Considerable effort and power have been invested in attempting to identify the most recent common male ancestor of all Somalis, aligning with our patrilineal-focused culture and history.
And just to be clear, the last common male ancestor is the one man all Somali males could go back to if we followed our father, grandfather, great grand fathers etc. The common recent ancestor of Somalis could be a male, but a majority of people would have his DNA through their maternal sides.
However, I believe a more significant question can be addressed by examining the female line as well. Charlemagne serves as the common ancestor for all white Europeans, even those not from the most recent generations. Maternal descent lines are often overlooked and deemed less important, but from a reproductive standpoint, female descendants have a higher likelihood of reproducing and passing on genes.
For Somalis, I would hypothesize that only a few generations of fertile women from the same family 200 years ago would have been sufficient to disseminate their DNA among all living Somalis today.
Charlemagne was that prolific because of the fertility of mainly his daughters.
And just to be clear, the last common male ancestor is the one man all Somali males could go back to if we followed our father, grandfather, great grand fathers etc. The common recent ancestor of Somalis could be a male, but a majority of people would have his DNA through their maternal sides.
However, I believe a more significant question can be addressed by examining the female line as well. Charlemagne serves as the common ancestor for all white Europeans, even those not from the most recent generations. Maternal descent lines are often overlooked and deemed less important, but from a reproductive standpoint, female descendants have a higher likelihood of reproducing and passing on genes.
For Somalis, I would hypothesize that only a few generations of fertile women from the same family 200 years ago would have been sufficient to disseminate their DNA among all living Somalis today.
Charlemagne was that prolific because of the fertility of mainly his daughters.
