Abstract
The "Out of Africa," "African Eve," or "Mitochondrial Eve" theory, proposed in 1987, has captured the popular imagination. Cover stories in magazines gave graphic accounts of this alleged "mother of us all," said to have lived about 200,000 years ago. Since the theory dealt with the origin of modern humans (not the origin of all humans), biochemist Allan Wilson (University of California, Berkeley) was a bit out of line in dubbing her "Eve." However, that historical mistake may have actually enhanced her popularity.