- #1
sevensages
- 180
- 48
Last year I read Nicholas Wade's book Before the Dawn. Before the Dawn is about the history of humanity in prehistoric times.
I am currently reading David Reich's book Who We Are and How we Got Here. Who we Are and How we Got Here is also about the history of humanity in prehistoric times.
In Before the Dawn, Wade wrote the following: "The Richards team's reconstruction of the population history of Europe brought to light an unexpected fact: that most Europeans are descended from the first settlers who arrived during the Upper Paleolithic Era. Only a minority arrived during the Neolithic age."
In Who We Are and How We Got Here, David Reich wrote the following: "The extraordinary fact that emerges from ancient DNA is that just five thousand years ago, the people who are now the primary ancestors of all extant northern Europeans had not yet arrived" (107).
Is it just my imagination, or does the quote by David Reich contradict the quote by Nicholas Wade? If the two quotes don't contradict each other, please reconcile them for me. I don't see how those two quotes don't contradict each other.
If there is a contradiction, I suppose the consensus is probably that David Reich is correct since David Reich had access to ancient DNA that Nicholas Wade did not have access to. Who We Are and How we Got Here was published in 2018. IIRC, Before the Dawn was published circa 2006.
If there is a contradiction, is the consensus among geneticists that Reich's assertion is correct and Wade's assertion is false?
I am currently reading David Reich's book Who We Are and How we Got Here. Who we Are and How we Got Here is also about the history of humanity in prehistoric times.
In Before the Dawn, Wade wrote the following: "The Richards team's reconstruction of the population history of Europe brought to light an unexpected fact: that most Europeans are descended from the first settlers who arrived during the Upper Paleolithic Era. Only a minority arrived during the Neolithic age."
In Who We Are and How We Got Here, David Reich wrote the following: "The extraordinary fact that emerges from ancient DNA is that just five thousand years ago, the people who are now the primary ancestors of all extant northern Europeans had not yet arrived" (107).
Is it just my imagination, or does the quote by David Reich contradict the quote by Nicholas Wade? If the two quotes don't contradict each other, please reconcile them for me. I don't see how those two quotes don't contradict each other.
If there is a contradiction, I suppose the consensus is probably that David Reich is correct since David Reich had access to ancient DNA that Nicholas Wade did not have access to. Who We Are and How we Got Here was published in 2018. IIRC, Before the Dawn was published circa 2006.
If there is a contradiction, is the consensus among geneticists that Reich's assertion is correct and Wade's assertion is false?