Ages before scientists traced the biblical Garden to the dark continent, Michelangelo painted “The Creation of Adam,” as if the first anatomically modern person were as pale as Pope Julius II, who paid for the job.

“The old master painter from the faraway hills
Painted the violets and the daffodills”

―Haven Gillespie

Anatomically Modern Adam

More recently, a global team of science detectives, led by a geneticist, Vanessa Hayes, traced the DNA of anatomically modern persons to Botswana, back when its Kalahari Desert was Lake Makgadikgadi.

“It appears that the human genome does indeed contain deserts, or large, gene-poor regions.”

―Craig Venter

The genome of a modern Adam or Eve is virtually identical (99.9%) to the anatomical original. But for that 0.1% wiggle room, we would none of us be as pale as Pope Julius II.

“We are all descendants of Adam, and we are all products of racial miscegenation.”

―Lester B. Pearson

Whether the old master painter, as it were, is a universal creative spirit, or, according to the latest science theory, a quantum computer, genetically we are all painted with the same brush as the original masterpiece.

“What a beautiful job on that wonderful day
That old master painter from the hills far away”

―Haven Gillespie