Our Genetically Dense Origins
I will preface this article by being upfront about the lack of scientific rigor. If you feel the need, please send me an email and tell me about all the ways that this article is incorrect. The purpose of this article to just to make you wonder, as it did me. If nothing else, the premise explained in this article makes for an interesting story.
927,975 - 810,975 BCE
About 930,000 years ago, Homo heidelbergensis, the breeding population of Homo sapiens, Homo erectus, and Homo neanderthalensis, was reduced to about 1,280 individuals due to the Early-Middle Pleistocene Bottleneck. The Early-Middle Pleistocene Bottleneck was a sustained period of extreme climate shifts that lasted about 117,000 years. 1
This event created the core set of alleles and haplotypes that all future humans and Neanderthals will inherit.
297,975 BCE
The Early-Middle Pleistocene Bottleneck comes to an end. The surviving 1,280 individuals have evolved into two groups:
- The group that migrated north into Europe and became Neanderthals
- The group that stayed in Africa and became Homo sapiens
This group of Homo sapiens carries the full library of alleles and haplotypes of modern day humans. 2
71,975 BCE
An ongoing Megadrought Era creates a patchwork of habitable and inhabitable regions in Africa. Because of this, early humans were forced to retreat into Refugia, which are small, isolated pockets of land where water and food were still available. 5
- Refugium A: The South
- The ancestors of the Khoisan retreated to the southern coast of Africa. This region remained habitable thanks to its proximity to the coast and associated climate. 6
- Refugium B: The East
- The ancestors of Everyone Else (and the ancestors of the modern day Hadza) retreated to East Africa (the Great Rift Valley). This region remained habitable also because of its proximity to the coast and associated climate. 6
The larger Khoisan population kept most of the original genetic diversity. The smaller population of East Africa will become the group that migrates out of Africa.
71,975 BCE
The East African population begins migrating in waves out of Africa. Those who remained in East African became the modern day Hadza and maintain the second greatest genetic diversity among modern day humans.
Also around this time, the Toba Supervolcano in Indonesia erupted, which may have reduced population of Homo sapiens (South Africans plus East Africans) to about 10,000 individuals.
Why is this interesting?
Many Khoisan (San) people possess the epicanthic fold—the skin fold of the upper eyelid that covers the inner corner (medial canthus) of the eye. In other words, their eyes look Asian. But they also look African. And if you look closely at pictures of them online, they look like if you took every ethnicity and mixed them all together. And that's because they probably are, but being a person who has the genes for all the ethnicities is how the original humans probably were. Looking like an ethnicity is kind of abnormal with respect to our ancient ancestors.
In simple terms: the Khoisan people look as close to what our originally species looked like as possible in the modern day. I find that to be truly incredible.
Let's get weird
I am a huge fan of Final Fantasy 14, the online MMORPG. I played in the beta for 1.0, and have played it on and off throughout the years. I took a long break from it to go back to school and do another degree, but I eventually came back because I was reading and hearing about rave reviews for Shadowbringers. I made a new character and played through the entire main story quests (MSQ) until I finished Shadowbringers, and I was hooked once more. Long story short, the story of this game means a lot to me and it surfaces into my consciousness not infrequently.
About a year after I came back, Endwalker was released, and we finally learned the truth about the Ascians.
SPOILER WARNING - If you haven't played Endwalker yet, you should stop reading now.
As you play through Endwalker, you learn that the Ascians are a rogue band of Amaurotines, an ancient people from the world of Etheirys. The Amaurotines were the original people of the world of FFXIV, and through a series of events, Hydaelyn sundered the world and all its inhabitants—including the Amaurotines themselves—into 14 equal parts. The present-day inhabitants of the world of FFXIV have a soul that is 1/14th the density of the original Amaurotines.
I couldn't help but notice that the Khoisan, much like the Amaurotines, are denser in some way, and are an ancestral manifestation of a people in the present day. The Khoisan have greater genetic diversity than the rest of us—one might even say that they have greater genetic density. Much like the Amaurotines had denser souls.
This all made sense in my head. I know there's no scientific merit to this discussion, but I think it can make for an interesting premise for a story. Perhaps, one day, I will write this story.
-Kairos Anamnesis
Comments? Send me an email! kairosanamnesis@gmail.com