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10000 years is not that long in evolutionary terms either.


But not unprecedented either. Tibetans got their high-altitude adaptation in perhaps as short as 3000 years. Andeans have a different high altitude adaptation which took no more than 11,000 years.


The common ancestor from which all of today's Homo sapiens can trace a shared lineage to (i.e. the oldest branch point) is thought to be only 5,000 to 15,000 years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identical_ancestors_point#Of_H...


This is absurd. You are citing computer models that assume no geography and random mating. The MRCA is around 150,000 years old and probably from east Asia, and the identical ancestors point must be older than that and originating in Africa.

When a sentence starts with “given the false assumption…” it is best not to adopt the conclusion as a fact.


I think this is right by the other propositions in the wiki articles, but was surprised to find out we don't know the MCRA.

"The age of the MRCA of all living humans is unknown. It is necessarily younger than the age of either the matrilinear or the patrilinear MRCA, both of which have an estimated age of between roughly 100,000 and 200,000 years ago."

"The identical ancestors point is a point in the past more remote than the MRCA at which time there are no longer organisms which are ancestral to some but not all of the modern population."

So the MCRA is < 100kya, and IAP > MCRA, so 100kya > IAP > MCRA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_recent_common_ancestor




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