Re: paleonet Modern Human Origins

["Nikolaus Malchus" <n.malchus@xxxxxxx>]

Hi cousins (2)

Out of Africa, out of Spain or out of the blue:

I did not google scholar but here are some recent references:

1)
Secondary article in Science , Oct. 2004, vol. 306, p. 789, on Homo
floresiensis (original from Nature, 28 October, p. 1055) an 18,000 year old
Indonesian hominid).

I cite the last sections (unfortunately I don't have the original Nature
text)
"The skeleton also confirms that until recently,
the human family tree was bushy. At
about 30,000 to 50,000 years ago, for example,
there is now evidence for modern humans,
Neandertals, Homo floresiensis, and
perhaps H. erectus—and three of the four
species were in Southeast Asia.
Morwood thinks that the Flores people
died out about 12,000 years ago, when the
stone tools and elephants disappear suddenly
from the record, perhaps as the result of
a catastrophic volcano. Modern humans
were on the island soon after, bringing deer,
macaques, and pigs, says Morwood. Soon
the moderns were the only survivors of a
time when there were three or four types of
humans on the planet. “I think there will be
more surprises,” says Rightmire. “We better
get used to the idea that we haven’t accounted
for all the little turns and twists in
human evolution.” –ANN GIBBONS

I am sure of the last sentence.

[see also an unfortunate bit of science related to this hobbit species, from
Elizabeth Culotta: Discoverers Charge Damage to ‘Hobbit’ Specimens
25 MARCH 2005 VOL 307 SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org 1848]

2)
Concerning out of Spain, see:
Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, a New Middle Miocene Great Ape from Spain
Salvador Moyà-Solà, Meike Köhler, David M. Alba, Isaac Casanovas-Vilar, and
Jordi Galindo, Science 19 November 2004; 306: 1339-1344 [DOI:
10.1126/science.1103094] (in Research Articles)

P. catalaunicus is about 14,000 years old, and according to Moyà et al., has
a unique combination of human and great-ape features which would place it
somewhere near the node of great apes and humans (beautifully illustrated)

3) From the German weekly journal "Der Spiegel" March 8, 2005
A new genetic analysis supports the out of Africa hypothesis.

The original article is by Franck Purgnolle (et al.) in "Current Biology",15
(5), p. R159). Sorry, I do not have access to the original.
Perhaps Ana Pinto's link refers to it but I could not open it.

From all this, I extract that there lived several Homo species, some at the
same time, but only one became H. sapiens whose origin was probably in
Africa. I agree with Andy and others that a multiple origin of H. sapiens is
a much too complicated hypothesis, and (as a layman in anthropology) I do
not see any evidence to support it.

Have fun,

Niko


> >Isn't this issue something that can be settled with DNA evidence?
> 
> DNA seems to suggest that we are not related to Neanderthals, although it
> can not prove that some genetic interchange may not have taken place, that
> could have been later swamped by our own inheritance.
> 
> >I also don't understand why it seems unlikely that a large highly mobile
> and highly adaptable organism like Homo sapiens could not become globally
> distributed after originating from a single population of H. erectus.
> >Please provide a reference where the multi-origins evidence is presented.
> 
> Evidence is a strong workd, but look for anything by Milford Wolfpoff,
> look at biomed or google scholar.
> 
> Regards,
> Ana C. Pinto
> Institute of Human Origins
> Arizona State University
> 
>
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> Ana C. Pinto Llona               acpinto@las.es
> http://www.accuca.conectia.es
> http://www.becominghuman.org
> http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/us_gaita_asturiana
>
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> 

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