In genetic genealogy, the identical ancestors point (IAP), or all common ancestors (ACA) point, or genetic isopoint, is the most recent point in a given population's past such that each individual alive at this point either has no living descendants, or is the ancestor of every individual alive in the present. This point lies further in the past than the population's most recent common ancestor (MRCA). Calculation A set of full siblings has an IAP one generation back: their parents. Similarly, double first cousins have an IAP two generations back: the four grandparents. Considering all humans alive today and moving back in time, we eventually arrive at the MRCA to all humans. The MRCA had many contemporary companions. Many of these contemporaries had descendant lines to some people living today, but not to all people living today. Others did not have any children, or had descendants, but all descendant lines are now fully extinct. Going further back, all the ancestors of the MRCA are also common ancestors to all humans, just not the most recent. As we move further back in time, other common ancestors will be found on other lines, resulting in more and more of the ancient population being common ancestors. Eventually the point is reached where all people in the past population fall into one of two categories: they are common ancestors, with at least one line of descent to everyone living today, or they are the ancestors of no one alive today, because their lines of descent are completely extinct on every branch. This point in time is termed the 'identical ancestors point'. Joseph T. Chang has proposed that in a large, well mixed population of size , we only have to go generations in the past to find the time when everyone in the population (who left descendants) is an ancestor to the entire population. For example, a population of 4,000 individuals would, on average, have a most recent common ancestor about 13 generations earlier and an IAP about 24 or 25 generations earlier. (This model assumes random mate choice, which is unrealistic for the human population, where geographic obstacles have greatly reduced mixing across the entire population.) Of Homo sapiens The identical ancestors point for Homo sapiens has been the subject of debate. In 2004, Rohde, Olson and Chang showed through simulations that, given the false assumption of random mate choice without geographic barriers,