KB -

Unless you omit the COMMON from

"MOST -- RECENT -- COMMON -- ANCESTOR"

the MRCA(Eve) and MRCA(Adam) are the MRCA's of all living humans. And his describtion does NOT incorporate any INCORRECT ASSUMPTION.

The definitions given in the linked article are mathematically correct; and they can be - and have been - rigorously (mathematically) proved.

Note that there is not a particular bit of crumbling dust from which we can provide the name, address, social security number, and a set of finger prints for a specific "nameable" person.

The thing that is proved is that

1. at some specific point in time

2. there existed ONE FEMALE PERSON from whom all currently living persons are matrilineally descended.

3. at some other specific time

4. there existed ONE MALE PERSON from whom all living persons are patrilineally descended.

5. it is implicitly assumed that at either of these two times, there were many other living persons, and there may be many descendants of many of them living now, but:

5.a. no persons living now are descended by a direct patrilineal path of descent from any MALE other than MRCA(Adam).

5.b. no persons living now are descended by a direct matrilineal path of descent from any FEMALE other than MRCA(Eve).

The only thing concluded is that the existence of an MRCA had to have occured approximately at some particular time. The TIME when it happened is the only thing that can be found from this particular analysis of the available information. Other, and separate, methods can make some predictions about things like where an MRCA lived, but this definition applies only to the estimation of when it happened.

It's MATHEMATICS, applied to genealogy, with the names omitted.

John