2 June 2023 / Evrim Yazgin
Genetic study suggests new model for human evolution
A modern genomic study puts forward an alternative model to the “tree of life” picture for how modern humans evolved.
While it is widely accepted that modern humans, Homo sapiens, diverged from other human species in Africa before spreading around the world, when and how the split between modern humans and other hominoids, such as Neanderthals, continues to be an area of uncertainty.
Read more: Ancient human genes show we adapted to cold climates over 30,000 years
The classic theory holds that between 100,000 and 300,000 years ago, one ancestral population of humans diverged from others in the Homo genus, leading to the modern human lineage.
Another theory suggests that this central ancestral population did not evolve in isolation, but was the result of mixing between modern humans and Neanderthal-like hominins, hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Decades of studies into human genomic variation point to the classic “tree-like” model of recent population divergence being accurate. But the fossil evidence suggests otherwise.
https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/genetic-study-modern-human-evolution-model/
