Homo Sapiens: The Regional Continuity Theory And The Replacement?

As it stands in the scientific community, there is currently a debate between two factions of anthropologists, and two theories, regarding the evolution of modern humans or Homo sapiens: The Regional Continuity Theory and the Replacement (or “Out-of-Africa”) Theory. In this paper, I will attempt to define both theories, evaluate the evidence and merits of both, and then draw a personal conclusion as to which theory I find the most plausible and likely to be correct out of the two.

The Regional Continuity Theory, first developed in the early 1980s by Milford Wolpoff and a group of his students, asserts that after Homo erectus migrated out of Africa and moved into other portions of the Old World, local populations evolved slowly into modern humans through continuous interbreeding, genetic drift and natural selection, keeping the development of the species in the same main direction while maintaining adaptations to regional factors, but with many aspects common to all regions. The Regional Continuity Theory relies on fossil evidence far more than genetic evidence to support its claims, and cites anatomical features in Asian and European populations that carry from archaic humans to modern humans going back over 100,000 years. They, “point to the fact that many Europeans have relatively heavy brow ridges and a high angle of their noses reminiscent of Neanderthals. Similarly, it is claimed that some Chinese facial characteristics can be seen in an Asian archaic human fossil from Jinniushan dating to 200,000 years ago.”1 The merits of this theory suggest a broader expanse for evolution as a whole, suggesting that a wide array of factors, adaptations, and characteristics could feasibly create a viable species, as well as explaining so...

... middle of paper ...

...tween certain modern human populations, but it simply does not hold water when compared with the far more solid evidence presented by the Out-of-Africa Theory. As David C. Johanson, the professor who discovered the famous “Lucy” Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, puts it, “the majority of anatomical, archaeological and genetic evidence gives credence to the view that fully modern humans are a relatively recent evolutionary phenomenon. The current best explanation for the beginning of modern humans is the Out of Africa Model that postulates a single, African origin for Homo sapiens.”3 The Out-of-Africa Theory fulfills every question that the Regional Continuity Theory fails to, and provides the conclusive fossil and genetic record to back itself up. In terms of plausibility it comes out on top, and that is ultimately the horse I would back in this particular race.