Is there evidence of a single common matriarchal or patriarchal anscestor of humankind ?

Question

Is there evidence of a single common matriarchal or patriarchal anscestor of humankind ?

Answer 1

Mitochondrial DNA tells us that at one point, the human population was at around 2000.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/24/close...

I don't believe any evidence has been uncovered that would support a smaller known population of humans.  Additionally, a breeding population of 2 probably would not be enough to sustain the species.

Answer 2

None to bet the farm on, but it is possible, as the evidence suggests a very small initial population.  

In all likelihood there is a single woman that we are all descended from.  That does not mean she was the first woman, or only woman at the time.  It only means that everyone alive today is descended from her as the descendents of the other contemporary women died out.  The same can be said for a single man.  But here again, that man would not have been the first man or only man alive, but the descendents of all the other men died out.  If this scenario is true, than it is unlikely that the single man, and the single woman were partners.  They were likely from different generations and maybe not even alive at the same time.  In fact one may have been a descendent of the other.

Answer 3

In addition to mitochondrial DNA, handed down through women, there is the Y chromosome, handed down from men.  There appears to be a choke point, about 70,000 years ago when there were perhaps 1,000 to 10,000 humans that all modern humans are related to.  There is no evidence for a single pair of individuals.  And a single pair of humans couldn't repopulate the Earth.  The next generation would have to be a mixture of boys and girls, and they'd have to mate with each other.  It'd be ugly.

There is a pygmy tribe in southeast Asia.  A reporter had heard about them and went out to visit them.  There weren't many left, maybe 40.  About 20 years ago, they all got together and decided to go extinct.  That is, they decided not to have any children.  There were so few of them left, that any marriage would be close inbreeding.  They had already discovered that this leads to all sorts of malformations.  And to say that they were short is an understatement.  So they did not think that they would be able to attract mates outside of their tribe. I find it astonishing that they would choose death. But i've seen Down's syndrome first hand. I can barely imagine the impact if it were my own child.