An Inflated Mutation Rate?
Perhaps even more important than the inability to precisely specify the origin a given DNA sequences is the potential for gross error in the dating methods used to relate differing DNA sequences. When I first noted that at least some of the dates ascribed to separation of human DNA groups was based on the mutation rate that would explain the divergence of humans and chimps from a common ancestor 4 million years ago (e.g., see Ward, 1991, p. 8723), I began to wonder just how much verifiable science went into the estimated dates of separation of various human lines. Could human lines be mutating much faster than had been assumed or estimated? If there are major errors in the mutation rates that are used to date genetic separation of human groups, then our application of the DNA evidence to New World origins could be wildly misleading. In fact, there is reason to doubt the standard mutation rates used.
