0oSlytho0 t1_ja0nozm wrote
Reply to comment by goose966 in How do scientists know where the mutation in a gene originated and how long ago the mutation occured? by goose966
The way they track these mutations in time is by creating a huge family tree and puzzling the way back up. If a group of people is known to have split up e.g. 5000 years ago and none of them have that mutation, it likely occured less than 5000 years ago in the main population. It's not perfect but with enough samples and meta info we can create accurate philogenetic trees.
It also helps a lot that we have found a couple mummified people with intact DNA from different places and points in time.
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