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From: jenkins@arthur.cs.purdue.edu (Colin Jenkins)
Newsgroups: sci.misc,sci.bio,soc.women
Subject: Re: Univerrsal Common Female Ancestor
Message-ID: <2047@arthur.cs.purdue.edu>
Date: Tue, 13-Oct-87 22:17:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: arthur.2047
Posted: Tue Oct 13 22:17:08 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 15-Oct-87 21:44:18 EDT
References: <2545@sigi.Colorado.EDU>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Purdue University
Lines: 25
Xref: mnetor sci.misc:550 sci.bio:739 soc.women:7772

in article <2545@sigi.Colorado.EDU>, pell@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Anthony Pelletier) says:
> 
> I'm confused here.  Would anyone have suggested that humans evoloved more
> than once?  As in there were several different times and different
> places on the planet where humans arose from other primate forms.
> It seems to me that an event as momentous as that in evolution would have
> occured only once.  
> 
> -tony

I recall from my genetics courses that many genes mutate in similar ways with
significant statistical frequencies.  Of course, this doesn't *prove* anything
about the existance of multiple or singular ancestors, but I should think it
would leave the door open for the consideration of multiple individuals
distinctive enough as ancestors to be called Homo Sapiens.

My impression of evolution is not that a single momentous event could have
occurred, but rather a series of such events.  If, after each significant
mutation, a large quantity of offspring was produced, then the next step in
the sequence would have a significant statistical likelihood in a large base
of individuals, not just one, and so on for each significant mutation.



						Colin