Y Chromosomal Adam and Mitochondrial Eve: Polygenism and probabilistic considerations

[Bucky Ball]

And something nobody mentioned earlier in this thread: there’s a lot of dispute about the ages of said Y-Chromosomal Adam and Mitochondrial Eve. There’s even a strong possibility that not only did they never meet, but that they were born thousands of years apart. One recent estimate went as far as saying that “Adam” was born 140,000 years before “Eve.”

There is absolutely no genetic reason why Mitochondrial Eve or y-chromosomal adam need to even be of the same species as each other, nor does either of them have to be of the same species as us.    The only requirement is both are individually somewhere on the line of ancestry leading Down to us.    

In fact mitochondrial Eve’s chronological place on the line of ancestry down to us makes it probable that she was an archaic homo sapien,  Y-chromosomal Adam’s much earlier place makes his species affiliation unclear.    He was probably too early to have been a Homo sapien.

Party pooper.