Ancient tools found in India undermine the “out of Africa” hypothesis

originally posted by: MysterX
a reply to: dug88

My opinion?

The so-called out of Africa hypothesis, is just like the old hokey cokey or put another way, in - out - in - out and perhaps even shake it all about.

Humans probably went TO Africa, then out, then back and out again depending on living conditions, droughts, earthquakes, eruptions, tsunamis, warfare and even cometary or asteroid impacts throughout the many millennia of prehistory.

It's not a simple case of we were in Africa then we left.

No Anthropologists are making the claim that we were always in Africa and then just up and left 50-70 Ka. It’s why we have Neanderthal and Denisovan in Eurasia long before AMH began creeping out of Africa. It’s why we have footprints on the British sea shore that have been dated to about 1 million years old and sites like Sima de Los Huesos which shows a clear transition in morphology from H. Heidelbergensis to Neanderthal along with surprises like an MtDNA haplogroup that doesn’t show up in subsequent Neanderthal populations and other distinct genetics that only appear in Denisovans. It’s why we see the 1.8 Ma Homo Georgicus remains that while mostly adhering to H. Erectus morphology still display some archaic features only seen in older H. Habilis remains.

There have been several migrations out of Africa and a few migrations back into Africa as well. It’s well documented in genomes as well as paleoanthropological sites. If people are trying to claim that there was only a single OOA migration that occurred 50-70 Ka you can be pretty confident that they’re repeating hearsay and haven’t engaged in their own due diligence because it’s not what the physical and genetic evidence points to nor is it what is discussed in Paleoanthropology.

I get the distinct impression that you don’t believe that humanities origins lie in Africa. And honestly, I don’t take issue with that. Especially when you preface your post with “in my opinion”. With that said, the oldest hominid remains are from Africa and all if the genetic data still points towards African origins. That doesn’t change the fact that humanities prehistory is littered with admixture events and multiple species inhabiting the same or bordering ecological niches. This becomes even more obvious with the find and dating if Homo Naledi who coexisted in Southern Africa with Heidelbergensis and early AMH. Our history isn’t anything resembling straight forward or even an easy to grasp family
Tree. I think it was John Hawks who I borrowed the concept of the braided streak from but it’s the most accurate visual approach to explaining archaic human prehistory.

a reply to: peter vlar

PeterV,
Have you seen the very recent(published a couple weeks ago) paper on the showing that the Sima de Los Huesos homonins are closely related to Damanisi and not particularly closely related to African Homo Erectus?
I quickly glanced at it while on lunch last week and can't seem to find it again. I think I saw it on Science Daily.

a reply to: punkinworks10

No, I haven’t seen that yet but based on everything else I’ve read about the remains from Sima de los Huesos, I’m not the least bit surprised given that there is nearly 1.5 Ma of divergence between African Erectus/Heidelbergensis and the early prototype Erectus from Damanisi dated to 1.8 Ma.

Sima de los Huesos going to be one of the most important paleoanthropologicsl sites ever discovered and like so many before, it leads us to more questions than answers. Which in my mind at least, is always a good thing. Especially if it makes us ask questions that we had yet to think of.

Between the apparent transitional morphological features which appear to show a clear cut link to earlier H. Heidelbergensis and the MtDNA that shows a distinctly clear matrilineal relationship with the Denisovans going back at least 400 Ka... this site will be giving up the goods for many years to come.

Personally, I’d like to see some genetic work ups on the Red Deer Cave remains and comparisons to Neanderthal, Denisovan and the recently published Sima de los Huesos MtDNA. Hell, the fact that viable MtDNA was recovered from a 400 Ka femur is in and of itself pretty amazing.

But more to your actual question, i haven’t read that paper yet but will definitely look for it when I get home in another 4 hours or so. Can’t wait to move this summer because the 7 hour drive each direction is getting old fast. Though I may as well suck it up because I’ll make the drive st least once a month between now and August when I get settled into the new abode.

a reply to: peter vlar

Sima is one of the most important sites, and has shed a great deal of light on our early relatives.
There was a find there some 25 or more years ago, that still sticks in my craw.
A teen neanderthal was buried with a fully articulated elderly wolf. The wolf was covered in ochre and flowers just as they did with their own dead. The wolf showed no signs of being hunted or processed.

a reply to: burgerbuddy

Thanks for posting this fascinating video. Australia is full of mystery. I wonder what is happening next year when the custodians take those rocks back.? Ive always loved Nexus Magazine.