Late Pleistocene palaeolake in the interior of Oman: a potential key area for the dispersal of anatomically modern humans out-of-Africa?

AbstractAnatomically modern humans evolved around 300 thousand years ago in Africa1. Modern humans started to appear in the fossil record outside of Africa about 100 thousand years ago though other hominins existed throughout Eurasia much earlier2–4. Recently, several researchers argued in favour of a single out of Africa event for modern humans based on whole-genome sequences analyses5–7. However, the single out of Africa model is in contrast with some of the findings from fossil records, which supports two out of Africa8,9, and uniparental data, which proposes back to Africa movement10,11. Here, we used a novel deep learning approach coupled with Approximate Bayesian Computation and Sequential Monte Carlo to revisit these hypotheses from the whole genome sequence perspective. Our results support the back to Africa model over other alternatives. We estimated that there are two successive splits between Africa and out of African populations happening around 60-80 thousand years ago and separated by 12-13 thousand years. One of the populations resulting from the more recent split has to a large extent replaced the older West African population while the other one has founded the out of Africa populations.

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The Archaeology of Archaic and Early ModernHomo Sapiens: An African Perspective

Cambridge Archaeological Journal ◽

10.1017/s0959774300000706 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 21-39 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Philip Allsworth-Jones

Keyword(s):

Near East ◽

Middle Stone Age ◽

Stone Age ◽

Upper Palaeolithic ◽

Modern Humans ◽

Anatomically Modern Humans ◽

African Perspective ◽

Out Of Africa

Whereas in Europe the transition from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic and the replacement of Neanderthal by anatomically modern humans appear to be synchronous events, in Africa this is not the case. Neanderthals as such were not present in Africa, and if the ‘Out of Africa’ model is correct, the ancestors of anatomically modern humans must have made their appearance in a Middle Stone Age context before 100,000 years ago. Subsequently, it seems that they coexisted with Neanderthals for up to 70,000 years in the Near East. If a direct biological correlation can be ruled out, the question arises: what was the impetus for an Upper Palaeolithic ‘revolution’ and why should it have taken place at all?

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Carriers of mitochondrial DNA macrohaplogroup L3 basic lineages migrated back to Africa from Asia around 70,000 years ago

10.1101/233502 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Vicente M. Cabrera ◽

Patricia Marrero ◽

Khaled K. Abu-Amero ◽

Jose M. Larruga

Keyword(s):

Y Chromosome ◽

Fossil Record ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

African Origin ◽

Modern Humans ◽

Frequency Distributions ◽

Human Movements ◽

Anatomically Modern Humans ◽

Out Of Africa ◽

Southern Route

ABSTRACTBackgroundAfter three decades of mtDNA studies on human evolution the only incontrovertible main result is the African origin of all extant modern humans. In addition, a southern coastal route has been relentlessly imposed to explain the Eurasian colonization of these African pioneers. Based on the age of macrohaplogroup L3, from which all maternal Eurasian and the majority of African lineages originated, that out-of-Africa event has been dated around 60-70 kya. On the opposite side, we have proposed a northern route through Central Asia across the Levant for that expansion. Consistent with the fossil record, we have dated it around 125 kya. To help bridge differences between the molecular and fossil record ages, in this article we assess the possibility that mtDNA macrohaplogroup L3 matured in Eurasia and returned to Africa as basic L3 lineages around 70 kya.ResultsThe coalescence ages of all Eurasian (M,N) and African L3 lineages, both around 71 kya, are not significantly different. The oldest M and N Eurasian clades are found in southeastern Asia instead near of Africa as expected by the southern route hypothesis. The split of the Y-chromosome composite DE haplogroup is very similar to the age of mtDNA L3. A Eurasian origin and back migration to Africa has been proposed for the African Y-chromosome haplogroup E. Inside Africa, frequency distributions of maternal L3 and paternal E lineages are positively correlated. This correlation is not fully explained by geographic or ethnic affinities. It seems better to be the result of a joint and global replacement of the old autochthonous male and female African lineages by the new Eurasian incomers.ConclusionsThese results are congruent with a model proposing an out-of-Africa of early anatomically modern humans around 125 kya. A return to Africa of Eurasian fully modern humans around 70 kya, and a second Eurasian global expansion by 60 kya. Climatic conditions and the presence of Neanderthals played key roles in these human movements.

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Out of Africa by spontaneous migration waves

10.1101/378695 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Paul D. Bons ◽

Catherine C. Bauer ◽

Hervé Bocherens ◽

Tamara de Riese ◽

Dorothée G. Drucker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Assortative Mating ◽

Current Model ◽

Source Region ◽

Regional Differentiation ◽

Power Law Distribution ◽

Modern Humans ◽

Large Wave ◽

Anatomically Modern Humans ◽

Out Of Africa ◽

And Migration

AbstractHominin evolution is characterized by progressive regional differentiation, as well as migration waves, leading to anatomically modern humans that are assumed to have emerged in Africa and spread over the whole world. Why or whether Africa was the source region of modern humans and what caused their spread remains subject of ongoing debate. We present a spatially explicit, stochastic numerical model that includes ongoing mutations, demic diffusion, assortative mating and migration waves. Diffusion and assortative mating alone result in a structured population with relatively homogeneous regions bound by sharp clines. The addition of migration waves results in a power-law distribution of wave areas: for every large wave, many more small waves are expected to occur. This suggests that one or more out-of-Africa migrations would probably have been accompanied by numerous smaller migration waves across the world. The migration waves are considered “spontaneous”, as the current model excludes environmental or other factors. Large waves preferentially emanate from the central areas of large, compact inhabited areas. During the Pleistocene, Africa was the largest such area most of the time, making Africa the statistically most likely origin of anatomically modern humans, without a need to invoke additional environmental or ecological drivers.

