ice Age. But the mitochondrial DNA showed otherwise. It provided evidence that most of Europe is populated by people whose ancestors endured the last Ice Age.
Sykes' Seven Daughters scenarios also draw on archaeology and climate records, including styles of tools, pollen in ice cores, animal and fish bones. “Theses are real people, genetically almost identical to us, their descendants, but living in very different circumstances,” he explained.
Ursula
Ursula is the oldest clan mother and she lived 45,000 years ago. Her clan faced the Neanderthals and moved further into cold Europe than any of there kind had before. They edged the Neanderthals into extinction and currently make up about 11 percent of the modern European population.
Xenia
Xenia and her clan came into being about 20,000 years ago at a time when earlier species of the genus Homo had become extinct and modern humans had Europe to themselves. Although the continent was cold and inhospitable, the tundra was teeming with bison and reindeer. Three branches of Xenia’s clan fanned out across Europe and 6 percent of today’s Europeans trace their mitochondrial DNA back through her clan.
Helena
Helena, or haplogroup H, was formed by genetic mutations beginning 20,000 years ago. The Glacial Maximum pushed these new Europeans south and up against the Alps and Pyrenees. Her clan may have known the cave paintings at Dordogne in France. This was the most successful clan and 47 percent of modern Europeans are descended from them.
Velda
A copy error in DNA marks the genesis of Velda’s clan about 17,000 years ago. The clan lived in southern France, Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula. They maintained a permanent base camp and produced symbolic and naturalistic art. About 5 percent of Europeans were members of this clan.
Tara
Tara’s clan was launched about 17,000 years ago. Her clan lived in Italy in the depths of the Ice Age. They were less prosperous, but perhaps developed musical instruments and boats. The maritime lifestyle provided the clan with mussels and seals to eat. About 9 percent of Europeans are members of the clan of Tara. They live around the Mediterranean and are numerous in Britain and Ireland.
Katrine
Younger still, Katrine’s clan was differentiated about 15,000 years ago. People still lived in small bands at that time, but the world was warming and would soon make this hunting lifestyle less necessary. Katrine’s clan domesticated animals to live in herds and provide food and companionship. Six percent of native Europeans are from the clan of Katrine.
Jasmine
When Jasmine’s clan formed, the Last Ice Age was at an end. Jasmine’s clan lived in permanent quarters and began to plant seeds, raise crops, and herd animals. Today, 17 percent of Europeans are in the clan of Jasmine. One group followed the Mediterranean coast and found its way to the west of Britain, and is common in Cornwall, Wales, and the west of Scotland. The other is common in the central portion of northern Europe.
DNA Connections Through Time and Around the World Build Community Feeling
There are 26 other clans of equivalent status in the rest of the world. Interestingly, Africa has only 13 percent of the world’s population yet 40 percent of the maternal clans originated there.
Said Sykes “Until I started this work I always thought of my ancestors, if I thought of them at all, as some sort of vague and amorphous collection of dead people with no solid connection to me or the modern world, and certainly no real relevance to either
… But once I had realized, through the genetics, that one of my ancestors was actually there, taking part, it was no longer merely interesting – it is overwhelming. DNA is the messenger which illuminates that connections, handed down from generation to generation, carried, literally, in the bodies of my ancestors. Each message traces a journey through time and space … When two people find out that they are in the same clan they often experience this feeling of connection. Very few can put it into words, but it is most definitely there.”
Many DNA communities have been established to explore these connections.
Read more at Suite101: The Seven Daughters of Eve: Bryan Sykes Personalizes the mtDNA Clans that Populated Europe
