Keith, Thank God for all of the little Gengises. I used to claim descent from William Wallace until I found out that he didn't have any recognized offspring.
Although it hasn't been the study of geneticists yet, the Abu Sayyaf group [http://www.ict.org.il/inter_ter/orgdet.cfm?orgid=3 ] in the southern Philippines can probably claim descent from the Bugis people of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. http://www.emp.pdx.edu/htliono/sulsel.html They are from whence the term 'Bugie or Boogie Man' cometh. They have populated most of Madagascar off the coast of East Africa and were traders and pirates ranging all over South and Southeast Asia and purposely started family lines wherever they settled [their women were homebodies]. My guess is that the Genghis dudes will do well on dry land but when they start island-hopping, they are going to get wet. Bill Ward On Fri, 14 Feb 2003 08:35:01 +0000 Keith Hudson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > As we wait helplessly while Bush and Blair take us closer to what > might > become a conflagration over the whole of the Middle East, some FWers > might > welcome an interesting diversion into genetics. After all, when this > crisis > finally blows over, the longer-term future of mankind -- for reasons > of > fertility, genetic quality, food and (probably) energy reasons -- > will > depend on developing genetic know-how. The following is from the NYT > of 11 > February 2003. > > KSH > > <<<< > A PROLIFIC GENGHIS KHAN, IT SEEMS, HELPED PEOPLE THE WORLD > > Nicholas Wade > > A remarkable living legacy of the Mongol empire has been discovered > by > geneticists in a survey of human populations from the Caucasus to > China. > > They find that as many as 8 percent of the men dwelling in the > confines of > the former Mongol empire bear Y chromosomes that seem characteristic > of the > Mongol ruling house. > If so, some 16 million men, or half a percent of the world's male > population, can probably claim descent from Genghis Khan. > > The finding seems to be the first proof, on a genetic level, of the > occurrence in humans of sexual selection, a form of sex-based > natural > selection in which a male or female has an unusual number of > offspring. > This process can greatly influence the genetic makeup of a species, > resulting in otherwise puzzling features like the peacock's > cumbersome tail. > > The survey was conducted by Dr. Chris Tyler-Smith of Oxford > University and > geneticist colleagues in China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia. > Over 10 > years they collected blood from 16 populations that live in and > around the > former Mongol empire. In the late 13th century the sons of Genghis > Khan > controlled territory that stretched from the Pacific coast of China > to the > Caspian Sea, spanning land now held by the Central Asian republics > and the > northeast corner of Iran. > > Dr. Tyler-Smith's team analyzed the DNA of the Y chromosome, a part > of the > genome that is useful for establishing human lineages because, like > a > surname, it is passed down from father to son. They found that a > cluster of > Y chromosomes carried a genetic signature showing they were closely > related > to one another and to a single founder chromosome in the recent > past. These > signature chromosomes were far more common than would be expected by > chance > among most of the populations living within the former Mongol > empire. But > none of the peoples outside the empire carried the chromosomes, > except for > the Hazara people of Pakistan and Afghanistan, former Mongol > soldiers who > claim descent from Genghis Khan. > > Dr. Tyler-Smith said the signature chromosomes probably belonged to > members > of the Mongol ruling house. They could have become so common in > part > because of the rapes that occurred during the Mongol conquest, but > more > probably because the Mongol khans had access to large numbers of > women in > the captive territories they ruled for two centuries. An article > about the > geneticists' findings has been published electronically by The > American > Journal of Human Genetics. > > Genghis Khan's sons and heirs ruled over the various khanates in > his > empire, and may well have used their position to establish large > harems, > especially if they followed their father's example. David Morgan, a > historian of Mongol history at the University of Wisconsin, said > Genghis's > eldest son, Tushi, had 40 sons. > > As for Genghis himself, Dr. Morgan cited a passage from `Ata-Malik > Juvaini, > a Persian historian who wrote a long treatise on the Mongols in > 1260. > Juvaini said: "Of the issue of the race and lineage of Chingiz Khan, > there > are now living in the comfort of wealth and affluence more than > 20,000. > More than this I will not say . . . lest the readers of this history > should > accuse the writer of exaggeration and hyperbole