Race and Human Evolution:
A Fatal Attraction
by Milford Wolpoff
and Rachel Caspari
hardcover
Posted on 08/07/2007 8:51:06 AM PDT by GeorgeKant
CHICAGO (AFP) - A new analysis of the dental fossils of human ancestors suggests that Asian populations played a larger role than Africans in colonizing Europe millions of years ago, said a study released Monday.
The findings challenge the prevailing "Out of Africa" theory, which holds that anatomically modern man first arose from one point in Africa and fanned out to conquer the globe, and bolsters the notion that Homo sapiens evolved from different populations in different parts of the globe.
The "Out of Africa" scenario has been underpinned since 1987 by genetic studies based mainly on the rate of mutations in mitochondrial DNA, a cell material inherited from the maternal line of ancestry.
But for this study, European researchers opted to study the tooth fossil record of modern man's ancestors because of their high component of genetic expression.
The investigators examined the shapes of more than 5,000 teeth from human ancestors from Africa, Asia and Europe dating back millions of years.
They found that European teeth had more Asian features than African ones.
They also noted that the continuity of the Eurasian dental pattern from the Early Pleistocene until the appearance of Upper Pleistocene Neanderthals suggests that the evolutionary courses of the Eurasian and African continents were relatively independent for a long period.
"The history of human populations in Eurasia may not have been the result of a few high-impact replacement waves of dispersals from Africa, but a much more complex puzzle of dispersals and contacts among populations within and outside continents," the researchers wrote.
"In the light of these results, we propose that Asia has played an important role in the colonization of Europe, and that future studies on this issue are obliged to pay serious attention to the 'unknown' continent."
The paper was written by researchers at Spain's national center for research into human evolution in Burgos and appears in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Ping!
Maybe they came “Out of Africa” went to Asia, didn’t like the food and went west for some beer & brats............
Everyone outside Africa are more closer related to themselves that they are to anyone in Africa.
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Bucky Fuller vindicated?
He maintained for years that man originated in southeast Asia.
...not to mention Milton Wolpoff.
Well, if it were Linus Pauling... ;’)
Race and Human Evolution:
A Fatal Attraction
by Milford Wolpoff
and Rachel Caspari
hardcover
One of the problems that I have had with the Out Of Africa theory is the statistical distribution of remnant cultures: IE Negritos in Asia, Bushmen, and the Egypto-Hametic Language. If you plot them on a map it seems that things flow into Africa rather than out.
Yes—he’s been a voice in the wilderness on this one. Basically, he follows the thoughts of the U of Penn’s late, great Carleton Coon on the multiregional hypothesis. It always made so much sense to me (and I think to blam as well).
My daughter at U Mich will be taking an anthro course that Wolpoff’s teaching in the fall.
The idea is not unique. Some think we came out of Africa, made some changes and went back. The counter argument is that the most diverse genes are in Africa because we originated there. IMO, it's much more complicated than that.
My evolution prof was a follower of Coon, and I have almost all of his books. Some things still seem to make sense to me in that approach. The DNA seems to be headed in a different direction so far.
My daughter at U Mich will be taking an anthro course that Wolpoff’s teaching in the fall.
Cool!
Article from The National Geographic, better written and more detail.
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