| > Why is the war hypothesis considered more likely than say a widespread, long lived contagious disease that had significantly higher mortality in males than females? Most likely because disease don't discriminate along clan lines and even if disease killed a portion of a clan's males, the other males of the clans can just breed with females and the relative diversity of the male clan line is still maintained. Also, the fact that it has occurred throughout the world indicates it wasn't disease but the structure of the clan and the warfare. > If there was a period of widespread warfare for sustained periods, it's hard to see how "clans" would continue to engage in warfare beyond say 50% loss of the fighting forces. Why do say that? Also, you are assuming that one clan won't have an advantage over the other clan and that one side won't be victorious. > Wouldn't some women have joined the clan fighting forces also if it was an existential struggle? No because it wasn't an existential struggle for women. It was an existential struggle for men. Women can breed with the conquering males. Perhaps a small number of women may fight but they'll be killed or subdued very quickly. Males are much stronger than females on average. > - which was the pattern in many historical accounts of widespread warfare. And the pattern is that males conquer and take the women, land, resources, etc. If you want to see how conquerors genes spread. Look at mexico's mestizo genetics. "A 2012 study published by the Journal of Human Genetics Y chromosomes found the deep paternal ancestry of the Mexican mestizo population to be predominately European (64.9%), followed by Amerindian (30.8%) and Asian (1.2%)" "Also a study published in 2011 on Mexican Mitochondrial DNA found that maternal ancestry was predominately Native American (85-90%), with a minority having European (5–7%) or African (3–5%) mtDNA." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mestizos_in_Mexico Amongst mixed race mexicans, 65% are descended from european males and 85-90% are descended from native females. And the european males didn't kill off all the native males in mexico. The european males, as conquerors, seized the most land, resources and power for themselves and their male offsprings. This gives an enormous breeding advantage that in just a couple of hundred years, native mexican male genetics is a distinct minority while the native mexican female genetics is a distinct advantage. Keep in mind that at no time in mexican history were full-blooded european males a significant portion of the population. It's just the power of mathematics ( exponential growth ). Think about it, if you have 10 kids and your kids have 10 kids and their kids have 10 kids, it adds up really quickly. |