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Out of Africa and into an ice age: on the role of global climate change in the late Pleistocene migration of early modern humans out of Africa.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.1267956.735054 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Barry Brook ◽

Lochran Traill

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Early Modern ◽

Late Pleistocene ◽

Global Climate Change ◽

Global Climate ◽

Ice Age ◽

Modern Humans ◽

Early Modern Humans ◽

Out Of Africa

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Luminescence dating Hajar Mountain alluvial fan systems, northern Oman

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-2325 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sam Woor ◽

Julie Durcan ◽

Ash Parton ◽

David Thomas

Keyword(s):

Late Quaternary ◽

Alluvial Fan ◽

Luminescence Dating ◽

Modern Humans ◽

Temporal Complexity ◽

Human Dispersal ◽

Palaeoenvironmental Change ◽

Anatomically Modern Humans ◽

Out Of Africa ◽

Scale Data

The alluvial/fluvial fan systems of northern Oman act as sensitive geoproxy records of Late Quaternary palaeohydrology and past landscape evolution, offering records of palaeoenvironmental change which cannot be reconstructed from nearby speleothem records alone (Parton et al., 2013). These systems also provide evidence for the important link between the changing abundance of freshwater in the Arabian interior and the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMHs) out of Africa (Rosenberg et al., 2012). Limited previous luminescence dating analyses have reported fan activation west of the Hajar during insolation maxima and monsoon intensification throughout the Late Quaternary (Parton et al., 2015). However, there are currently no studies to date which present chronologies for the fan systems to the east of the Hajar Mountains.We present the first luminescence based chronology for the fan systems to the east of the Hajar Mountains, providing landform scale data on fan behaviour, including spatial-temporal complexity and variability. This facilitates comparison of the temporal response of fans east and west of the mountains, including differential responses to external forcing. Ages will also be compared with regional palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic records, to inform landscape reconstructions in northern Oman during the late Quaternary.ReferencesRosenberg, T.M., Preusser, F., Blechschmidt, I., Fleitmann, D., Jagher, R. and Matter, A., 2012. Late Pleistocene palaeolake in the interior of Oman: a potential key area for the dispersal of anatomically modern humans out&#8208;of&#8208;Africa?.&#160;Journal of Quaternary Science,&#160;27(1), pp.13-16.Parton, A., Farrant, A.R., Leng, M.J., Schwenninger, J.L., Rose, J.I., Uerpmann, H.P. and Parker, A.G., 2013. An early MIS 3 pluvial phase in Southeast Arabia: climatic and archaeological implications.&#160;Quaternary International,&#160;300, pp.62-74.Parton, A., Farrant, A.R., Leng, M.J., Telfer, M.W., Groucutt, H.S., Petraglia, M.D. and Parker, A.G., 2015. Alluvial fan records from southeast Arabia reveal multiple windows for human dispersal.&#160;Geology,&#160;43(4), pp.295-298.&#160;

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The Evolution of Modern Behaviour and its Implications for Maritime Dispersal During the Palaeolithic

Cambridge Archaeological Journal ◽

10.1017/s0959774315000098 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 25 (4) ◽

pp. 829-846 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Thomas P. Leppard

Keyword(s):

Late Pleistocene ◽

Cognitive Architecture ◽

Central Question ◽

Upper Palaeolithic ◽

Modern Humans ◽

Cognitive Capacities ◽

Dispersal Model ◽

The Social ◽

Anatomically Modern Humans ◽

Bodies Of Water

Oceans and seas are more frequently thought to have been barriers to than enablers of movement for archaic hominins. This interpretation has been challenged by a revisionist model which suggests that bodies of water facilitated the dispersal of pre-moderns. This paper addresses the revisionist model by defining maritime dispersal as a series of cognitive and organizational problems, the capacity to solve which must have arisen during the evolution of Homo. The central question posed is: knowing the type of social and cognitive configuration necessary for strategic maritime dispersal, and knowing the social and cognitive capacities of hominin species implied in the revisionist dispersal model, how likely is it that such species possessed the capacity to undertake purposive maritime colonization? Available data suggest that the evolution of modern cognitive architecture during the Late Pleistocene correlates positively with increasing evidence for maritime dispersal in the Upper Palaeolithic, and that behavioural modernity is implicated in the appearance of strategic maritime dispersal in Homo. Consequently, it is likely that deliberate trans-oceanic seagoing is restricted to Anatomically Modern Humans, and possibly Neanderthals.

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