The peculiarity of this gene is indicated by its relatively low frequency in Europeans, the last major ethnic group to be formed by archaic human migrations. Only 11% of people in the British Isles seem to have it, whereas it attains levels of 33% in Austronesians. Its diffusion suggests it originated in the drowned continent of Sundaland postulated by geneticist Stephen Oppenheimer and others as the Mother Civilization of the world. Its frequency varies from a low of 5% in Native Americans to a high of 40% in Australian Aboriginals, although it is totally lacking in many populations worldwide. It is found in relatively high incidences in select populations in its African homeland.
Sundaland in Southeast Asia (orange) before rising ocean levels after 10,000 years ago submerged most of it.
