Out of Eden: The Peopling of the World - Softcover

A wonderful, very readable book, written by an expert: Stephen Oppenheimer explains how our genes hold clues to the origin of our species, and tell the story of how our ancestors colonised the world.' --Dr Alice Roberts, author of The Incredible Human Journey

'A mind-boggling forensic detective story, based on the latest scientific breakthroughs in DNA. --Ann Hodges, Houston Chronicle -

The story of humanity is now deemed by general consensus to have started in Africa. The common female ancestor of all peoples has been located there using the study of mitochondrial DNA, and it is now possible to produce a diagram of the various branches of the human family tree showing the routes of migration from Africa around the world. Stephen Oppenheimer's book concentrates on the last 200,000 years. He takes the view that there has been only one exodus, and he follows our ancestors out of Africa tracing their routes northwards into Europe, south into Australia and into Asia, and thence to the Americas. He covers this progression in detail, including an outline of the various theories about the peopling of America and the controversies they occasioned. Much of the scientific work which gives proof to the theory stems from recent work. As well as the genetic detective work the story is also informed by contributions from language history and the fossil record, particularly computer analysis of skull shapes. Stephen Oppenheimer also asks other questions. Why did we develop large brains? How is skin colour related to geographical location? Did our African ancestors mix genetically with the Neanderthal population of Europe? Did culture start in Europe or elsewhere? This is an approachable if demanding book. Backing up its assertions with plenty of facts, figures and supplementary detail, it's an excellent academic approach to one of the big questions of interest to all people on the planet. --Kirkus UK

Including - for the first time in popular book form - the full world trees for the female ‘Eve gene’ and male Y chromosome, this book may make you want to catch your breath if you’ve previously bought books on the supposed daughters of Eve.