Guest guest Posted May 20, 2001 Report Share Posted May 20, 2001 Presumably all that "Modern Europeans are descended from only a handful of women" means is that given a population at some initial time, and given sufficient time, and some conditions on how the population grew, then virtually all lines of matrilineal descent will become extinct. Matrilineal descent is considered because mitochondrial DNA give us a direct handle on it. Presumably most lines of patrilineal descent also become extinct. -Arun Gupta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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