The common ancestor of all humans

This is the story of our most recent common ancestor. She is called Mitochondrial Eve. She is different from the Eve mentioned in the bible.

Scientists have found a method of extracting the substance named DNA from old bones. If they find two similar skeletons, by studying the DNA, they can say which is older. They can even say how much older. They can say which is an ape skeleton and which is a human skeleton. They can also say if the older skeleton is that of an ancestor of the other one. They can collect a sample of your DNA by merely rubbing a cotton bud on your inside-cheek. That will show them which part of the world your ancestors came from!

Using these methods, scientists have identified a set of bones found buried in East Africa as being approximately 155,000 years old. From the skeleton’s shape and from the DNA, they know that it is the skeleton of a woman. The amazing discovery is that she is the ancestor of every human being on earth! We all have a common ancestor! The colour of our skin, where we live, and the shape of our eyes may differ, but we have a common ancestor. During this work, scientists studied mitochondrial DNA. This is a part of the DNA that every girl inherits from her mother. The mitochondrial DNA from your check and the one from your great, great, great grandmother's bones would be very similar. 

Other scientists are using the study of DNA to discover more about our ancestors. In October 2022, a scientist named Svante Paabo earned a Nobel Prize for such discoveries.

Svante Paabo: Scientist who extracted DNA from 40,000-year-old bones wins Nobel Prize


Photo from an article by Segun Adewole in Punch Newspapers


Srinivasan Ramani 

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