This work is a remarkably well written narrative of Sykes' cutting edge research into theancestry of modern humans using mitochondrial DNA. Unlike the DNA in the chromosomes of cellnuclei, which we inherit from both of our parents, mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from ourmothers. It is also highly stable over time, which permits geneticists to determine with almostmathematical certainty the matrilineal genealogy of any human being on earth.
To students ofhistory, prehistory, archaeology and linguistics the conclusions he draws from his research areabsolutely stunning. First, he concludes that all modern humans (beyond reasonable mathematicalcertainty) are descended from a single woman - Sykes calls her, perhaps tongue in cheek,"Mitochondrial Eve." Second, every person on earth is, in turn, the descendant of one of only 33women, who were the matrilineal descendants of "Eve." The book focuses on seven of these women whoare the matrilineal ancestors of virtually every native European. These seven he calls, againperhaps tongue in cheek, "The Daughters of Eve." Third, the oldest of the "daughters of Eve" livedonly about 45,000 years ago, the youngest within the past 10,000 years.
Some additionalthoughts:
1. As with all knowledge, take this with a little grain of salt. Today's axioms inscience may be disproved or reevaluated in a month, a year or a century. This is cutting edgestuff, and there are likely many surprises to come.
2. Sykes is at his descriptive best whendealing with the fascinating details of his own research and field work. His writing style breaksdown somewhat when he attempts to write imaginative Clan of the Cave Bear-like chapters on the livesof the seven "daughters of Eve." I skipped heavily in this section.
3. I am a littlesurprised to sense a commercial-like ambience on Sykes' website, oxfordancestors.com. For a fee hisorganization will test your DNA and tell you which "daughter of Eve" you are descended from. Thisdoesn't exactly lead me to doubt his research, but confirms my suspicions that Sykes has many moreskills as a writer and pitchman than most of his colleagues. 4. Don't be misled by thetitle - this is not your standard Sunday School or Bible Class religious tract. Those who believethat every word of the Bible - through all of the twists and turns of 3,000 years of copying,editing, compiling and translation - is infallible, will perhaps find their faith challenged. Onthe other hand, those who are not Bible literalists may find some edification here, as well.
The only disappointment for this reader came in the second section, in which Mr Sykesvisualizes the lives of his seven clan mothers. He may have spent too much time in the lab andbattling for his new ideas to have consulted with current research into the lives ofhunter-gatherers. As this will be a book of interest to many, it is a shame that it relies onnow-discredited myths of our prehistoric ancestors: the old museum dioramas with the femaleshuddling in caves while their mates bring home the wooly mammoth. To see what these seven womenmight have been up to, I'd consult the anthropologist/novelist Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, or Hrdy's"Mother Nature."
Myrecommendation is AVOID. Wait for another book on the topic.
There is much sciencestill to be done before we really know where the first humans came from; read this book if you like,but if you are looking for truth, the book of Genesis would be just as accurate a place to start.
The portions of the book related to the scientific research really are interestingand necessary. Without this foundation, the reader would be unable to follow his proof that allhuman life on Earth is related to a genetic mother (Eve), a climatic point he finally reaches in thelast chapter of the book. The only portion of the book I had issue with, were the obviously manygrudges researchers have for each other, a problem created by intense competition for research fundscreated within the scientific community in capitalist societies. It is also obvious that Sykeswelcomed the chance to list off former colleagues and competitors as he eventually proved theirideas and research wrong.
The strongest part of the work was the final one-third of the book,where Sykes weaves archaeological, anthropological and historic evidence together in a speculativehistory piece on each of the seven women, to whom more than 95% of all European human descendantsare related. His work pretty much proves this fact, now well accepted by experts in the field. Insummary, he also shows that all human beings basically descend from less than forty different womencalled clan mothers, each of whom would have been in fact direct descendants of a "MitochondrialEve", who lived at the dawning of the era of Homo Sapiens. Thus, we are all related to each other,and different races are not truly that different after all.
I loved the book; it really makes areader think. The reading was a challenge at moments, but not so much that you couldn't get throughit. The conclusion makes up for any wasted time Sykes spends settling scores with fellow scientiststhroughout. I rate the book at a solid 4.45 out of 5.00 stars, rounded down to 4.00 stars. Highlyrecommended.