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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2002-09 > 1031073424


From: Philip Ritter <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Two Paleolithic Y groups in Europe Before the Third/Neolithic
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2002 10:17:04 -0700
In-Reply-To: <F45PAltdX5sg3sU9grD00000275@hotmail.com>


The following statement puzzled me. I understand that the Y chromosome is
found in nearly all mammals so must be much older than 60,000 years. But
since it is not found in birds and reptiles, it likely originated with
mammals back in the days of the dinosaurs but long after mtDNA existed (the
latter is found in plants as well as animals and must go back much further
than 170,000 years). Perhaps the reference to y chromosomes being only 60K
years old is referring to some specific set of markers (or haplogroup) on y
chromosomes, or to the kinds of markers used in genealogy research.

At 11:05 AM 9/2/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>In any case, does anyone know why mtDNA is said to be older than Y
>chromosomes? If mtDNA originated 170,000 years ago, and Y chromosomes
>originated only 60,000 years ago, what about all those people 80,000 years
>ago who left Africa for Yemen via the Southern route? (I believe the N.
>route was closed as anything N. of Ethiopia was a desert during that Ice
>Age then. So the only route was Yemen to India to Malaysia.)


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