Journal ArticleDOI
Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia
Tim D. White,Berhane Asfaw,David DeGusta,Henry Gilbert,Gary D. Richards,Gen Suwa,F. Clark Howell +6 more
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Fossilized hominid crania from Herto, Middle Awash, Ethiopia are described and provide crucial evidence on the location, timing and contextual circumstances of the emergence of Homo sapiens.Abstract:
The origin of anatomically modern Homo sapiens and the fate of Neanderthals have been fundamental questions in human evolutionary studies for over a century. A key barrier to the resolution of these questions has been the lack of substantial and accurately dated African hominid fossils from between 100,000 and 300,000 years ago. Here we describe fossilized hominid crania from Herto, Middle Awash, Ethiopia, that fill this gap and provide crucial evidence on the location, timing and contextual circumstances of the emergence of Homo sapiens. Radioisotopically dated to between 160,000 and 154,000 years ago, these new fossils predate classic Neanderthals and lack their derived features. The Herto hominids are morphologically and chronologically intermediate between archaic African fossils and later anatomically modern Late Pleistocene humans. They therefore represent the probable immediate ancestors of anatomically modern humans. Their anatomy and antiquity constitute strong evidence of modern-human emergence in Africa.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
A geographically explicit genetic model of worldwide human-settlement history.
TL;DR: A dynamic genetic model of human settlement history coupled with explicit geographical distances from East Africa, the likely origin of modern humans is presented, which suggests that coupling analytical genetic models with explicit demography and geography provides a powerful tool for making inferences on human-settlement history.
Journal ArticleDOI
Stratigraphic, chronological and behavioural contexts of Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia.
J. Desmond Clark,Yonas Beyene,Giday WoldeGabriel,William K. Hart,Paul R. Renne,Paul R. Renne,Henry Gilbert,Alban Defleur,Gen Suwa,Shigehiro Katoh,Kenneth R. Ludwig,Jean-Renaud Boisserie,Berhane Asfaw,Tim D. White,Tim D. White +14 more
TL;DR: Stratigraphically associated Late Middle Pleistocene artefacts and fossils from fluvial and lake margin sandstones of the Upper Herto Member of the Bouri Formation, Middle Awash, Afar Rift, Ethiopia and archaeological assemblages contain elements of both Acheulean and Middle Stone Age technocomplexes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Human cranial anatomy and the differential preservation of population history and climate signatures
TL;DR: Three-dimensional geometric morphometrics methods indicate that neurocranial and temporal bone shape track neutral genetic distances, while facial shape reflects climate; centroid size shows a weak association with climatic variables; and relative position/orientation of cranial regions does not appear correlated with any of these factors.
Journal ArticleDOI
Neanderthals and the modern human colonization of Europe
TL;DR: Recent research suggests that the roots of this dramatic population replacement can be traced far back to events on another continent, with the appearance of distinctively modern human remains and artefacts in eastern and southern Africa.
Journal ArticleDOI
Ecological dominance, social competition, and coalitionary arms races: Why humans evolved extraordinary intelligence.
TL;DR: It is argued that as the authors' hominin ancestors became increasing able to master the traditional bhostile forces of nature, selective pressures resulting from competition among conspecifics became increasingly important, particularly in regard to social competencies.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Mitochondrial genome variation and the origin of modern humans
TL;DR: The global mtDNA diversity in humans is described based on analyses of the complete mtDNA sequence of 53 humans of diverse origins, providing a concurrent view on human evolution with respect to the age of modern humans.
Journal ArticleDOI
The phylogeography of Y chromosome binary haplotypes and the origins of modern human populations
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Australopithecus ramidus, a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia
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Journal ArticleDOI
Out of Africa again and again.
TL;DR: A coherent picture of recent human evolution emerges with two major themes: first is the dominant role that Africa has played in shaping the modern human gene pool through at least two—not one—major expansions after the original range extension of Homo erectus out of Africa, and second is the ubiquity of genetic interchange between human populations.
Book ChapterDOI
Progress and Prospects
TL;DR: Improvement in understanding has led in some cases to better management with improved outcome for the patient, whereas in other areas the way is now clear towards a better prospect for the future.
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