Has Australia backdated the Human Revolution?

Antiquity ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (282) ◽  
pp. 876-879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Stringer
Keyword(s):  
Human Evolution ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Modern Human Origins ◽  
South Wales

Australia has usually played a supporting role in the story of human evolution — regarded as a place at the edge of the inhabited world where modern humans arrived relatively late and then remained largely isolated from subsequent developments. However, new dates for a human burial at Mungo, New South Wales (Thorne et al. 1999) may not only force revision of views about the peopling of Australia, but also have a wider impact on ideas about modern human origins.

2. Finding our place

2019 ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Bernard Wood
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Biology ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common

When did the process of using reason to try and understand human origins begin, and how did it develop? When was the scientific method first applied to the study of human evolution? ‘Finding our place’ begins by reviewing the history of how first philosophers and then scientists came to realize that modern humans are part of the natural world. It then explains why, using advances in molecular biology, scientists think chimpanzees and bonobos are more closely related to modern humans than they are to gorillas, and why they think the common ancestor of the chimpanzee/bonobo and modern human clades lived between six and eight million years ago.

scholarly journals Modern human origins: progress and prospects

2002 ◽  
Vol 357 (1420) ◽  
pp. 563-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Stringer
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
African Origin ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Modern Human Origins ◽  
Fossil Evidence ◽  
Behavioural Characteristics ◽  
Origin Of Modern Humans

The question of the mode of origin of modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) has dominated palaeoanthropological debate over the last decade. This review discusses the main models proposed to explain modern human origins, and examines relevant fossil evidence from Eurasia, Africa and Australasia. Archaeological and genetic data are also discussed, as well as problems with the concept of ‘modernity’ itself. It is concluded that a recent African origin can be supported for H. sapiens , morphologically, behaviourally and genetically, but that more evidence will be needed, both from Africa and elsewhere, before an absolute African origin for our species and its behavioural characteristics can be established and explained.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document