Posted on 08/08/2007 9:17:01 AM PDT by BGHater
Europe's first early human colonizers were from Asia, not Africa, a new analysis of more than 5,000 ancient teeth suggests.
Researchers had traditionally assumed that Europe was settled in waves starting around two million years ago, as our ancient ancestors—collectively known as hominids—came over from Africa.
But the shapes of teeth from a number of hominid species suggest that arrivals from Asia played a greater role in colonizing Europe than hominids direct from Africa.
These Asian hominids may have originally come from Africa, the scientists note, but had evolved independently for some time.
(Related: "Did Early Humans First Arise in Asia, Not Africa?" [December 27, 2005].)
"Asia was also an important center for hominid speciation," said Maria Martinón-Torres, a scientist at the National Research Center on Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain, who led the study.
The finding suggests that the hominid family tree could be much more complex than previously thought (explore an interactive atlas of human migration).
Genetic Safe
Species from the genus Australopithecus and the genus Homo arrived in Europe between two million and 300,000 years ago.
Until recently, a lack of fossils from this time period had made it difficult to piece together hominid evolution and migration patterns.
But using the latest fossil findings, Martinón-Torres and colleagues were able to examine more than 5,000 teeth from two-million-year-old Australopithecus and Homo skeletons from Africa, Asia, and Europe.
The shape of the teeth offered clues about each species' genetic lineages.
"Teeth are like the safe-box of the genetic code," Martinón-Torres said.
That's because—compared to bones—teeth change shape very little once they are formed, and their shape is strongly influenced by genetics.
The researchers classified each of the teeth using more than 50 indicators, such as fissure patterns, overall size, and length-to-width ratio.
"We looked at the entire landscape of the teeth—the mountains, valleys, ridges—everything," Martinón-Torres said.
What they found is that European teeth were more similar to Asian teeth than they were to African teeth.
However, the results don't rule out African influence on European genes.
"This finding does not necessarily imply that there was not genetic flow between continents," Martinón-Torres and colleagues write in their paper, "but emphasizes that this interchange could have been both ways."
The work will be published in tomorrow's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Fluid Migrations
Rather than a one-way stream of people coming from Africa, Martinón-Torres and colleagues think there must have been a more fluid pattern of migrations.
"Just because people had come out of Africa didn't mean that they couldn't turn around and go back again," she said.
The researcher also believes that climate, food, and geography were major influences on hominid migration patterns.
The Sahara, for example, presented a big barrier for movement out of Africa and directly into Europe (see photos and read a related feature about athletes who ran across the Sahara earlier this year).
Rather than struggling across the Sahara, it appears that human ancestors spread in many directions before arriving in Europe.
Erika Hagelberg, a geneticist from the University of Oslo in Norway, is impressed with the study, but cautious about how it should be interpreted.
"The study shows that the genetic impact of Asia on Europe is stronger than that of Africa. But the teeth can't tell us the direction or the time when people migrated," she said.
Nonetheless, the new study does complement direct gene studies and supports the idea that hominids evolved independently in many different parts of the world.
"The fossil teeth are a way to study the traits of past peoples," Hagelberg said, "and help balance the work being done on the genes of people alive today."
Skull fragments from modern humans and the human ancestor Australopithecus include teeth—fossil features that can offer valuable clues to a species' genetic lineage.
New analysis of more than 5,000 fossil teeth suggests that early humans from Asia, not Africa, were the first to colonize Europe.
Tooth Fairy Ping
Or visa verus. Or maybe that's just where they happen to find fossils and that people were really everywhere.
Wait a minute... you mean I ain’t done be descended from “kings and queens” ?
So much for my reparations.
Exactly where are the Caucasus again?
Good. So I can now put African->Asian->Irish American as my race and get me some pref’rential set asides. Woo Hoo!!
This means everyone is Russian?
***Europe’s first early human colonizers were from Asia, not Africa, ***
Good grief! Make up your mind! How many changes does that make in evolution history. Out with the old theory in with the new! Who knows what they will claim next year or the next decade.
Everything we have been force fed about evolution is now knocked into a cocked hat....again!
I was just getting used to being an ‘African-American’ and now you tell me I’m ‘Asian’ (formerly ‘Chinaman’)?
da
for later :D
The chart below is my R1b DNA map. 90% of the Irish and 68% of all Europeans are R1b.Looks like we got to Europe via Russia.
Wasn’t there a topic already? I couldn’t find it. But anyway, related:
‘First west Europe tooth’ (million-year-old human tooth) found in Spain
BBC News | 6-30-07 | BBC/AFP
Posted on 06/30/2007 6:05:03 PM EDT by GraniteStateConservative
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1858939/posts
Chance And Isolation Gave Humans Elegant Skulls
New Scientist | 7-24-2007
Posted on 07/25/2007 6:31:25 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1871583/posts
The Neandertal EnigmaFrayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]
by James Shreeve
I always liked rice.
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Yes interesting. Did anyone ever figure out where the Hungarian language came from?
Why have I never thought of that? D'oh!
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