Human origins appear to be more intertwined with genetic and fossil discoveries

The Origins of Man describes our ancestors as lovers, not fighters

Daniel Vergano

At the heart of scientific questions about human origins are questions about human nature. is sapient Are you essentially a lover or a warrior, a predator or prey, a lucky survivor or an inevitable conqueror?

More favorable answers to these questions continue to emerge, as can be seen in numerous genetic discoveries and some recent fossil discoveries. They also highlight how difficult life was for our prehistoric ancestors. Despite the 8 billion people on Earth today, and growing, just surviving has been a victory for most of human history.

Not everyone is like that. Just 200,000 years ago, our ancestors lived on a planet populated by diverse human populations. Neanderthals lived in Europe and the Middle East. Denisovans known only today Bone fragments, teeth and DNALived throughout Asia and probably Even in the Pacific. “The Hobbit” or Homo floresiensis, A very small species that lived in Indonesia. Another short speciescalled homo luzonensis, did in the philippines. even homo erectusThe ancestors of the earliest human species were still running around until recently. 112,000 years ago.

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Now they are all gone. Except our genes. Denisovans interbred with Neanderthals, and both interbred with modern humans. The gene for “an” Africa’s unknown hominin” also denotes the genome of modern humans. The first discovery of this mixture was Since 2010Shake up the existing framework <아웃 오브 아프리카> picture This is about human origins, which saw a small, single group of human ancestors develop language and then replace all other ancestors around the world within the last 100,000 years.

Instead, the new picture of our origins doesn’t come close to a family tree. More than tangled shrubsA man who, through his winding branches, knit together different human groups into the broader human group of today. Today’s people are largely derived from crossbreeding between modern-looking humans from Africa and disparate populations scattered throughout the wider world. African expatriates initially arose from scattered and intermittently mixed populations. Found all over the continent.

Neanderthal genes reveal the extent of this mixing. Instead of waging a war of extinction, modern humans and Neanderthals coexisted. for at least 10,000 years About 50,000 years ago in Europe and Asia. Or maybe even earlier, suggesting there is evidence. sapient lived in greece 210,000 years agoThey then ceded Europe to the Neanderthals. Genetic studies suggest that: Genetic exchange peaks twiceAbout 200,000 years ago and again 50,000 years ago. Even some bacteria in our mouthIf you think about it, it appears to have Neanderthal origins. Due to early mixing, the Neanderthals themselves became average. 2.5~3.7% sapient DNA that later confused the family tree.

The demise of the Neanderthals, who disappeared from the fossil record after 40,000 years ago, appears to be rather a matter of demography. in 2021 SurveyThe field of paleoanthropology largely agrees that the small population size of Neanderthals led to their extinction. A scientific report this summer backs this up. For the study, Princeton University researchers looked at: Recurrent gene flow Relationships between humans and Neanderthals over the past 200,000 years. They found that there were 20% fewer Neanderthals running than expected. It wasn’t much. They interbred and melded with larger groups of modern humans arriving from Africa.

Neanderthal numbers have also taken a hit During the Ice Age, larger prey – woolly mammoths, bison and woolly rhinos – declined. September report on 100,000-year-old Neanderthals discovered in France Nickname: ‘Torin’ Our cousins ​​were less likely to migrate than modern humans, suggesting they were vulnerable to climate and landscape changes. Thorin is a descendant of a group that was genetically isolated for tens of thousands of years, despite living near other Neanderthals who appear to have later interbred with modern humans.

A similar picture of jumbled genes and small populations is emerging for Denisovans and other creatures. ancient human species. All this genetic shuffling makes humanity itself look a bit of a mess. July 2021 Analysis For example, “It’s only 1.5 to 7. [percent] “It is the only human genome among modern human genomes.”

Not much. In examining humanity’s scattered genetic history, scientists, including one-time champion Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London, Strictly Out of Africa Views of human origins have looked at humans and their patchwork of ancient fossils and genes. Stringer and colleagues concluded nature in 2021 “We cannot currently identify a specific point in time when the ancestors of modern humans were confined to a limited number of birthplaces.”

So our origins seem not to be particularly neat, but rather complex, involving many matings across time and space. We became wanderers and potential relatives rather than conquerors in our new neighborhood. This is something to consider the next time you hear someone talking about their family history or being told by others that they are an unwanted outsider.

This article is an opinion and analysis piece, and the views expressed by the author or authors do not necessarily reflect those of the author. Scientific American.