Out of Africa vs Multiregional Theory
Out of Africa vs. Multiregional
Paleoanthropologists have been searching for decades, looking for signs of early human life throughout Africa Asia and Europe, trying to find clues that tell them where the human race originated. These scientists have found overwhelming evidence of early human life across different continents, but are always working to attempt to explain what they have discovered, and try to piece together the earliest signs of human civilization. Two main theories have emerged related to the origin of our ancestors, the "Out of Africa Theory" and the "Multiregional Theory" (Ember, Ember, & Peregrine, 2009, p. 163). Both theories have merit, and evidence to back them up, causing controversial debate between Anthropologists. Each theory has its own support group and many varying theories surrounding them (Nei, 1991, p. 6720). The genetic backing of the "Out of Africa Theory" strongly supports the legitimacy of the theory, and provides evidence that it is a legitimate theory of how modern humans came to populate the earth. To be more specific, the "Out of Africa Theory" deals with looking at DNA samples to link people from around the world to difference ancestors (Thorne & Wolpoff, 2003). This was seen in the movie, "The Human Family Tree", by examining DNA through cheek swabs of various people who originated from across the globe, but were found in Queens, New York. Researchers found that overall our DNA is about 99% identical, regardless of where our more recent ancestors may have come from. This is due to a common female and male ancestor that scientists believe every person alive is related to. These people are called Scientific Adam and Scientific Eve, and are both hypothetical humans who originated in Africa, and lived around 200,000 years ago and 100,000 years ago, respectively (Ember, Ember, & Peregrine, 2009, p. 163). Scientific Adam and Eve would be the genetic link for all currently living humans, such that mtDNA from Eve
Paleoanthropologists have been searching for decades, looking for signs of early human life throughout Africa Asia and Europe, trying to find clues that tell them where the human race originated. These scientists have found overwhelming evidence of early human life across different continents, but are always working to attempt to explain what they have discovered, and try to piece together the earliest signs of human civilization. Two main theories have emerged related to the origin of our ancestors, the "Out of Africa Theory" and the "Multiregional Theory" (Ember, Ember, & Peregrine, 2009, p. 163). Both theories have merit, and evidence to back them up, causing controversial debate between Anthropologists. Each theory has its own support group and many varying theories surrounding them (Nei, 1991, p. 6720). The genetic backing of the "Out of Africa Theory" strongly supports the legitimacy of the theory, and provides evidence that it is a legitimate theory of how modern humans came to populate the earth. To be more specific, the "Out of Africa Theory" deals with looking at DNA samples to link people from around the world to difference ancestors (Thorne & Wolpoff, 2003). This was seen in the movie, "The Human Family Tree", by examining DNA through cheek swabs of various people who originated from across the globe, but were found in Queens, New York. Researchers found that overall our DNA is about 99% identical, regardless of where our more recent ancestors may have come from. This is due to a common female and male ancestor that scientists believe every person alive is related to. These people are called Scientific Adam and Scientific Eve, and are both hypothetical humans who originated in Africa, and lived around 200,000 years ago and 100,000 years ago, respectively (Ember, Ember, & Peregrine, 2009, p. 163). Scientific Adam and Eve would be the genetic link for all currently living humans, such that mtDNA from Eve
Bibliography: Ember, C. R., Ember, M., & Peregrine, P. N. (2009). Human Evolution and Culture. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc. National Geographic (Director). (2009). The Human Family Tree [Motion Picture]. Nei, M. (1991). Genetic support for the out-of-Africa theory of human evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , 6720-6722. Thorne, A. G., & Wolpoff, M. (2003). The Multiregional Evolution of Humans. Scientific American Special Edition, New Look at Human Evolution , 46-53.