Mitochondrial DNA is one of the most closely explored genetic systems, because it can tell us so much about the human past. This book takes a unique perspective, presenting the disparate strands that must be tied together to exploit this system. From molecular biology to anthropology, statistics to ancient DNA, this first volume of three presents a comprehensive global picture and a critical appraisal of human mitochondrial DNA variation.

Mitochondrial DNA is one of the most closely explored genetic systems, because it can tell us so much about the human past. This book takes a unique perspective, presenting the disparate strands that must be tied together to exploit this system. From molecular biology to anthropology, statistics to ancient DNA, this first volume of three presents a comprehensive global picture and a critical appraisal of human mitochondrial DNA variation.

Very little excites human curiosity quite so much as contemplating human origins. More than any other branch of science, evolution - and human evolution in particular - is fraught with controversy. Working from what is essentially the same data, schools of opinion have come to diametrically opposed conclusions. Are we adapted Neanderthals, or a new species altogether which wiped them out? Did the first Americans enter the continent 30,000 or 12,000 years ago? Did the Polynesians sail against wind and current to an unknown fate, or were they just blown across from South America while out fishing? Why do we speak different languages? Is it because language traces our biological history, or are the two things completely unrelated? Evolution, because it deals with a past that can never conclusively be known, was once ideal material for perpetual debate. Enter genetics with a completely new source of objective data. Surely these old questions would soon be settled one way or another. Or would they? Bryan Sykes brings together a world-class set of contributors to debate these questions. The result is eight lively essays, each of which offers a different opinion about what the links between genes, language, and the archaeological record can tell us about human evolution - and indeed, whether they can tell us anything conclusive at all. This stimulating and challenging book poses more questions than it offers answers, eschews jargon, and pursues controversy. Guaranteed to fascinate anyone who has ever wondered how the fossil record, the incredible diversity of human language, and our genetic inheritance might combine to give a glimpse of human origins. Edited by Bryan Sykes, Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford. Publisher's note.

While the basic pattern of hominid evolution is well documented, the recent evolutionary history of homo sapiens is less clear. Application of molecular genetics techniques has great potential for resolving issues over this period, but as the complexity of such data increases, the quantitative methods used for its analysis are becoming more important. This phase is also one of the richest for biological and behavioural evidence derived from both fossils and archaeology. The book will contain expository and state-of-the-art research contributions from experts in these diverse areas, covering data and its interpretation, and experimental and analytical techniques.

This series takes readers on a journey through the evolutionary history of humans.

Your author decided to write this book about Human Evolution after seeing a Science Program about Evolution on KCET, the Public Service TV Station in the Los Angeles area. I was impressed with the amount of research going on in this area trying to find out where we, Homosapiens, came from. I decided to use the Google and Yahoo search engines to find out the latest probes which I used for this book. I have included the many reference sources so the reader can visit these Internet accounts to keep up with what is happening after this book is published. In other words, this is a snapshot-in-time report of what is happening research-wise at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century.

Describes how mapping the human genome has aided paleoanthropologists in their study of ancient bones used to explore human origins, from the earliest humans--bipedal apes--up to Martin Pickford's Millennium Man.