Institute of Biology

University of the Philippines

Diliman, Quezon City

There are two theories about the origin of modern

humans:
1) they arose in one place Africa. This Homo
sapiens replaced other human populations
2) pre-modern humans migrated from Africa to become
modern humans in other parts of the world.
Most evidence points to the first theory
OUT-OF-AFRICA because:
fossils of modern-like humans are found in Africa
stone tools and other artifacts support African origin
DNA studies suggest a founding population in Africa

Dr Thorne, whose team have published their research in

the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is a
proponent of the alternative, multi-regional explanation
for the emergence of modern humans.

This suggests that modern humans arose

simultaneously in Africa, Europe and Asia
from one of our predecessors, Homo erectus,
who left Africa more than
1.5 million years ago.

"Modern humans didn't just come from one area, they

came from all areas," Dr Thorne said. "We assert that
when people began to leave Africa about two million
years ago, they were the ancestors of all modern people
and we don't think modern humanity emerged from one
place later on.

 The opponents of a single origin argue that

interbreeding indeed occurred, and that

the characteristics of modern humans,
including those that have been and still are
perceived by some to distinguish races,
could only be the result of genetic
contributions from several earlier lineages
that evolved semi-independently in
different parts of the world. This is the
"multiregional hypothesis", including the
hybrid-origin theory.

Analysis of the oldest DNA ever taken from skeletal

remains challenges the theory that all modern humans
can trace their recent ancestry to Africa.

The study is based on the 60,000-year-old socalled Mungo Man skeleton, which was unearthed
in New South Wales in 1974, and nine other
anatomically modern Australian individuals who
lived 8-15,000 years ago.

The Australian National University team looked at the DNA

found in the mitochondria of these ancient people's cells.
mtDNA, as it is known, is inherited only from females and
also mutates - errors appear - at a steady rate, meaning it can
be used as a "molecular clock" to investigate human history.

Homo erectus left Africa and dispersed into other portions of

the Old World, regional populations slowly evolved into
modern humans. This model contains the following
components:

some level of gene flow between geographically separated

populations prevented speciation, after the dispersal
all living humans are derived from the species Homo erectus
that left Africa nearly two million-years-ago
natural selection in regional populations, ever since their
original dispersal, is responsible for the regional variants
(sometimes called races)
the emergence of Homo sapiens was not restricted to any one
area, but was a phenomenon that occurred throughout the
entire geographic range where humans lived

Dating has put the age of the

Mungo Man remains at
between 56,000 - 68,000
years
Despite his age and modern
appearance, his mtDNA differs
dramatically from anything in Eve's
lineage. So, he doesn't fit into Eve's
theory of human origins and couldn't
have been part of the
"Out of Africa" exodus.

Some think our Homo erectus ancestors may have travelled

widely, and evolved separately as a result. But Mungo Man does
fit into the grand scheme of the less popular multi-regional
theory of evolution.

Multi-regionalists say that between one and two million years

ago, Homo erectus - a human ancestor - migrated from Africa.
As erectus spread over the earth, different groups went through
the process of evolutionary change based on natural selection.

This means erectus evolving for a million years in China would

end up looking quite different from those who stayed behind in
Africa. It is also believed there was gene flow between
populations at all times.
There was mating between populations of the same

species... and perhaps successive waves of migrants

leaving
the African homeland.

 Journey of our ancestors across the

planet, from eastern Africa into the

Middle East, then to southeast and
southern Asia, then New Guinea and
Australia, and finally to Europe and
Central Asia.

 researchers currently agree that the oldest

named species of the genus Homo, Homo

habilis, evolved in Africa around two million
years ago, and that members of the genus
migrated out of Africa somewhat later.
The descendants of these ancient migrants,
which probably included Homo erectus, have
become known through fossils uncovered far
from Africa, such as those of "Peking man" and
"Java man". The Homo neanderthalensis is also
considered a descendant of early migrants .

 According to the single-origin model,

however, every species of the genus Homo

but one,
Homo sapiens, was driven extinct.
This species had evolved in eastern Africa

between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago

and, some time afterwards, in a relatively
recent exodus, began colonizing the rest of
the world.

According to the single-origin model, these

more recent migrants did not interbreed
with the scattered descendants of earlier
exoduses. For this reason, the model is
sometimes called the "replacement
scenario".
In support of it, advocates have drawn from
both fossil and DNA evidence, in particular
from mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA
sequences.

