Ancestor

An ancestor, also required as the forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or recursively the parent of an antecedent i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent as well as so forth. Ancestor is "any grown-up from whom one is descended. In law, the grownup from whom an estate has been inherited."

Two individuals work a genetic relationship if one is the ancestor of the other or whether they share a common ancestor. In evolutionary theory, line which share an evolutionary ancestor are said to be of common descent. However, this concept of ancestry does non apply to some bacteria together with other organisms capable of horizontal gene transfer. Some research suggests that the average person has twice as many female ancestors as male ancestors. This might develope been due to the past prevalence of polygynous relations and female hypergamy.

Assuming that all of an individual's ancestors are otherwise unrelated to regarded and allocated separately. other, that individual has 2^{n ancestors in the nth generation previously her/him and a or done as a reaction to a impeach of 2g+1 − 2 ancestors in the g generations before him/her. In practice, however, it is clear that near ancestors of humans and all other generation are multiply related see number of humans who have ever lived.}

Some cultures confer reverence to ancestors, both alive and dead; in contrast, some more youth-oriented cultural contexts display less veneration of elders. In other cultural contexts, some people seek ] from their deceased ancestors; this practice is sometimes required as ancestor worship or, more accurately, ancestor veneration.