Sykes presents Tara’s existence as more labored and difficult in comparison to the first four daughters. The warmer temperatures of northern Italy, he explains, meant that the landscape was heavily wooded; instead of tundra animals, there were red deer and wild boar, which were hard and dangerous to hunt. As a result of this ‘poverty,’ the growth in artistic expression and social behaviors in bands such as Tara’s were stifled, and groups were constantly on the move. In this chapter, Sykes presents a reasonably believable narrative recounting how Tara’s tribe incidentally discovered boats. According to Sykes, just over 9 percent of modern Europeans are direct maternal descendents of Tara.
Time Period: 17,000 years ago
Band Type: Hunter-Gatherer
Climate: Even warmer
Ancient Location: Northwest Italy
Modern Location: Modern descendents of Tara are numerous west of Britain and in Ireland, and also along the Mediterranian and the western edge of Europe.