 Out of Africa Model asserts that modern

humans evolved relatively recently in Africa,

migrated into Eurasia and replaced all
populations which had descended from Homo
erectus.

after Homo erectus migrated out of Africa the

different populations became reproductively

isolated, evolving independently, and in some
cases like the Neanderthals, into separate
species

Homo sapiens arose in one place, probably

Africa (geographically this includes the Middle

East)

Homo sapiens ultimately migrated out of

Africa and replaced all other human

populations, without interbreeding modern
human variation is a relatively recent
phenomenon

Investigation of the patterns of genetic variation in

modern human populations supports the view that the
origin of Homo sapiens is the result of a recent event that
is consistent with the Out of Africa Model.

Studies of contemporary DNA, especially mitochondrial

DNA (mtDNA) which occurs only in the mitochondria,
reveal that humans are astonishingly homogeneous, with
relatively little genetic variation.

The high degree of similarity between human populations

stands in strong contrast to the condition seen in our
closest living relatives.

Furthermore, genetic variation between populations of

chimpanzees is enormously greater than differences
between European, Asian and African human
populations.

In support of an African origin for Homo sapiens

the work of Cann and Wilson has demonstrated
that the highest level of genetic variation in mtDNA
occurs in African populations.
This implies that Homo sapiens arose first in

Africa and has therefore had a longer period of

time to accumulate genetic diversity.

Using the genetic distance between African

populations and others as a measure of time, they
suggested that Homo sapiens arose between
100,000 and 400,000 years ago in Africa.

The low amount of genetic variation in modern human

populations suggests that our origins may reflect a
relatively small founding population for Homo sapiens.

Analysis of mtDNA by Rogers and Harpending supports

the view that a small population of Homo sapiens,
numbering perhaps only 10,000 to 50,000 people, left
Africa somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago.

Scientists recently succeeded in extracting DNA from

several Neanderthal skeletons.

After careful analysis of particularly the mtDNA, but now

also some nuclear DNA, it is apparent that Neanderthal
DNA is very distinct from our own. In assessing the degree
of difference between DNA in Neanderthals and modern
humans, the authors suggest that these two lineages have
been separated for more than 400,000 years

Australopithecus afarensis lived

between 4 million and 3.2 million
years ago in eastern Africa. This
species was short and stocky in
appearance with hands and feet more
similar to apes than modern humans.

The best known specimen of

afarensis is "Lucy", a 3.2 million year
old partial skeleton found By Tim
White and Donald Johanson in 1974
at Hadar, Ethiopia. It is believed this
species walked upright, but still had
the ability to climb trees.

They had relatively strong

muscles on the back of
their necks. Their
foreheads were shallow,
sloping back from very
prominent bony brow
ridges (i.e., supraorbital
tori.)
Compared to modern
humans, the Homo
erectus brain case was
more elongated from
front to back and less
spherical. As a
consequence, the frontal
and temporal lobes of
their brains were
narrower.

 Scientists recently succeeded in extracting DNA

from several Neanderthal skeletons.

After careful analysis of the mtDNA, but now

also some nuclear DNA, it is apparent that

Neanderthal DNA is very distinct from our own.

In assessing the degree of difference between

DNA in Neanderthals and modern humans, the

authors suggest that these two lineages have
been separated for more than 400,000 years.

Based on studies, our most recent common ancestor

is thought to be a woman who lived in Africa some
143,000 years ago, the so-called Mitochondrial Eve.

To find the common paternal ancestor, the team

drew up a genetic family tree of mankind. They
mapped small variations in the Y chromosomes of
1,062 men in 22 geographical areas, including
Pakistan, India, Cambodia, Laos, Australia, New
Guinea, America, Mali, Sudan, Ethiopia and Japan.
The new genetic family tree supports the Out of
Africa scenario. But it suggests that our most recent
paternal ancestor would have been about 84,000
years younger than our maternal one.

 A recent dispersal of modern humans out of

Africa is now widely accepted, but the routes

taken across Eurasia are still disputed.

We show that mitochondrial DNA variation in

isolated "relict" populations in southeast Asia

supports the view that there was only a single
dispersal from Africa, most likely via a
southern coastal route, through India and
onward into southeast Asia and Australasia.

There was an early offshoot, leading ultimately

to the settlement of the Near East and Europe,

but the main dispersal from India to Australia
65,000 years ago was rapid.

 in Africa, a body plan essentially like our

own had appeared. While these early

Homo sapiens were anatomically modern
they were not behaviorally modern.

It is significant that modern anatomy

evolved prior to modern behavior.