New Genome Data Challenges Traditional View of Human Evolution

A new study published in the journal Nature has recently discovered that modern humans evolved from atleast two places in Africa. 

The was conducted by the researchers at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany and Eleanor Scerri states that there is “no single birthplace in Africa, and that human evolution is a process with very deep African roots”

Our species arose in Africa around 300,000 to 100,000 years ago in according to the study the “fossils such as those from the sites of Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, Herto in Ethiopia and Klasies River in South Africa demonstrate that derived Homo sapiens anatomical features were found across the continent 300−100 thousand years ago”

The scarcity of Homo sapiens fossils available from the early stages of evolution stages have made it challenging to figure out how our species emerged and spread across Africa before migrating to other parts of the world.

The study states that “It is unclear whether these fossils and archaeological sites represent populations that contributed to contemporary H. sapiens as population precedents or were local ‘dead ends’”

What did the Study Reveal?

The study was conducted on the genomes of 290 living people from four different geographically and genetically diverse African groups.

According to the report “This study incorporated genome-sequencing data from existing eastern and western African populations and the Nama people of southern Africa. This spread of genomic data helped the researchers to understand and track the historical movement of genes across generations.”

“We really wanted to sit down and very systematically evaluate the models in a more creative way,” says Henn. “It’s a new model for human evolution that is concrete.”

Simon Gravel, co-senior author of the paper and Associate Professor in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University said “We used a new algorithm to rapidly test hundreds of possible scenarios,” the report further added a statement from him stating “that the algorithm was initially written to understand the risk of genetic disease and how it varies across populations, and it led us to this deep dive into human origins.”

The study shows the data as two populations known as Stem1 and Stem2. The first population, known as Stem1 lived in Africa for hundreds of thousands of years. Around 600,000 years ago, a small group of people from Stem1 went on to become Neanderthals.

The second population, known as Stem2, continued to live in Africa. Stem2 people eventually evolved into modern humans.

The report by the journal Nature reads “Ultimately, questions still abound about humans’ origins. Henn wants to add more DNA from other African regions to the models to see if that changes their results. She also hopes to use the data to make predictions about the fossil record, such as what features would be found in human fossils from a particular area.”

Source: The Nature

The report by the journal Nature reads “Ultimately, questions still abound about humans’ origins. Henn wants to add more DNA from other African regions to the models to see if that changes their results. She also hopes to use the data to make predictions about the fossil record, such as what features would be found in human fossils from a particular area.”