View source for Ancestor

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{{Short description|Person from whom another person is descended}}
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In [[genealogy]] and [[evolutionary biology]], an '''ancestor''', also known as a '''forefather''', '''fore-elder''', or a '''forebear''',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forefather|title=Thesaurus results for FOREFATHER|website=Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary|language=en|access-date=2020-04-07|archive-date=2020-04-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407155257/https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forefather|url-status=live}}</ref> is a [[parent]] or ([[recursion|recursively]]) the parent of an [[antecedent (genealogy)|antecedent]] (i.e., a [[grandparent]], [[great-grandparent]], great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom one is descended. In law, the person from whom an [[estate (law)|estate]] has been [[inheritance|inherited]]."<ref>{{cite book |title=Websters New World Dictionary|publisher=The World Publishing Company|location= Cleveland and New York }}</ref>

==Relationship==
Two individuals have a [[genetics|genetic]] relationship if one is the ancestor of the other or if they share a common ancestor. In [[evolution]]ary theory, species which share an evolutionary ancestor are said to be of [[common descent]]. However, this concept of ancestry does not apply to some [[bacteria]] and other organisms capable of [[horizontal gene transfer]]. Some research suggests that the average person has twice as many female ancestors as male ancestors. This might have been due to the past prevalence of [[Polygyny|polygynous]] relations and female [[hypergamy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/the-missing-men-in-your-family-tree/|title=The Missing Men in Your Family Tree|first=John|last=Tierney|date=5 September 2007|website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=5 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180505211842/https://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/the-missing-men-in-your-family-tree/ |archive-date=5 May 2018}}</ref>

Assuming that all of an individual's ancestors are otherwise unrelated to each other, that individual has 2<sup>''n''</sup> ancestors in the ''n''th generation before them and a total of 2<sup>''g''+1</sup>&nbsp;−&nbsp;2 ancestors in the ''g'' generations before them.  In practice, however, it is clear that most ancestors of humans (and any other species) are multiply related (see [[pedigree collapse]]). Consider ''n''&nbsp;=&nbsp;40: the human species is more than 40 generations old, yet the number 2<sup>40</sup>, approximately 10<sup>12</sup> or one trillion, dwarfs the [[number of humans who have ever lived]].

Some cultures confer reverence to ancestors, both living and dead; in contrast, some more youth-oriented cultural contexts display less veneration of elders. In other cultural contexts, [[ancestor worship]] or, more accurately, [[ancestor veneration]] is when people seek [[divine providence|providence]]{{Explain|reason=|date=November 2020}} from their deceased ancestors.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hu |first=Anning |date=2016 |title=Ancestor Worship in Contemporary China: An Empirical Investigation |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43709965 |journal=China Review |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=169–186 |jstor=43709965 |access-date=2022-05-02 |archive-date=2022-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502083053/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43709965 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clark |first=Kelly James |date=2005-12-01 |title=The gods of Abraham, Isaiah, and Confucius |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf02857007 |journal=Dao |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=109–136 |doi=10.1007/bf02857007 |s2cid=170986424 |issn=1540-3009|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==See also==
<!-- New links in alphabetical order please -->
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* [[Archaic humans]]
* [[Collateral descendant]]
* [[Consanguinity]]
* [[DNA]]
** [[Mitochondrial DNA]]
** [[Y chromosome]]
* [[Ethnic group]]
* [[Family]]
* [[Genealogy]]
* [[Genetic genealogy]]
* [[Kinship]]
* [[Lineage (anthropology)]]
* [[Lineal descendant]]
* [[Most recent common ancestor]]
* [[Progenitor]]
{{div col end}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ancestors}}
{{wiktionary|ancestor}}
{{wikiquote|Ancestors}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080818170614/http://www.census.gov/population/www/ancestry/ United States Census Bureau]

{{Family}}
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[[Category:Kinship and descent]]
[[Category:Ancestors| ]]
[[Category:Evolutionary biology]]