The picture of early-human origins in Africa grows more complex

For decades, scientists who studied early modern humans believed that our ancestors initially inhabited only small areas of Africa, the savannas of the eastern and southern part of the continent, and then moved north into Asia, Europe and beyond. In this view, early humans bypassed West and Central Africa, especially tropical forests. These areas, the argument went, were populated much later.
But now, a growing group of researchers has cast doubt on this narrative.

Shared as a gift, so no paywall.

https://wapo.st/3YltrRO

Thanks for the free article!

The history of humankind is a topic which has always fascinated me, since I lived for some time in Tanzania and visited the Olduwai Gorge of Leakey reputation, eons ago.

The biggest breakthrough was the DNA sequencing, which rather than speculation, just says what really is.

I participated eagerly in the Genographic program of National Geographic and found it quite nice I had Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA in my bones. Denisovan was new a decade ago and it was strange to have confirmed that between my ancestors were members of a 'ghost -specie' too.

>2 Macumbeira: You are most welcome, and that is fascinating!

Thanks Clamairy

My impression has been that a lot of this is because it’s much harder to preserve and find retained evidence in a moist or jungle environment, although the article suggests bias in the research as well.

This article from 2018 was influential in pushing the field past the “origin in one small area of Africa” notion, and into something that might be call “African multiregionalism”, or the idea that the entire continent of Africa was the origin place for our species:

https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(18)30117-4

Here is a good summary from Ed Jong of this material:

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/the-new-story-of-humanitys-o...

>4 stellarexplorer: Rats. I can't read that one. (You only get one free article a month.)