and ask how from the > loins > of one man there could spring in so short a time so great a > progeny." > > Dr. Morgan said that since Mongol rulers controlled a large area, it > was > "perfectly plausible" that they should have fathered many children. > "It's > pretty clear what they were doing when they were not fighting," he > said. > > The Mongol rulers' apparent assiduity in propagating their genes > has > surprised even human behavioral ecologists, researchers who seek to > explain > many aspects of human society in terms of the pursuit of > reproductive > advantage. > > "I think it's astonishing," said Dr. Robin Dunbar of the University > of > Liverpool, co-author of a leading textbook of human behavioral > ecology. > "This is a staggering example of how a very small lineage can have a > hugely > disproportionate share of the descendant population." > > Dr. Dunbar said it was known that in tribes like the Yanomamo of > Brazil, > men of high status tended to have more children. But the Mongol > study was > the first to his knowledge to document this on a genetic level. > "It's > exactly equivalent to elephant seals slogging it out on the beach -- > a > handful of males get all the matings," he said. > > The practice may have been common in human history and would explain > why so > many male lineages have gone extinct, leaving a single survivor. It > could > also explain why "Adam," the common ancestor of all Y chromosomes, > seems to > have lived much earlier than "Eve," the common ancestor of all > mitochondria, genetic elements passed down through the female line, > Dr. > Dunbar said. When some individuals have far more children than > others, the > formula for calculating the time to the common ancestor yields a > much > earlier date. > > Dr. Tyler-Smith and his colleagues estimate that the common ancestor > of the > signature chromosomes they found in the Mongol empire populations > lived in > around A.D. 1000, 162 years before the birth of Genghis Khan. Dr. > Morgan > said, "I see no reason why the family shouldn't have descended in a > straight line" from that time to Genghis Khan. > > The geneticists' evidence for linking the cluster of signature > chromosomes > to Genghis Khan is necessarily indirect. The Mongol ruler was > buried > secretly and his tomb has not been found, let alone any bodily > remains that > might still harbor fragments of DNA. But the signature chromosomes > are > carried by only a fifth of present-day Mongolian men, suggesting > they > belonged to an elite group, presumably the lineage of Genghis Khan > and his > sons. > > Dr. Tyler-Smith and his colleagues argue they have found a second > link to > Genghis Khan, through the Hazaras, whose oral tradition holds that > some of > them are his direct descendants. The fact that the Hazaras carry > the > signature chromosome confirms their oral tradition of descent from > Genghis > and suggests he carried the chromosome too, the geneticists say. > > But historians find fault with this argument. Dr. Morris Rossabi, a > Mongol > expert at Columbia University, described the Hazaras' claim to be > direct > descendants of Genghis Khan as "untenable." > > "They are descendants of troops and guards sent by Chinggis to this > region, > and I would be very suspicious about a genealogy based on their > so-called > oral traditions," Dr. Rossabi wrote in an e-mail message. (Chinggis > is a > more correct spelling of the familiar Genghis.) > > The name Hazara, from the Persian word for "thousand," suggests a > Mongol > military formation and the Hazaras do look Mongol, Dr. Morgan said, > although unlike some villagers in Afghanistan who still speak > archaic > Mongol, the Hazaras themselves speak Dari, a form of Persian. Some > Hazaras > may have been Mongol soldiers but none of the imperial house ruled > in > Afghanistan, Dr. Morgan said, making it hard to argue that the > Hazaras' > signature chromosome comes directly from Genghis. > > Asked if the Mongol rulers' vigorous propagation of their genes was > default > human behavior, given the opportunity, Dr. Dunbar laughed and said > it was > probably an extreme form, and not universal. But it illustrated the > keen > interest some men have in using their power and status to maximize > their > reproductive advantages, he said. > <<<< > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- > ------------ > > Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com > 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England > Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ________________________________________________________________________ > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > ________________________________________________________________ Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today Only $9.95 per month! Visit www.juno.com _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
