Chinese scientists challenge the 'Out of Africa' theory
Looks like we're from Guangxi, China!
http://english.cas.cn/Ne/CASE/200704/t20070423_17992.shtml
http://english.cas.cn/ST/RE/re_project/200911/t20091110_46982.shtml
http://english.ivpp.cas.cn/ns/es/200911/t20091103_46622.html
The "Out of Africa" theory suggests that modern humans evolved from Africa and then spread throughout the earth about 70,000 years ago, replacing earlier humans with little or no interbreeding. But recent research on the remains of an early modern human (EMH) recovered in Tianyuan Cave in southwest suburb of Beijing indicates that the EMH dispersal from Africa to Asia is not that simple as previously thought.The new finding is accomplished mainly by Dr. SHANG Hong, Dr. TONG Haowen and colleagues from the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and Prof. Erik Trinkaus from the Washington University in St. Louis, US. Their work was published online on 3 April by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
In 2003, after a tough excavation under the charge of Tong, a total of 34 elements of an EMH were unearthed in Tianyuan Cave, six kilometers from the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian. The discovery consists of skeletal materials of an adult who was about at his late 40s or early 50s. The human remains, which were found to date back to between 42,000 and 38,500 years ago, are presently the oldest directly dated EMHs in eastern Eurasia, according to researchers.
Though the specimen is basically a modern human, it does have some archaic characteristics, especially in the teeth and hand bone. Morphological comparison indicates that the Tianyuan remains have a series of derived modern human characteristics such as a projecting tuber symphyseos, a high anterior symphyseal angle, a broad scapular glenoid fossa, a reduced hamulus, a gluteal buttress, and a pilaster on the femora. Other features more common among EMHs are its modest humeral pectoralis major tuberosities, anteriorly rotated radial tuberosity, reduced radial curvature, and modest talar trochlea. What's more, there is a lack of characteristics common among western Eurasian late archaic humans, including mandibular foramen bridging, mandibular notch asymmetry, and a large superior medial pterygoid tubercle. However, it really exhibits several late archaic human features, such as anterior to posterior dental proportions, a large hamulus length, and a broad and rounded distal phalangeal tuberosity.
This morphological pattern casts doubts on the hypothesis that a simple spread of modern humans from Africa, especially since younger specimens have been found in Eastern Eurasia with similar feature patterns. It could help explain how early human moved east across Europe and Asia, but the movement is not completely understood.
According to Shang and Trinkaus, "the discovery promises to provide relevant paleontological data for the understanding of the emergence of modern humans in eastern Asia." They argue that the most likely explanation for the mix of features is interbreeding between early modern humans and the archaic populations of Europe and Asia.
Thoughts?
