Homo Ertus Essay

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Why does it matter where modern humans evolved? What difference does it make if we emerged in Africa rather than from a member of a different population? The study of human origins has been one of the most controversial areas of research for anthropologists. At the nucleus of the debate is whether modern human originated from an African population that spread out across the globe replacing other populations. Approximately 100,000 years ago, the world was populated by a diverse group of hominids (Johanson). However, the diversity in humans began to diminish and hominids began to evolve into more modern forms. This transformation can be examined by looking at two theories. One that stresses the idea that humans came from many different regions and the other states that human came from single origin. The Multiregional Model argues that after Homo erectus left Africa and began to populate other parts of the world, that those smaller populations gradually evolved into modern humans. It also suggest that all living humans derive from the species homo erectus that left Africa millions year ago. In contrast, the Out-of-Africa Model emphasizes that modern humans evolved relatively recently in Africa, migrated into other parts of the world and replaced all population which were descendants of Homo erectus. One critical point that was made is that Homo erectus migrated out of Africa but the different populations became isolated from one another and began evolving separately from other groups. In my opinion for this to fully come about the groups must adhere to some type of inbreeding in order for the species to survive. And if so, would it not yield to the same gene but mix over and over not to cause a new species but to create a mutation that would be phase out by natural selection. According to Johanson the following chart illustrates these point of the model.

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