Blast from the East: Does Southeast Asia’s ‘Adam’ trace back to Yunnan province instead of India? Study supports new theory of region’s common ancestor
International study led by Chinese scientists traces the genetic roots of native populations in Southeast Asia back to a father figure in South China about 15,000 years ago
He was physically strong, bloodthirsty, curious about the outside world, desperate to heavily populate his homeland, very sexually driven - and Chinese, at least in terms of where he came from geographically.
According to Professor Su Bing, these are the likely characteristics - and origin - of the so-called “Adam” figure that native populations in Southeast Asia can trace their common ancestry back to.
The claim by Su, who recently led a multinational investigation into early human migration routes in the region, is unlikely to be well-received in some quarters, particularly in India.
It has long been believed that the common ancestor of Southeast Asian populations was Indian, not a figure from South China.
The countries in this region are united by their similar physiognomy and by having the Austroasiatic family of languages as a common mother tongue, in addition to cultural and other overlaps.
After the first modern human beings walked out of Africa some 60,000 years ago, they are believed to have passed through India before spreading to Southeast Asia and South China.
Supporters of the Indian origin theory argue that nearly 10 million people in eastern India still speak Munda, an important branch of the Austroasiatic linguistic family, which is used by nearly 100 million people in Southeast Asia.