Jake Nolan

7-20-16
Anthropology 2010
Prof. Potter
Human Origins
A common thought, throughout human history has been prevalent along with
many others, which is who are we and how did we get here?. This question is among
some of the essential life questions that us modern humans or Homo Sapiens ask our
selves and try to answer. Thankfully for us, anthropologists have already answered the
question of who are we and how did we get here?. Well sort of, we know from
biological anthropology that us humans have evolved from our past common ancestors
like the apes, but what about how we got here? Anthropologists still do not have a
definitive answer of how we exactly got here but they do have two theories of our origin;
the first being the replacement theory and the seconding being the out of Africa theory.
These two theories have been vigorously debated and the community is split up with
evidence to support & negate both sides.
The commonly accepted out of Africa theory is based on the concept that all
modern day humans (homo sapiens) came from Africa and expanded from there. This
theory is heavily based on genetic sequencing of modern day humans and the linage
connection that can be found within. This data cannot be wrongly interpreted because

there is no outside influencing ideas that can be attached to what is in the genome.
When studying a genome to find its lineage you look at a small part called the
mitochondrial DNA which is the DNA that contains the most important information for life
and is given by the mother. Hidden in this mitochondrial DNA is old mutations that do
not get eliminated through natural selection which gives scientists a timeline of our
genetics. Using this timeline you can create lineage trees all the way back to the first
homo sapiens of that specific genome. Thomas D. Kocher of Berkeley University did just
that, using 14 individuals mitochondrial DNA from across the globe. From these 14
modern humans he created 13 lineage branches tracing all of the branches back to the
common origin of Africa. To further confirm these findings and dispute common
misconceptions, a study in Japan was done by the National Institute of Genetics in
Mishima which studied groups of modern humans that included much more Asians in
the demographic and they too found that the lineage led back to Africa. All of this
evidence points to a very simple idea, all modern humans come from a linkable lineage
to Africa meaning that there was a schism from Neanderthals to homo sapiens. But is
this evidence explaining everything? (Rebecca L., Vol. 13, Issue 2)
I dont believe so. The regional (or multiregional) continuity theory is based upon
the idea that there was no true dying off of the Neanderthals, the homo sapiens
interbred with the Neanderthals thus absorbing the population and morphing it through

Natural Selection. With homo sapiens dating back to about 200,000 years old there is
an overlap with the Neanderthals which means they were living side by side for a period
of time. This overlap gives time for the interbreeding of the two species which seems
very likely since the two species were similar in appearance. The idea that there was a
total global replacement of the neanderthals in no more than 150,000 years seems a
little far fetched. The out of Africa theory states that the first humans came to be in
Africa 200,000 years ago and then took over other regions from the inhabiting
neanderthals with no interbreeding. This invasion of modern humans to regions with
neanderthals would have surely left a trace of battle such as tools like an axe, but none
is found. Geoffrey G. Pope of William Paterson University has found that in over sixty
years of research on the Asian Paleolithic record there is no evidence of intrusive
technology, that would indicate a replacement of the neanderthals in the region. If there
was no violent take over of the neanderthals then it is hard to conceive that there was
no interbreeding between the modern humans and the neanderthals living at the same
time. Something to further confirm that interbreeding did in fact happen between these
two was found by the Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
Mitochondrial DNA testing was done on a modern humans toe bone and was linked
back to Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA which would help the scientists further develop
concurring data. It is now estimated that 1.5 to 2.1 percent of people living outside of

Africa have Neanderthal origins. (Wolpoff, Vol. 13, Issue 2) (Choi, 2013)
Neither of these theories have the complete answer and just like the scientific
community I am a little bit torn. The multiregional continuity theory makes the most
sense to me because it does not seem plausible that there could be a complete
extinction of the Neanderthals over the period of time given by the out of Africa theory. I
dont think the time would have been the issue, I believe that the neanderthals would
have been capable of surviving in the changing environment. The idea that the lack of
variation found in our populations DNA means that we had to have come from one
separate species does not account for gene flow and natural selection due to the
changing environment. I believe that we Homo Sapiens must have came from several
different geographical sources with a mix of Neanderthal heritage.

Work Cited

Choi, Charles Q. "Neanderthal Woman's Genome Reveals Unknown Human

Lineage." LiveScience. December 18, 2013. Accessed July 20, 2016.
http://www.livescience.com/42056-neanderthal-woman-genomesequenced.html.
Thorne, Alan G., and Milford H. Wolpoff. "The Multiregional Evolution of
Humans." Sci Am Scientific American 13, no. 2 (July 2003). Accessed July 20,
2016.
Cann, Rebecca L., Wilson, and Allan C. The Recent African Genesis of
Humans. Sci Am Scientific American 13, no. 2 (July 2003). Accessed July 20,

2016.