Friend on Harley during treasure hunt
A few days ago I was in my home office and heard a thumping sound from the driveway. It was a couple of guys on Harleys. I though someone had taken a wrong turn but it turned out to be a couple of friends on a hunt for dates sponsored by their bike club. They had to follow some skimpy directions and collect a list of dates from homes and buildings along the route. We helped them with maps and local knowledge and sent them on their way.
This hunt reminded me of the hunt for human origins and especially the development of modern man. Most scientists now believe that our ancestors went through a crunch in which humanity was reduced to a small tribe of less than 1,000 and perhaps less than 100 individuals. All of humanity developed from this small group starting about 150 thousand year ago. They know this because of the extreme lack of variability in the human genome. Compared to chimps we have almost no variability at all. Is there any human group now living that is the oldest. It seems that the bushman of the Kalahari desert have the most genetic variation and are the oldest. In a documentary called DNA detectives on the Discovery Science channel there were pictures of these people and it was amazing how individual members resembled the different races. Some looked more caucasian, some more oriental and some more African. This group is not black but brown. Black Africans are more modern.
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