About the Book
Researchers are increasingly turning to genetic data to help decipher the origins of modern humanity. Did we arise as a new species in Africa 200,000 years ago and then replace human populations outside of Africa (African replacement), or are we part of a single, evolving lineage extending back perhaps as far as two million years ago (multiregional evolution)? Genetics and the Search for Modern Human Origins is an introduction to the genetic evidence of modern human origins, including what it can show us about prehistory, population size, and migration. Weighing the various debates, the author argues for a multiregional view that our recent origins are mostly, but not exclusively, out of Africa.
Taking into consideration the ongoing debate over modern human origins, this book offers a fascinating and educated look into the concepts, methods, and interpretations of human origins without weighing down the text with advanced mathematics or excessively technical language. John Relethford, a highly acclaimed author, provides a clear and concise review of how genetic data is used to study modern human origins.
Topics discussed in Genetics and the Search for Modern Human Origins include:
- Evolution and genetic history
- "Mitochondrial Eve"
- Genetic diversity and recent human evolution
- Genetic differences between human populations
- Reconstructing ancient demography
- Neandertal DNA
- Summary of the genetic evidence
Genetics and the Search for Modern Human Origins is an engaging and informative resource for anyone interested in genetics, evolution, and human origins.
A major debate in anthropology concerns the relationship between anatomically modern humans and earlier "archaic" humans including the Neandertals. What was the origin of modern humans? Did we arise as a new species in Africa 200,000 years ago and then replace archaic human populations outside of Africa, or are our origins part of a single evolving lineage extending back over the past two million years? In addition to fossil and archaeological evidence, anthropologists have increasingly turned to using genetic data on living populations to address this question. Patterns of genetic variation within and between living human populations are felt to contain clues as to our species' evolutionary history, and provide a reflection of the past.
This book reviews the modern human origins debate focusing on the genetic evidence relating to our origins, including genetic variation in living humans and recent discoveries of ancient DNA from fossil specimens. Following a brief introduction to the problem and a review of evolutionary genetics, the book focuses on gene trees and the search for a common ancestor, genetic diversity within populations, genetic distances between populations, the use of genetic data to reconstruct ancient demography, and Neandertal DNA. The main point of the text is that although the genetic data are often compatible with a replacement model, they are also compatible with some multiregional models. The concluding chapter makes the case that modern human origins are mostly, but not exclusively, out of Africa.