[CobaltBlue]

>>However, if age-dating these finds reveals that the specimens were emplaced contemporaneously with surrounding sediments, then we will have to re-think our current theories.<<

It seems to me that all that would need to be re-thought is the assumptions about the timing of genetic variations in mitochondrial DNA.

Older human skeletons push the timeline further backwards but don't, in and of themselves, change the well-established pattern of genetic variation of mitochondrial DNA, which clearly supports a single origin traceable back to Africa.

[Aracelis]

Older human skeletons push the timeline further backwards but don't, in and of themselves, change the well-established pattern of genetic variation of mitochondrial DNA, which clearly supports a single origin traceable back to Africa.

I tend to agree with Physicist...that humans could have migrated very far within a relatively short period of time. Mitochondrial evidence does indeed support African roots, but let's see what further investigation reveals.

[Little Bill]

mitochondrial DNA..

The premis assumes that man originated in Africa, I was disgusted with the theory when I read about it in The Scientific American. This is another tautolgy.