There is almost universal agreement that the earliest ancestors of the Human race originally evolved in Africa and that one of our descendent, Homo Erectus, did indeed migrate northward . This is what is commonly referred to as the first "out of Africa" migration. Remains of Homo Erectus have been found in Asia and it is believed that Neandertal Man in europe evolved from Homo Erectus.

We also believe that Homo Sapien (that's us) evolved from Homo Erectus in Africa and again spread northward, known as the second "out of Africa" migration. But scientists have long argued about whether Homo Sapien could also have evolved from Homo Erectus elsewhere as well.

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An international team of researchers reports in Monday’s online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that Asians appear to have played a larger part in the settlement of Europe than did Africans.

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According to the study by a team from the National Center for the Investigation of Human Evolution, in Burgos, Spain, not only did a second branch of Homo Sapien evolve in Asia, but they migrated westward and played a significant role in developing the Homo Sapien population in Europe.

For an overview, here's an interesting article the March 19, 2007 issue of Newsweek on the study of Human Evoluion.

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d;-)

Interesting, I'd say modern man; the cro-mags, evolved in Europe, they were the superior toolmakers.

Phoen-X

The prevailing evidence is that they evolved outside of Europe. It was long believed that they evolved in Africa and moved north, which some did. But there remains a question whether a separate "strain" evolved in Asia and moved westward and mixed with a smaller number from Africa.

Interesting stuff.

d;-)

Homo Erectus...does that mean "faggot with a boner"?

Jack

OH - I forgot that . . . 6,000 years ago.

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That might explain why Homo Erectus went extinct (?)

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Very interesting. I also read some speculation that Neanderthals interbred with Homo Sapiens Sapiens and left some of their DNA in certain racial groups -- particularly Europeans, who, supposedly, have the enlarged nose the Neanderthal evolved to warm ice-age air, along with Neanderthal's overhanging brow. But I've also read that recent DNA studies don't support that.

From my own completely amateur perspective, just judging from appearances, Europeans seem to have more similarity with the bushmen of Africa than with Southeast Asians, which would support an out-of-Africa interpretation, rather than out-of-Africa-by-way-of Asia interpretation, so it'll be interesting to see where this goes.

Hey Arkady -

The DNA info I read also indicates that Neanderthal and Cromagnon did not interbreed.

In terms of the "facial features" of Euro Homo and Asian Home - one of the articles in this particular series claims that the facial features are evolved in the "local environment".

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William Amos of the University of Cambridge indicated climate conditions can lead to changes in skull features. “In very cold climates you tend to generate a slightly thicker brow ridge" for example.

According to John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, “There are differences in the skull between populations, including their variability, but it is mostly due to very recent effects and not the origin of modern humans.”

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No, supposedly 8,000 years ago, which fails to explain 'Lucy'....

SoGal and I were Joking. making fun of the fundamentalist who deny evolution exists.

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Well I figured that, but then they'd claim you missed it by 2,000 years.

And I would claim they missed it by 4 million years or so - LOL

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I think scientists will find out it was far more than that. I think they'll finally discover it happened just about the same time as the continents splitting.

The problem is that whenever it happened, there were only a very few at first. And it is difficult to find fossil remains of small primates that are that old. But by comparing the DNA of Chimps and Humans and noting the number of
"variations", they think they can "back calculate" when the two species separated. That nuber seems to be about 4-5 million years ago.

They have also found parts of a skeleton that appears to be more than 7 million years old. However, that seem to be from an earlier "split" which died out and is not really related to Humans.

One of the problems is that we can't actually say how many times a new species may have split off from the apes. But about 5 million years ago there was a sharp change in climate - with things getting warmer and drier in sub-Saharan Africa. This is believed to have been the "trigger" which allowed the new species to find a favorable environment for survival.

d;-)