ANTH 1131 Lecture Notes - Population Bottleneck
Document Summary
We can date our genetic bottle-neck theory. Looking at a genetic evolutionary tree with sixteen different individuals, the point of coalescence is where their genomes will coalesce with one another where there is a common, original ancestor. Point of coalescence is where the genetic tree when it begins to branch out. As time passes, genetic variability steadily increases either because of genetic mutation or recombination. Random mutation should be the only source of variability in mtdna. We should be able to get an idea of how many mutations occur over time. The longer an individual species is in existence, the more these mutations will accumulate in its mtdna. If these mutations do occur randomly, then over long periods of time they should occur at relatively constant rate. The current analysis of mtdna suggests that the point of coalescence of humans is about 150-100,000 years ago. Another line of evidence with the changes in material culture:
