The Melungeons

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Wednesday, September 07, 2005

The Daily Record - NEWS - WOULD YOU ADAM AND EVE IT

The Daily Record - NEWS - WOULD YOU ADAM AND EVE IT: "THOUSANDS of years ago, my ultimate grandmother eked out an existence at the foot of Mount Parnassus in Greece.
Scientists have named her Ursula and she belonged to a band of hunter gatherers who struggled to survive in a hostile environment bristling with leopards, bears and Neanderthals before dying in her thirties - if she was lucky.
In fact, 11 per cent of Europeans are descended from Ursula, which means that thousands of people across the Continent are my distant relatives.

But howdo I know?By consulting a new service called Oxford Ancestors, founded by Bryan Sykes, professor of human genetics at Oxford University.

According to the prof, 97 per cent of modern Europeans are descended from just seven women or 'clan mothers'.
He claims every person in the world originates from just 36 clan mothers, all descended from a woman in Africa named Mitochondrial Eve, who lived between 150,000 to 200,000 years ago.
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Obviously, she wasn't the only women alive at the time, but she is the only one whose maternal lineage has survived unbroken until today.

Professor Sykes said: 'Basically everyone has several types of DNA, but one type called MDNA is passed on to everyone from their mother.

'It is a crucial part of our genetic make-up because it is this DNA which controls our aerobic metabolism.That means you are using your clan mother's DNA every time you breath."

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