Mitochondrial Eve: The Ancestor We All Share
A controversial answer to the question “Who are we?”
If you are interested in a specific culture, look at its creation myth. How the world was created, but most importantly — how did people come to inhabit it — , is the nucleus of our sense of identity. Around the globe, indigenous tribes and developed civilizations have always built their entire mythology on one foundation: their version of the answer to “How did it all begin?”
Creation myths have always shaped the values of the culture. And the big and small ways in which it expresses itself.
But what does science say? What is the farthest point in history that we can look into the eyes of an ancestor?
And, above all, what does this tell us about ourselves?
A Woman of Controversy
Since the concept of “Mitochondrial Eve” was presented in 1987, some scientists have called the name “regrettable.” It evokes the image of “the first woman,” a single individual who was the beginning of all.
Reality is far more nuanced.
