I imagine you could look at variations in mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosones to find out to some degree. No idea what that data shows though. IT sounds like the original author is trying to make a social point not a factual one about evolution.
EDIT Also, for most of history wouldn’t the majority of both men and women never reproduce at all as they died before reaching reproductive age?
I’m not sure what you mean. While they might come from common origins there are predictable rates of mutation in genes over time, and we can use them to track populations. So by comparing which mutations are present where surely you can get a rough idea of what percentage of the population was reproducing?
I imagine you could look at variations in mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosones to find out to some degree. No idea what that data shows though. IT sounds like the original author is trying to make a social point not a factual one about evolution.
EDIT Also, for most of history wouldn’t the majority of both men and women never reproduce at all as they died before reaching reproductive age?
you won’t find how many had children by finding Adam and Eve, you’ll find the first antecessor of all. maybe you’ll find correlated things.
I’m not sure what you mean. While they might come from common origins there are predictable rates of mutation in genes over time, and we can use them to track populations. So by comparing which mutations are present where surely you can get a rough idea of what percentage of the population was reproducing?
Edit: Gwern’s post above gives a better answer.