Half Of Western European Men Descendants Of One Bronze Age ‘King’, Study Reveals

Half of the population of all Western European men has descended from one man, believed to be a Bronze Age king who lived around 4,000 years ago, according to a recent report. Researchers came to the conclusion after conducting the largest and most intricate research of global genetic variations in the Y chromosome.

Experts believe that a king, a still unidentified person who was among the foremost people to rule Europe during the Stone Age, fathered a group of nobles who subsequently spread all over the continent. The analysis of genetic variation in the Y chromosome, unique to humans, also suggested that there was an explosion in population which began 55,000 years ago. According to the report, the population explosions were related to advancements made in technology and the consequent rise of wheeled transport and metal work.

"Genetics can't tell us why it happened but we know that a tiny number of elite males were controlling reproduction and dominating the population," said Dr Chris Tyler-Smith from Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "Half of the European population is descended from just one man. We can only speculate as to what happened. The best explanation is that they may have resulted from advances in technology that could be controlled by small groups of men."

The study also revealed that there were bursts of population explosions at various points in human history, starting from 55,000 years ago. The reason for such occurrences could be due to adventurous communities migrating to new regions with a surplus of resources, and the technology share helped the groups to flourish. According to Dr Tyler-Smith, humans migrating out of Africa can be one of the plausible explanations for some of the population explosions; however it is difficult to explain the others.  

In order to aid the research, the sequence difference of over 1,200 men from 26 populations all over the globe was analyzed using data generated by the 1000 Genomes Project. The study saw a team of 42 researchers collaborating from four continents to create a 1,200 Y chromosomes tree, which showed how the volunteering men were related to each other.  On the basis of the study, it was found that the participants were all descendants from a single man who lived approximately 190,000 years ago. Furthermore, the research suggested that half of Western European men are descendants of an approximately 4,000 year old monarch from the Bronze Age.