DNA reveals thousands of years of social inequality

DNA evidence has shown that a small number of powerful males have produced millions of descendants during the birth of agriculture.

Some people from East Asia, West Africa, Europe, the Near East, and North Africa have common ancestors who lived some 5,000 years ago relate a recent study.

According to Harvard Medical School genetics professor David Rach, who summarized research into a new book “who we are and how we are here”, powerful people in this period have an extraordinary “impact” on the later population of the planet.

Rach pointed to Genghis Khan, who led people to an area that lies between China and the Caspian Sea, to explain his theory.

He explains that the descendants of the leader who lived during the 11th and 12th centuries created a society that has left a “extraordinary genetic impact on Eurasia”.

A 2003 study has explained how a small number of men who lived that time have strongly influenced the population currently living in Eurasia.

The study is based on the analysis of the Y chromosome, and they concluded that a single male then living in Mongolia has left tens of millions of descendants.

“Tests show that 8% of the male population in the land of the Mongolian Empire have a characteristic sequence of Y chromosomes, and a similar set of sequences that differ only from several small mutations”, Rach says.

The scholar called it “Star Cluster”, reflecting the opinion of an ancestor with a large number of descendants.

The founder of this line is thought to have lived between 700 and 1,300 years ago, providing a number of mutations in the Y chromosome. “Data coincides with that of Gengis Khan, thinking that this only successful Y chromosome has been his”, writes Rach.

But these “Star Cluster” can also be found outside Asia, as Reich mentions, that as many as 3 million people today come directly from a common ancestor who lived in Ireland 1500 years ago.

“Star Clusters” enables scientists to study more historical figures and provide information on social changes in the past, which scientists have very little information about.