James Kendrick | The University of Sheffield (original) (raw)
Uploads
Papers by James Kendrick
Twenty five years after the Out of Africa model was proposed, Africa remains at the heart of most... more Twenty five years after the Out of Africa model was proposed, Africa remains at the heart of most theories for modern human origins. For all the ardour of its proponents, multiregional evolution continues to lack evidence from genetics and morphology. The question today is whether the African origin of Homo sapiens was in fact recent, or even a single event. The most likely scenario predicts a deep population sub-structure in the middle Pleistocene of Africa c. 200,000 years ago coupled with a complex emergence of the modern human genetic lineage. Sweeps of population interbreeding can explain the preserved traces of archaic genes that survive today in Homo sapiens. Anatomical modernity it seems was the product of a long-term accretion or piecemeal coalescence of morphological traits. Multiple dispersals and bottlenecks, rather than a single Out of Africa event, account for the observed distribution in the genetics, morphology and behaviour of modern humans today. Encounters with archaic populations such as Neanderthals in the Levant were likely exemplified by interbreeding events that have contributed to the present day genetic make-up of modern humans. Thus fundamental assumptions underpinning the Out of Africa model have been violated. Looking forward, only a redefinition of the origins of modern humans can accommodate the conclusions of 21 st century research and ultimately reunite all scholars.
Twenty five years after the Out of Africa model was proposed, Africa remains at the heart of most... more Twenty five years after the Out of Africa model was proposed, Africa remains at the heart of most theories for modern human origins. For all the ardour of its proponents, multiregional evolution continues to lack evidence from genetics and morphology. The question today is whether the African origin of Homo sapiens was in fact recent, or even a single event. The most likely scenario predicts a deep population sub-structure in the middle Pleistocene of Africa c. 200,000 years ago coupled with a complex emergence of the modern human genetic lineage. Sweeps of population interbreeding can explain the preserved traces of archaic genes that survive today in Homo sapiens. Anatomical modernity it seems was the product of a long-term accretion or piecemeal coalescence of morphological traits. Multiple dispersals and bottlenecks, rather than a single Out of Africa event, account for the observed distribution in the genetics, morphology and behaviour of modern humans today. Encounters with archaic populations such as Neanderthals in the Levant were likely exemplified by interbreeding events that have contributed to the present day genetic make-up of modern humans. Thus fundamental assumptions underpinning the Out of Africa model have been violated. Looking forward, only a redefinition of the origins of modern humans can accommodate the conclusions of 21 st century research and ultimately reunite all scholars.