University Anthropology Assignment: Journey of Man Video Analysis

This assignment analyzes the 'Journey of Man' video, addressing three key questions about human ancestry. The first question explores the reasons for the lighter pigmentation of early Europeans, attributing it to climatic factors and the need for Vitamin D synthesis, which led to a reduction in melanin production. The second question examines Spencer Wells' statement that Central Asia is the 'nursery' of mankind, explaining that genetic markers found in Central Asia helped trace human migration routes. The final question delves into Wells' insights on relationships and the concept of race, highlighting that all humans are related through shared ancestry, and that the study of genomes provides a conclusive understanding of human origins, unlike ancestral stories. The assignment uses Wells' research to emphasize the interconnectedness of humanity and the outdated nature of racial concepts.

1. Why were the early Europeans lightly-pigmented? (i.e. Whiter skinned than their
African relatives?
The journey to trace the human ancestry tells about a juncture when African people migrated
to the Northern and Southern part of Europe. It was the variance in the climatic condition and
the impact of the Y chromosome that was traveling with the Africans that caused a light
pigmentation in the skin of the people living Europe. The people living in the African
continent were exposed to high ultraviolet radiation of the sun, the melanin pigment which
was responsible for the safety of the skin made their skin dark. On the other hand, the climate
was cold in Europe, the presence of the ultraviolet rays was necessary for the procurement of
Vitamin D in the body. In order to give way to ultraviolet rays, melanin vanished from the
skin of the Europeans as a pigment (Wells, Pandora's Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of
Civilization, 2011).
1. Why does Spencer Wells say that “If Africa is the cradle of mankind, then Central
Asia is its nursery”?
The isolated land of Kyrgyzstan was treated as a base sample in the study. They searched for
the genetic markers. Researchers figured out two markers, the first marker established the
journey of ancient people from the route of Middle East, while the other marker established
this journey from the route of central Asia. The marker of Central Asia was present in all the
European samples. This unlocking of another route of the journey forced Spencer Wells to
make the above-said statement (Wells, 2017).
1. Near the end of the video, wells say, "We can all trace our ancestry back to those few
people that left Africa 50,000 years ago." What does Wells say about lessons about
relationships and old-fashioned concepts of ‘race':

This journey tells us few cardinal truths about relationships and the concept of the race.
Relationship
The findings of the journey deduct that all the inhabitants of the earth are brothers and sisters
separated by 2000 odd generations. It means that the present face and the features that the
human race has acquired at different places was just the same 2000 generations ago.
Race
There are two methods to explore the history and the origin of any race, we can have a look at
it from the lens-views of the stories told by the ancestors or we can check them with the help
of this journey of the changing human genomes. The stories told by the ancestors are
incomplete in nature and leaves many question marks. However, the journey established with
the help of the Genomes is a conclusive journey and leaves no scope for any doubt in the
terms of the corroboration.

Bibliography
Wells, S. (2011). Pandora's Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization. New York: Penguin.
Wells, S. (2017). The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey. Princeton: Princeton University
Press.