ABSTRACT
The interpretation of the often fragmentary evidence for human evolution inevitably causes disagreement and controversy. Not surprisingly, this has been particularly the case regarding the immediate origins of our own species of anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens. It is apparent that in Europe and western Asia the continuing evolutionary process eventually led to a highly specialized hominid, Homo neanderthalensis, so-called ‘Neanderthal Man’, whose relationship to later humans has been the subject of much debate. Current thinking tends to regard it as an aberrant offshoot, adapted to the cold of the Eurasian ‘Ice Ages’, that was replaced by fully modern humans 50,000-40,000 years ago. The latter, it is thought, came from Africa, where the earliest members of Homo sapiens had evolved after about 600,000 years ago and where Homo neanderthalensis was absent. In eastern Asia, however, a lack of sufficient evidence for the relevant period makes interpretation even more difficult and it is uncertain whether later Homo erectus evolved into Homo sapiens independently or was replaced by or interbred with the latter spreading out from Africa. The most favoured explanation at present is that all Homo sapiens ultimately derived from Africa, reaching even Australia by about 40,000 years ago. Thus it appears that the earliest members of our species could well have been Africa’s gift to the world.
