Multi-regional origin
Adherents of the multi-regional origin model of human origins hold that some, or all, of the genetic variation between the contemporary human populations that are colloquially termed races is attributable to genetic inheritance from hominid species, or subspecies, that were geographically dispersed throughout Asia, and possibly Europe and Australasia, prior to the evolution of modern Homo sapiens (conventionally dated to at least 70,000, possibly 150,000, years ago).Candidate populations suggested by multi-regionalists as sources for such genetic variation include Homo neanderthalensis and Peking Man (a local subspecies of Homo erectus).
This view contradicts the single origin hypothesis which holds that modern Homo sapiens evolved from a single, geographically localised, ancestral hominid population, whose descendants ultimate replaced all other species of hominids over the course of tens of thousands of years without interbreding or subspeciation.
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2 Recent evidence 3 Footnotes 4 External links 5 Further reading |
In 2001, a team of Chinese scientists wrote: "all Y-chromosome samples from China, with no exception, were originally derived from a lineage of African origin. Hence, we conclude that even a very minor contribution of in situ hominid origin in China cannot be supported by the Y-chromosome evidence."¹
In a related publication, scientists in Asia, the US and the UK examined the Y-chromosomes of more than 12,000 people from across Asia and found no traces of any ancient non-African influence.²
One of the co-authors of the second study, R. Spencer Wells, is quoted as saying "This really puts the nail in the coffin of multiregionalism."³
Multiregionalist proponents
Recent evidence
The multiregional hypothesis has received a number of serious blows recently,
perhaps most severely from definitive studies of the Y chromosome.Footnotes
External links
Further reading
