· Hobbit
· Neanderthal
· Denisovans
In your view which theory do these support and which theory do you feel best explains where we come from.
Theories explained
Hobbit
Neanderthal
Denisovans
Out of Africa vs. the Multiregional Hypothesis www.suite101.com
There are two major competing hypotheses about the origins of Homo sapiens - the
The hobbit
The remains of Homo Erectus has been found on the Indonesian island of Java. Home Erectus has then evolved and adapted to the environment of the small island. The hominid got smaller because of the adaption to the nature and the life on this island. This smaller hominid come to be called Hobbit. The hobbit supports the second theory "Multiregional hypothesis" because Indonesia is not a part of Africa. So it fits in with the theory about the spread into different locations in the world.
Out of Africa - erectus extinct before Modern arrives. (12,000 B.P)
The Neanderthal
This support both of the theories in their own way. It support the first theory because in the article states with quotes that for example: Professor Chris Stringer, research leader in human origins at London's Natural History Museum, is one of the architects of the Out of Africa theory. He told BBC News: "In some ways [the study] confirms what we already knew, in that the Neanderthals look like a separate line.
"But, of course, the really surprising thing for many of us is the implication that there has been some interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans in the past."
New evidence have also come up like the fact that we now know that we have a genetic contribution from the Neanderthals. It says like this in the article: "John Hawks, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, told BBC News: "They're us. We're them.
"It seemed like it was likely to be possible, but I am surprised by the amount. I really was not expecting it to be as high as 4%," he said of the genetic contribution from Neanderthals.
The latest research strongly supports the "Out of Africa" theory.
This article also in one way support the second theory. It supports it by the statement by Dr Hawks. He commented that the amount of Neanderthal DNA in our genomes seemed high: "What it means is that any traits [Neanderthals] had that might have been useful in later populations should still be here.
"So when we see that their anatomies are gone, this isn't just chance. Those things that made the Neanderthals apparent to us as a population - those things didn't work. They're gone because they didn't work in the context of our population."
This I think supports the second theory due to the fact that we in that theory evolved in different ways and adapted to the environment were we ended up (Africa, China and Europe). This made us all change a bit from each other but the breeding made us not totally grow apart.
Parts of both. Out of Africa = modern Grp arrives. Multi = DNA mixes.
The Denisovans
There have been findings in a Denisova cave in southern Siberia. From a tooth and a finger bone, scientists have been able to analyse DNA. These individuals belonged to a genetically distinct group of humans that were distantly related to Neanderthals but even more distantly related to us. This finding adds weight to the theory that a different kind of human could have existed in Eurasia at the same time as our species. This supports the second theory about the multiregional.
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