About the origin of our species

Experts from the Natural History Museum, The Francis Crick Institute and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Jena have teamed up to unravel the different meanings of origin in the evolution of our species Homo sapiens.

Most of us are fascinated by our ancestry, and by expanding the ancestry of the human species. We often see headlines like ‘Discovering new human ancestor’ or ‘New fossil changes everything we thought of our origin’, and yet the meanings of words like ancestor and origin are rarely discussed in detail. In the new article, published in Nature, experts examine our current understanding of how modern human origins around the world can be traced back to the distant past and what ancestors went through them during our journey back in time.

Co-author researcher at the Natural History Museum, Prof Chris Stringer, said: “Some of our ancestors will have lived in groups or populations that can be identified in the fossil record, while very little will be known about others. About the following decade it will grow recognition of our complex origins, the geographical focus of paleo-anthropological fieldwork must expand to regions previously considered peripheral to our evolution, such as Central and West Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. ‘

The study identified three key phases in our origins that are surrounded by key questions and what will be the boundary in future research. From the global expansion of modern humans about 40-60 thousand years ago and the last known contact with archaic groups such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans, to an African origin of modern human diversity about 60-300,000 years ago, and finally the complex separation of modern human ancestors from archaic human groups about 300,000 to 1 million years ago.

The scientists argue that at present no specific time can be identified when modern human descent was confined to a limited place of birth, and that the known patterns of the first appearance of anatomical or behavioral traits often used to define Homo sapiens fit in a variety of evolutionary histories.

Co-author Pontus Skoglund of The Francis Crick Institute said: “Contrary to many people’s beliefs, the genetic or fossil record has not yet revealed a specific time and place for the origin of our species. Such a time, when the majority of our ancestry was found in a small geographical region, and the characteristics we associate with our species may not have existed.For now, it would be useful to move away from the idea of ​​a single time and place of origin. ‘

“Hereafter, big emerging questions relate to what mechanisms drove and maintained this human patchwork, with all its diverse ancestral threads, across time and space,” said co-author Eleanor Scerri of the Pan-African Evolution Research Group at the Max Planck Institute. for the Science of Human History. “Understanding the relationship between broken habitats and shifting human niches will undoubtedly play a key role in unraveling these questions, and it will make clear which demographic patterns best fit the genetic and paleoanthropological record.”

The success of direct genetic analyzes so far shows the importance of a broader, old genetic record. It requires continued technological improvements in the recovery of ancient DNA (aDNA), biomolecular screening of fragmentary fossils to find unrecognizable human material, wider search for sedimentary aDNA, and improvements in the evolutionary information provided by ancient proteins. Interdisciplinary analysis of the growing genetic, fossil and archaeological records will undoubtedly reveal many new surprises about the roots of modern human origin.

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About the Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is a leading scientific research center and the most visited natural history museum in Europe. With a vision of a future in which both humans and the planet thrive, it is uniquely positioned to be a powerful champion to balance the needs of humanity with those of the natural world.

It is the custodian of one of the most important scientific collections in the world, containing more than 80 million copies. The scope of this collection enables researchers from around the world to document how species respond to and respond to environmental changes – essential to help predict what may happen in the future and future policies and plans to help the planet notify.

The museum’s 300 scientists still represent one of the largest groups in the world investigating all aspects of the natural world. Their science contributes critical data to help the global fight to save the planet’s future from the greatest threats of climate change and loss of biodiversity to finding solutions such as the sustainable exploitation of natural resources.

The museum uses its enormous global reach and influence to pursue its mission to create advocates for the planet – to inform, inspire and empower everyone to make a difference for nature. We welcome more than five million visitors annually; our digital production reaches hundreds of thousands of people every month in more than 200 countries and our touring exhibitions have been seen by about 30 million people over the past ten years.

About the Francis Crick Institute

The Francis Crick Institute is a biomedical discovery institute dedicated to the basic biology underlying health and disease. The work helps to understand why diseases develop and to translate discoveries into new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, infections and neurodegenerative diseases.

An independent organization, with its founding members, is the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, Wellcome, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London and King’s College London.

The Crick was founded in 2015, and in 2016 it moved into a brand new modern building in central London that brings together 1,500 scientists and support staff working across different disciplines, making it the largest biomedical research facility under one single roof. roof in Europe.
http: // cricket.ac.uk /

About the Pan-African Evolution Research Group

The Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, is an independent research group focusing on the origin of our species and the parallel transformation of environments and ecosystems. The group’s work is unraveling the human story from the perspective of regions and environments that have been poorly explored, gathering new data and developing new methods to pattern patterns of population movement, cultural change, ecological adaptations, diseases and interactions with now extinct hominins. understand. This research feeds into solutions to current global challenges by contributing lessons from the past to find sustainable solutions to the dual biodiversity and climate crises.

The Pan African Research Group was established in early 2019 within the framework of the Max Planck Society’s flagship Lise Meitner Excellence Program.