Out-of-Africa vs Theory of Regional Continuity

[123delirious]

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I've read over my teachers notes and other resources but I still don't understand these two models. Can someone explain what they are and evidence that supports these two models? Thanks

[Jsfrulz]

Basically..and i do mean pretty basically..
Out of Africa: homo sapiens arose in Africa and migrated to other parts of the world to replace other hominid species, including homo erectus, which may have left africa earlier.. as per
Regional Continuity: homo erectus left Africa around 2 mya and all evolved independently in different regions of the world into homo sapiens.
Evidence:
Genetic - Investigation of the patterns of genetic variation in modern human populations supports the view that the origin of Homo sapiens is the result of a recent event that is consistent with the Out of Africa Model. Africans display higher genetic variation than other populations, supporting the idea that they were the first modern humans. However, Mitochondrial DNA found to be outside the range of modern humans was discovered in “mungo man”, which supports regional continuity.
Archeological - The archaeological picture changed dramatically around 40-50,000 years ago with the appearance of behaviorally modern humans. The tools found demonstrated a “creative explosion” which exhibited “technological ingenuity, social formations, and ideological complexity.” The earliest dated tools are found in Africa. Shortly after fully modern humans entered Europe (40k ago), the Neanderthals began a fairly rapid decline, culminating in disappearance roughly 30 k y.a. Neanderthals were apparently no match for the technologically advanced fully modern humans.
Anatomical evidence - suggests two separate waves of homo ergaster, followed by homo sapiens to leave Africa, with ergaster evolving into heidlebergensis, neanderthals and erectus. this again supports out of africa

hope that helps

[123delirious]

Thanks, you did help

[Kujah]

For the Out-of-Africa Model to be correct,

- Transitional fossils can only be found in Africa (i.e. between archaic and modern forms of human)
- The oldest fossil of Homo Erectus should be found in Africa.
- Variations among the human populations should have occurred later, not simultaneously.
- And like Jsfrulz said, the greatest genetic variation should be among Africans, which is true.