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Reading the History of Humanity

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Reading the History of Humanity book reviews the Invisiblesacrifice sound science for sound bites — we are in the hands of a scholar and a true believer. Chemistry is undergoing a renaissance as it enters the twenty-first century, and it has VOLKER STEGER/SPL VOLKER become apparent that molecules are the key to understanding other sciences such as medicine, biology, microelectronics and materials. The media will no doubt proclaim wonders in these areas in Science Year, and chemistry will perhaps, indirectly, make some progress in capturing minds, if not hearts. Ball’s heart is clearly in the right place, as his final sentences show: “It is often said that each age tends to interpret the world through models derived from its most advanced technology, and so maybe in the Age of Infor- mation we should be wary of becoming too dogmatic about … questions that haunted Haldane, Schrödinger and countless others. It is perhaps more important that we regard this as a demonstration of the fabulously Ancient probings: DNA from the fossil bone of Neanderthal hominids may clarify our genetic origins. dynamic, interactive world inhabited, un- seen and too often unsung, by molecules.” I endeavours in the field in a style rather like disappointing. I found the accounts of the John Emsley is science writer in residence in the that of a detective story. He eschews strict imagined lives of the seven founders of Department of Chemistry, University of chronological order (whether of human the major European mtDNA lineages Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge history or bench science), but presents the (haplogroups) rather banal, at times verging CB2 1EW, UK. research in a logical manner. Human- on the puerile. The tales are marred by interest chapters recording the key discover- unfortunate anachronisms, such as the New in paperback is Philip Ball’s The Self-made ies are interspersed with well-crafted ex- description of a successfully crafted flint tool Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature (Oxford planations of basic concepts in cell biology, as “a real peach”, and simple inaccuracies, University Press, £12.50, $19.95). genetics and evolution. Apart from a few such as the ancient Mediterranean tide com- minor blemishes, such as his odd description ing in. Sykes laces the stories with somewhat of mtDNA as “a” gene, The Seven Daughters forced descriptions of the invention of agri- of Eve covers these topics in a way that is both culture, the development of ancient trading scientifically accurate and understandable to practices, cave art and the first boats. All this Reading the the layperson. made me feel that I was reading someone’s In this first section, Sykes focuses mainly school project, with influences from The history of humanity on his own contributions. These include the Flintstones cartoon series, rather than a The Seven Daughters of Eve: The quest to isolate DNA from ancient specimens treatise by a leading academic. I would Astonishing Story That Reveals such as the celebrated Alpine Iceman, the have preferred a shorter account, based on How Each of Us Can Trace Our grizzly work of identifying the remains of the specific archaeological findings, in the same Genetic Ancestors/The Seven Russian imperial family, the puzzle of where style as the earlier chapters. But some readers Daughters of Eve: The Science the Pacific islanders came from, the mysteri- may enjoy this semi-fictional diversion. That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry ous disappearance of the Neanderthals and, Sykes pours deserved scorn on the by Bryan Sykes finally — the main story of the book — the primitive genetic theories that inspired Bantam Press/W. W. Norton: 2001. 320 pp. ancestry of modern Europeans. nineteenth- and twentieth-century racists. £18.99/$25.95 Sykes acknowledges his debt to others in Yet the romanticism of his accounts of the Howy Jacobs the field — pioneers such as Rebecca Cann seven clan-mothers comes rather close to and Svante Pääbo, and co-workers such as achieving the opposite effect. I began to Mitochondrial DNA represents a unique Chris Stringer. On the other hand, Luca Cav- wonder whether this was leading up to a component of the genome. It is inherited in a alli-Sforza may find the chapter entitled “We proposed resolution to the problem of the strictly maternal fashion, and evolves much are not amused”, which deals with the long- inexorably growing European Commission: faster than nuclear DNA. These properties running academic feud over European ori- instead of one commissioner from each make it ideal for tracing the history of human gins, rather more vexatious. However, Caval- member state, why not one from each of the populations, especially over the past 100,000 li-Sforza finally agreed with Sykes that the seven matrilineal clans? Maybe that’s not years, during which our species has gained gene pool of present-day Europeans comes such a bad idea. effective mastery of the planet. Untainted by predominantly from Palaeolithic hunter– Despite these minor faults, and despite the informational scrambling implicit in gatherers, with only a minor contribution more academic criticisms that one might sexual recombination, the mitochondrial from early farmers who migrated into make of his data interpretation, this DNA (mtDNA) represents, as Brian Sykes Europe during the Neolithic period. Sykes is will be recognized as an important work, engagingly explains, a historical record of gracious (in victory), however, and many bringing molecular anthropology to a humanity, a silent witness to our migrations other scientists will relate to the emotionally mass audience. I and tribulations. vivid way he portrays this battle of ideas. Howy Jacobs is at the Institute of Medical The best part of the book is the first The last part of the book, from which the Technology, FIN-33014 University of two-thirds, in which Sykes describes his title derives, is, correspondingly, slightly Tampere, Finland. 254 © 2001 Macmillan Magazines Ltd NATURE | VOL 413 | 20 SEPTEMBER 2001 | www.nature.com.
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