Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, RAS, St.Petersburg
Kozintsev A.G., e-mail: agkozintsev@gmail.com
Recent population genetic data relevant for the early evolution of Homo sapiens are discussed. Until the late 1990s, these data, which mostly concerned the rapidly evolving sex-specific haploid loci such as mtDNA and the nonrecombining portion of Y chromosome, seemed to unambiguously support the Recent African Origin and Replacement theory. Evidence on slowly evolving loci of the nuclear genome, collected in the recent years, suggests that previous views should be revised, and that certain groups of the archaic members of the genus Homo were assimilated by anatomically modern humans. Until recently, continent-specific alleles whose evolutionary age approached 2 million years were found only in Africa (data on six such alleles are cited). This did not contradict the Recent African Origin and Replacement theory, suggesting only that the ancestral group of African Homo sapiens had a mixed ancestry. However, a recently discovered and likewise ancient allele RRM2P4 is present only in Southeast Asia. This apparently attests to the late assimilation of archaic humans of that region by anatomically modern migrants from Africa. The same applies to Europe. Recent genetic data suggest that hybridization between Neandertals and anatomically modern humans cannot be excluded, and the same is demonstrated by skeletal and archaeological evidence.
Population genetics, evolution, anatomically modern humans, Neandertals, Recent African Origin, Multiregionalism, Assimilation Theory
Цит.: Kozintsev A.G. The Evolutionary history of Homo sapiens in the light of population genetics // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2009; 4/2009; с. 64-70
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