Table Of Content

“Important and fascinating . . . the provocative ideas in must be taken seriously The 10,000 Year Explosion by anyone who wants to understand human origins and humanity’s future .”—Wall Street Journal T HE 1 0 , 0 0 0 Y E A R E X P L O S I O N H O W C I V I L I Z A T I O N A C C E L E R A T E D H U M A N E V O L U T I O N GREGORY COCHRAN and HENRY HARPENDING PRAISE FOR THE 10,000 YEAR EXPLOSION “Highly accessible . . . [Cochran and Harpending] ‘get it’ when so many paleoanthropologist specialists don’t seem to . . . a revolutionary explanation for recent human evolution and biological variation.”—American Journal of Human Biology 11 The 10,000 Year Explosion would be important even if it were only about population genetics and evolutionary biology, but Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending ... have written something more. This book is a manifesto for and an example of a new kind of history, a biological history, and not just of the prehistoric era.”—SEED “It is work destined to launch a thousand careers.”—SEED “Cochran and Harpending’s book has provided the best ex ample to date of what E. O. Wilson would recognize as con silient history: not history done just with science in mind or even done scientifically, but history done with human biology treated as an essential cause and effect of the stories that history tells, and as a key without which history cannot make sense.”—SEED “For anyone interested in human evolution, this book is an absolute must read.”—Choice “There is much here to recommend ... and their arguments are intriguing throughout. . . it’s clear that this lively, informa tive text is not meant to deceive (abundant references and a glossary also help) but to provoke thought, debate and possibly wonder.”—Publishers Weekly “A most intriguing deposition, without a trace of ethnic or racial advocacy, though directed against the proposition that we’re all the same.”—Booklist “Did human evolution come to a screeching halt 50,000 years ago when Homo sapiens emerged from Africa, thus en suring the psychic unity of mankind? Don’t be silly, say the au thors of this latest addition to the fast-emerging discipline of biohistory. In clear prose backed by a wealth of hard data, Cochran and Harpending add a biological dimension to the history of our species and hammer another nail into the coffin lid of‘nothing but culture’ anthropology.”— -John Derbyshire, Prime Obsession author of “The 10,000 Year Explosion offers scientists and historians a new and fertile direction for future research and provides the gen eral public with a better explanation of the past, present, and fu ture of human beings___I was motivated to read the entire book in a single marathon session.”— Bruce G. Charlton, MD, Professor ofTheoretical Medicine, University of Buckingham, Medical Hypotheses Editor in Chief of “For years, human geneticists have been uncovering a picture of human evolution. But now, Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending are encouraging us to ‘fast forward’ the discussion.” Human Evolution —-John Hawks, author of “For generations, scientists have seen culture as slowing or halting evolution. In this lively and provocative book, Cochran and Harpending, interpreting recent genetic evidence, stick a stiff finger into the eye that holds that view. Their ideas will be in tensely controversial, but they cannot be ignored.”— Melvin The Tangled Wing The Jewish Konner, MD, PhD, author of and Body THE 10,000 YEAR EXPLOSION T H E 10,000 YEAR E X P L O S I O N HOW CIVILIZATION ACCELERATED HUMAN EVOLUTION Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending BASIC BOOKS A Member of the Perseus Books Group New York Copyright © 2009 by Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending Hardcover edition first published in 2009 by Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group Paperback edition first published in 2010 by Basic Books All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810. Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other or ganizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected]. Designed by Pauline Brown Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cochran, Gregory. The 10,000 year explosion : how civilization accelerated human evolution / Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-465-00221-4 (alk. paper) 1. Human evolution. 2. Genetics. I. Harpending, Henry. II. Title. III. Title: Ten thousand year explosion. [DNLM: 1. Evolution. 2. Hominidae. 3. Civilization. 4. Genome— genetics. GN 281.4 C663z 2009] GN281.4.C632 2009 599.93'8—dc22 2008036672 Paperback ISBN 978-0-465-02042-3 10 9876543 TO OUR FAMILIES