DNA research confirms the African origins of every human

Ancestry

Mommy, Where Do Bonos Come From?

DNA research confirms the African origins of every human on earth—even V.F. guest editor Bono and editor Graydon Carter.

VF.COM

June 20, 2007

Thanks
to minor genetic mutations that have occurred over tens of thousands of
years of human history and are shared by large groups of people,
scientists can trace the migrations of early human beings from Africa
to the far corners of the world. Population geneticist Spencer Wells,
the director of the Genographic Project, writes about this research in "Out of Africa." For the July issue, dozens of Vanity Fair
staff members and contributors participated in the Genographic Project,
which collects DNA data from vast numbers of people in order to plot
the migration patterns of our earliest human ancestors. Here's a look
at the ancestry of Bono, Graydon Carter, and other V.F. staff members.

Graydon Carter

Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's maternal ancestors
were part of the second wave of migration out of Africa and into the
Middle East, some 45,000 or 50,000 years ago. Perhaps 10,000 years ago,
the members of this group were among the first agriculturalists in the
Middle East's Fertile Crescent. As the population grew, Carter's
ancestors branched out in several directions, with his dominant
ancestral strain coming from northeastern Europe.

Bono

The maternal ancestors of Africa-issue guest editor Bono were,
like Graydon's, part of the second major migratory wave out of Africa.
They moved northward out of the Near East, entering Europe around
30,000 to 40,000 years ago. During the worst of the last ice age, about
15,000 years ago, these ancestors were pushed into Iberia. After the
ice age, Bono's ancestors moved northward and westward to populate the
British Isles and Scandinavia.

Christopher Hitchens

Contributing editor Christopher Hitchens's maternal ancestry is
of the most common Western European haplogroup, accounting for about 50
percent of the population with European ancestry. This group left
Africa during the second wave of migration, spreading through the
Middle East and—during the last ice age, some 30,000 to 40,000 years
ago—into Northern Europe. During the worst of the ice age, these
ancestors took refuge in southern climes, but as conditions improved,
the group expanded back into Central and Northern Europe.

Bruce Handy

Deputy editor Bruce Handy's maternal ancestors were part of the
first major wave of migration out of East Africa and among the first
humans to enter Central and East Asia, traveling along the southern
coast of Asia. As the population began to move inland and northward
some 30,000 years ago, Handy's ancestors made their way up to Central
Asia. Today, members of his ancestral family tree are largely limited
to the Siberian population.

Carolyn Bielfeldt

Assistant editor Carolyn Bielfeldt's maternal ancestors spread
throughout Central Asia and undertook the initial colonization of the
Americas. Her lineage is part of the second wave of migration out of
Africa, 45,000 to 50,000 years ago, which reached out to the Middle
East, western Eurasia, and East Africa. Carolyn's haplogroup is found
in as much as 25 percent of some American populations, but her
ancestral lineage left no trail in East Asia. How her ancestors got to
the Americas is the sort of question the Genographic Project is
attempting to answer.

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