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I admit don't fully understand Y-chromosome lineage, but from a layman's perspective this doesn't seem to fit. Imagine 5 - 7000 years ago humans first started
by vivekd 8y ago
I admit don't fully understand Y-chromosome lineage, but from a layman's perspective this doesn't seem to fit.
Imagine 5 - 7000 years ago humans first started experimenting with animal husbandry, and sedentary lifestyles in meaningful numbers. This would expose humans to new diseases that would wipe out large portions of the population, similar to what happened in North America when white settlers first arrived.
Imagine that certain genetic traits, found primarily in the y-chromosome makes people more susceptible to these diseases. Or even that genetic traits found on the x-chromosome, helped people fight off these diseases.
Wouldn't that create a similar bottleneck to what the scientists found now?
Also, since this study uses Y-chromosome DNA, isn't it possible that there was a similar bottleneck of the female population that we simply haven't been able to detect through DNA analysis?
Granted there were a lot of depictions of warfare in this time period, but I don't see how that makes it different from any other period in human history.