Bryan Sykes Apaq

In Northern Italy in1994, two hikers came across the frozen remains of an ancient human. British geneticist Bryan Sykes was called in to confirm that the remains were in fact of an ancient European. Unfortunately, the elements had worn away most of the DNA evidence. Only mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited only from the mother and is the most durable, remained. Few scientists but Sykes had ever used mitochondrial DNA because it was so newly discovered. Sykes, however, was confident in its accuracy and went ahead in testing the DNA of the so-called “Iceman” against that of several modern day Europeans who had donated mitochondrial samples. Sykes was astonished to find that every single one of his modern day Europeans’ DNA revealed them to be a direct relative of the ancient man. Their mitochondrial DNA was a perfect match. There was one female ancestor of whom both the Iceman and about 9 % of modern Europeans

Ursula, Velda, Jasmine, Xenia, Katrine, and Helena had joined Tara as the so-called “Seven Daughters of Eve”. The seven daughters had lived in different times and different places, leading completely different lives. They were not the only women living in their respective times, nor were they the only women who’d had children. Yet, all Europeans can trace their ancestry back to the seven of them. According to Sykes, we’ll never know why it was just seven. In an attempt to explain the possibility, he coined the term “Clan Mother”. A clan mother would’ve needed to have at least two daughters, both of whom would have needed to have daughters of their own. Every subsequent generation would’ve needed to have at least one daughter. There were certainly other Clans in Europe, of who modern people are still descendants. However, even a single generation of no daughters would end the