Researchers have found that genetic and fossil records do not reveal a single point where modern humans originated.
Experts from the Museum, the Francis Crick Institute, and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History worked together to unravel the various lineages in the evolution of our species. Homo sapiens.
They argue that at present no specific time can be identified when modern human descent was confined to a limited place of birth. The familiar patterns of the first appearance of anatomical or behavioral features that are often used to define H. sapiens fits a series of evolutionary histories.
Their new article, published in Nature, look at our current understanding of how modern human origins around the world can be traced back to the distant past and what ancestors it went through during our journey back in time.
Prof Chris Stringer, co-author and researcher of the Museum, says: ‘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 of others.
“In the next decade, the growing understanding of our complex origins should extend the geographical focus to regions that were previously considered peripheral to our evolution, such as Central and West Africa, the Indian subcontinent and South Asia.”
Three key phases in our origins are surrounded by key questions, including:
- the worldwide expansion of modern humans between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago and the last known contacts with archaic groups such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans
- An African origin of modern human diversity about 60,000 to 300,000 years ago
- the complex separation of modern human ancestors from archaic human groups about 300,000 to one million years ago
Co-author Pontus Skoglund of the Francis Crick Institute says: ‘Contrary to many people’s beliefs, the genetic or fossil record has so far revealed a specific time and place for the origin of our species.
‘Such a time may not have existed when the majority of our ancestry was found in a small geographical region and the characteristics we associate with our species appeared. For now, it would be helpful to move away from the idea of a single time and place of origin. ‘
Interdisciplinary analysis of the growing genetic, fossil and archaeological records will undoubtedly reveal many new surprises about the roots of modern human origin.