E-Book Overview
Historians relying on written records can tell us nothing about the 99.9 per cent of human evolution which preceded the invention of writing. It is the study of genetic variation, backed up by language and archaeology, which provides concrete evidence about the spread of farming, the movements of peoples across the globe, the precise links between races - and the sheer unscientific absurdity of racism. "Genes, Peoples and Languages" offers an astonishing investigation into the past 100,000 years of human history and a rare, firsthand account of some of the most significant and gripping scientific work of recent years. Cavalli-Sforza is one of the great founding fathers of archaeogenetics, and in this book he maps out some of its grand themes.
E-Book Content
PENGUIN BOOKS GENES, PEOPLES AND LANGUAGES 'There may be no contemporary scholar who has a more detailed understanding of human diversity or a more compelling vision of its ·unified history ... TI,is project is an immense intellectual achievement, and Genes, Peoples and Languages is a fine way to get a sense of its scope' Edward Rothstein, The New York Times 'It challenges us to define what we understand of "race" and its author has for nearly half a century made seminal contributions to the study of evolutionary genetics, in addition to possesshlg a most wondelful talent for telling a great story' Gear6id Tuohy, Irish Times 'Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza's latest book summarizes the life work of this fascinating polymath, who for the last fifty-five years has been developing ingenious methods to understand the history of everybody ... Genes, Peoples and Languages is, among other things, an intellectual biography - a complex portrait of. scientist capable of mentally juggling the particulars about everything and everybody, while remaining continually alert to grand designs' Jared Diamond, New York Review of Books 'The author has long been at the forefront of research that uses human genetics as a way of unravelling our past. In this short, lucid book he describes the insights that have been gained about the way our species evolved and spread, leading to.different races, cultures and languages' Andrew Crumey, Scotland on Sunday ABOUT THE AUTHOR The world's leading expert on human population genetics, Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza was born in Genoa in '1922 and has taught at the universities of Cambridge, Parma and Pavia. He is currently active Professor Emeritus of Genetics at Stanford University and is the author of The Hi$tory and Geogro:phy of Hu11Ul1I Genes. He is a Foreign Member of the Royal Society. Genes, Peoples and Languages Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza Translated by Mark Seielstad PENGUIN BOOKS . "~' which to view that past. We know that, with few exceptions, many characteristics such as heig\>t and skin, hair, and eye color are genetically determined, but we do not understand precisely how. Moreover, some of them are also influenced by non-genetic factors, for instance, nutrition, in the case of height, and exposure to the sun, in the case of skin tone. Our poor understanding of the hereditary mechanism of these familiar characteristics is due to their interaction with non-genetic, environmental factors, and the general complexity of the mechanisms determining all traits that involve shape. By contrast, we understand clearly the inheritance of blood groups, and of chemical polymorphisms among enzymes and other proteins, because the account of traits detennined by relatively simple substances like proteins is chemically Simpler and easier to understand lind measure. But these traits are not directly visible, and rather sensitive laboratoI)' methods are reqUired to detect them. VeI)' early on, the American scientist William Boyd showed that by using the first genetic systems discovered-ABO, RH, and M