Journal
EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY
Volume 24, Issue 4, Pages 149-164Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/evan.21455
Keywords
Paleolithic; Homo sapiens; dispersal; demography; genetic ancestry
Categories
Funding
- European Research council (ERC) under Ideas specific Programme of the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) [295719, 269586, 206148]
- Arts and Humanities Research Council [513691]
- Wenner-Gren Foundation [8684]
- Boise Fund (University of Oxford)
- NERC studentship [NE/J500306/1]
- Wellcome Senior Investigator Award in Medical Humanities [100713/Z/12/A]
- Wellcome Trust [100713/Z/12/A] Funding Source: Wellcome Trust
- Arts and Humanities Research Council [1053489] Funding Source: researchfish
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Current fossil, genetic, and archeological data indicate that Homo sapiens originated in Africa in the late Middle Pleistocene. By the end of the Late Pleistocene, our species was distributed across every continent except Antarctica, setting the foundations for the subsequent demographic and cultural changes of the Holocene. The intervening processes remain intensely debated and a key theme in hominin evolutionary studies. We review archeological, fossil, environmental, and genetic data to evaluate the current state of knowledge on the dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa. The emerging picture of the dispersal process suggests dynamic behavioral variability, complex interactions between populations, and an intricate genetic and cultural legacy. This evolutionary and historical complexity challenges simple narratives and suggests that hybrid models and the testing of explicit hypotheses are required to understand the expansion of Homo sapiens into Eurasia.
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