Who was Ursula?
According to Professor Sykes,
Ursula was likely born about 45,000 years ago in the mountains of Greece. This time period is close to the beginning
of the Ice Age. Ursula and her family
likely encountered Neanderthals. Her
people were slightly taller than Neanderthals and much slimmer, a trait that
helped her ancestors adapt better to their previous homelands of the Middle
East and Africa. Neanderthals were
shorter and stockier, with large broad noses, built better for the colder weather
of Europe where they resided for the past quarter million years. It is thought that Ursula's people did not
"kill off" Neanderthals, but rather, they were a more social animal,
and their communication skills allowed them to more efficiently gather and
share the living supplies available in the new land. The average life expectancy at that time is estimated to be
around 35 years. Both Sykes ("Seven Daughters
of Eve") and Oppenheimer ("The Real Eve") agree that Ursula's
Clan, and her mtDNA haplogroup U5, were the first permanent Homo sapiens in
Europe. Today, the highest proportion of Ursula descendents are found in
Scandinavia, Germany, and the area of the United Kingdom.