(June 14, 2011 at 5:33 am)Ziggystardust Wrote:(June 14, 2011 at 3:07 am)Ryft Wrote: Darth Vader Homo erectus: No, I am your father.
Luke Ziggy: No. No! That's not true! That's impossible!
I am not denying that Homo Erectus was an ancestor of Homo Sapiens, however Homo Erectus likely evolved into Homo antecessor, then it evolved into Homo heidelbergensis then heidelbergensis evolved into Neanderthal, Denisovan and rhodesiensis (which homo sapiens most likely evolved from).
1. Many of the named species of the homo genus is not univerally accepted as representing distinct genetic populations. So the linear progression through these specifically named steps is questionable.
2. Fossil evidence is strongly subject to preservation and selection bias. The discovery of the earliest fossil for a particular group, such as HE, is suggestive, but not convincing, evidence for notion that HE originated from that location of the discovery. Other evidence needs to corroborate the suggestion. For example: Are the species thought to be the closest ancester to HE known to also be present in the location of the discovery? If not, how did HE originate there? If metric for the mitochrondria genetic diversity of HE for the different, but nearly contemporaneous, populations of HE can be established, then one should find the greatest diversity in the region where HE originated and therefore has had the most time to diversify. Do we find greater diversity in the mitochrondria DNA for HEs outside of Africa?
Jumping to Homo Sapiens. What is much more certain is the homo sapien population of Africa is both genetically and liguistically much more diverse than the homo sapien population outside of Africa. This very strongly suggests that modern homo sapien evolved in Africa first, and had been living in Africa for a long time, accummulating a great deal of genetic and linguistic diversity in situ, before just a small group of them, representing a small portion of the genetic and linguistic diversity already existent in Africa, left african and become the founding population of all homo sapien populations outside of Africa. This is supported
What has been present can't even qualify as quibbles against the volume of evidence for the OOA origin of homo sapien.
