| |
 |
Human origins disputed
|
MODERN humans likely arose from small groups that journeyed from continent to continent, not in a single migration from Africa, anthropologists say.
These individual groups probably intermingled with archaic humans such as the Neanderthal, said the researchers, who analyzed ancient skulls from around the world.
They said that distinctive features in ancient skulls, some dating to more than 200,000 years, suggest modern humans descended independently from common ancestors that lived on nearly every continent and mingled with earlier human types.
"There was no single wave of modern humans out of Africa," said Milford H Wolpoff, a University of Michigan anthropologist and co-author of the study, published in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
Modern humans did originate in Africa, Wolpoff said, but they migrated in small groups over thousands of years and journeyed to Asia, Europe and even as far as Australia.
"It was not a single wave," he said. "It was more like a leaky faucet. They moved out in dribbles."
This is contrary to the Eve theory, which holds that modern humans evolved in Africa and moved into the rest of the world in a singular movement of perhaps 10,000 people. Once on the other continents, the theory holds, the moderns supplanted the existing more ancient humans, such as the Neanderthal.(SD-Agencies)
|
|
|
|
