Modern humans likely originated in southern Africa rather than eastern Africa as is generally assumed, according to the results of a new study of genetic diversity among hunter-gatherer populations by a Stanford University team.
SFI Science Board co-chair Marcus Feldman is the corresponding author of the paper, which appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on March 7.
About 60,000 years ago, modern humans left Africa and began the spread to other regions of the world, with the level of genetic variation decreasing as humans moved eastward, reaching its minimum in the Americas. But the details of genetic evolution within Africa have always been hazy due to limited datasets of human genetic diversity on the continent.
"Our belief used to be that the center of humans leaving Africa was in East Africa," Feldman says. "We've just never had enough people represented in our studies before."
The current study, which involved statistical analysis of the largest dataset to date of genetic diversity among hunter-gatherer groups, focuses attention on southern Africa, and in particular to a group of hunter-gatherers, the Bushmen.
The paper provides "a much more satisfying answer" to lingering questions about the origins of modern humans, says Feldman.
Feldman is a professor in Stanford's Department of Biological Sciences.
Read the PNAS paper (March 7, 2011)
Read the Stanford News Service article (March 7, 2011)
Read the USA Today article (March 8, 2011)
Read the Voice of America article (March 9, 2011)
Read the San Jose Mercury News article (March 7, 2011)
Read the Seattle Times article (March 7, 2011)