Category: Xenia

Xenia

Of the seven clan mothers, next came Xenia. Sykes imagines Xenia as giving birth to twins, which would have presented an awfully tricky situation for her band of hunter-gatherers. Approximately 6 percent of modern Europeans are direct maternal descendents of Xenia.

Time Period: 25,000 years ago

Band Type: Hunter-Gatherer

Climate: Frigid, with winter temperatures commonly reaching 20 below zero for weeks at a time

Ancient Location: The great plains of Europe, stretching from lowland Britain to Kazakhstan

Modern Location: Modern descendents of Xenia are represented all throughout Europe. Interestingly, because successive generations moved further and further east, descendents of Xenia are also prevalent throughout central Asia, Siberia, and can even be found in 1 percent of native American mitochondrial DNA.