Posted on 05/21/2014 12:18:44 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
An international team of scientists conducting an analysis of the genetic diversity and cranial measurements of 10 African and Asian human populations conclude that anatomically modern humans may have dispersed out of Africa earlier than previously thought, and in more than one stage: initially into Asia by taking a southern route through Arabia as much as 130,000 years ago; and later into Northern Eurasia on a more northerly route 50,000 years ago.
The timing and nature of early modern human dispersal out of Africa has long been disputed among scholars, with competing theories or models about how and when it all occurred. The research team analyzed their data within the framework of the competing models, and came up with the model that best fits the results. "We tested for the first time to our knowledge the spatiotemporal dimensions of competing out-of-Africa dispersal models," write Hugo Reyes-Centeno and colleagues in their report, "analyzing in parallel genomic and craniometric data. Our results support an initial dispersal into Asia by a southern route beginning as early as ∼130 ka and a later dispersal into northern Eurasia by ∼50 ka."* Reyes-Centeno is a paleoanthropologist with the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany. Other researchers included Katerina Harvati, also of Eberhard Karls University; Silvia Ghirotto and Guido Barbujani of the University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy; and Florent Détroit and Dominique Grimaud-Herve of the National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France.
"This is consistent with archaeological evidence for modern human occupation in the southern Arabian Peninsula at ∼125 ka," write the authors. "This date [130,000 ka] is in intriguingly closer correspondence with the genetic divergence estimates for our sampled populations, with a calendar date of divergence between Melanesians and South Africans at ∼116 ka, for example. No modern human fossils have been discovered in the southern Arabian Peninsula, but lithic artifacts show affinities with African assemblages, including those discovered alongside the fossil remains at Herto, Ethiopia, dated between ∼154–160 ka."*
Genetic studies and fossil evidence show that the first common ancestral population of modern humans resided in Africa between ∼100–200 ka, and that members of one branch left Africa by between 125,000 and 60,000 years ago. A prominent theory suggests that over time these humans replaced earlier human populations such as Neanderthals and Homo erectus. Many scholars posit that the date of the earliest successful "out of Africa" migration took place about 60,000 years ago, according to genetic evidence, although recent archaeological finds on the Arabian Peninsula have suggested the possibility of a much earlier migration.
The study report was published April 21, 2014 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
*“Genomic and cranial phenotype data support multiple modern human dispersals from Africa and a southern route into Asia,” by Hugo Reyes-Centeno et al. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1323666111
The debate is over. Scientists agree. 97% of all biologists agree. This story is propoganda.
Guess they knew something modern humans don’ t.
“ka”?
“Ka” means thousands of years.
This is just racist. All Africans that left, left in chains, bound for America several hundred years ago. Just ask Mooschelle.
And one day humanity will return.
Not as long as mooslims roam free.
Thank you.
It seems likely to me for a variety of reasons.
First of all, covering distances over the generations: Imagine a tribal people of small family groups that raise kids who go to adulthood, these kids strike out to form their own groups. How far would a population spread in several generations? Let’s say 10 miles per generation, as these people are hunters and gatherers and would need a territory large enough to support themselves. Such distances are common for animals such as cougars, wolf packs, etc. Now after a couple of millennium, and assuming 20 years per generation, the spread of the species would be very large—thousands of miles—all without roaming more than ten miles from the birth home for each individual.
The continuing spreading of the African Rift. Madagascar split off first, and then Arabia later. The Rift is still very much a work in progress and 100,000 years ago the Red Sea would have been much narrower. Also, repeated world glaciation would have dried up the sea. In the last full glaciation 20,000 years ago, the world sea level fell 400 feet. Walking rather than swimming into the Arabian peninsula would have been possible. However, even if a water barrier still remained, it has been proven that Australian Aborigines used boats to get to Australia about 50,000 years ago.
Finally, the genetic variances in us humans point to separate evolutionary pressures due to environmental factors that took time. Light skin for Northern Eurasians. Wide flaring nostrils and tight curly hair for those in steamy equatorial climates. Resistance or susceptibility to certain diseases or genetic adaptations (sickle cell—malaria, cystic fibrosis—tuberculosis) that point to repeated exposures over time.
Actually if you read this story it DOESN'T contain the rhetoric used by the Global Warming conmen that you quote above. They are careful to say "one group" of scientists and the article also discusses ongoing disputes and theories -- which you would never see in an article on man-made global warming. This is the way science is SUPPOSED TO BE reported. There is no claim to finality or asertion that "the debate is over" in this.
I am as annoyed as you are with leftists and statists attempting to use flawed scientific arguments to advance their ends, but that's not what is going on in this article. You have every right to disagree with their premises and conclusions, but save your criticism of the scientific methods for places where science really IS being abused. By lumping all scientific conclusions that you disagree with into the same pot you are propping up the real charlatans and a the same time you are providing ammo to the leftists who claim all conservatives are anti-science.
"Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from India around 88 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation."
“Let’s say 10 miles per generation, as these people are hunters and gatherers and would need a territory large enough to support themselves.”
Might the plains Indians, before the arrival of horses, have some similarities to these people? If so, a band might need a lot more than ten miles.
“By lumping all scientific conclusions that you disagree with into the same pot you are propping up the real charlatans and a the same time you are providing ammo to the leftists who claim all conservatives are anti-science.”
That’s a really good point, and I think we should all be more aware of it.
When you say, “They all do it,” you are disadvantaging those who do not do whatever it is, and advantaging those who do. (Assuming that “whatever it is” is a bad thing, and that “all” is very unlikely to be true.)
Evil has enough advantages without just handing him one.
My understanding is that in a few million years, East Africa will be an island similar to Madagascar, while the rest of Africa drifts north to upheave the Mediterranean Sea to form the Mediterranean Mountains.
Yes, in a climate less populated with animals to hunt, and fewer nuts, berries, tubers, etc., to gather. The hunting territory would have to be much larger.
Not a paleoclimatologist here, so I don’t know off the top of my head what sorts of climes they would have passed through.
Ice Age world map with the ocean levels reduced by about 320 feet. Notice no Persian Gulf and an Isolated Red Sea. I believe the Red Sea would have completely dried up. The Mediterranean may have been been in sections and dried to some low levels.
Passage through the Straits of Malacca would have been blocked until about 7,000 years ago when the seas rose enough to allow passage.
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