Sykes, Bryan. The seven daughters of Eve; the science that reveals our genetic ancestry.

Norton 306p. index. c2001. 0-393-32314-5. $15.95. SA *

Bryan Sykes, an Oxford University geneticist, discovered that virtually all of the 560 million modern Europeans descended from seven individual women who lived tens of thousands of years ago. He named them Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine, and Jasmine. His research began in 1991 with the discovery in the Italian Alps of a body frozen in the ice. Sykes and his team round that the DNA extracted from the 5000-year-old remains was identical with that of a woman living now in Dorset, England. They also found that DNA could be extracted from ancient bones found in England.

Mitochondrial DNA, which is always maternally inherited, led Sykes and his researchers to discover where Polynesians came from (coastal China or Taiwan), what happened to Tsar Nicholas II and his family (most of their remains were round in a shallow grave in 1991), and where all of the humans on earth came from originally. About 11 percent of modern Europeans are direct maternal descendents of Ursula, particularly those living in western Britain and Scandinavia. Twenty-five thousand years ago Xenia and her descendents lived in a chilly Kazakhstan. Today about six per cent can call her mother. Her band populated central Asia and Siberia, and some migrated to the Americas, as well as to France and Britain. Helena's offspring account for 47 percent of modern Europeans. Velda, who lived in northern Spain, accounts for about five percent. Tara's homeland was the hills of Tuscany in northwest Italy. Today just over nine percent of Europeans are from her clan. Katrina's clan accounts for six percent of Europeans, in and around the Mediterranean. Jasmine lived in the Near East. Her descendents are not found evenly distributed around Europe. Some are round in Spain, some in Cornwall, Wales and Scotland.

Sykes writes in a clear style for a mass audience. He explains the science behind his discoveries with helpful charts. This is a must for libraries. Janet Julian, former English Teacher, Grafton H.S., Grafton, MA.