The Probability of Monogenism

According to various studies on mitochondrial DNA, which is only inherited via the maternal part, all modern humans are descended from a primordial mother who lived in East Africa around 200,000 years ago, earning her the nickname “mitochondrial Eve”. This concept of monogenism stands in opposition to most evolutionary biologists, claiming that it is very unlikely that mitochondrial Eve was the only mother of our species, in other words, that polygenism is the more likely scenario. Here, I verify this claim using probability theory and empirical data about hunter-gatherers.