Re: Human Evolution

Jim Foley (jimf@vangelis.ncrmicro.ncr.com)
Wed, 29 Nov 95 12:05:09 MST

>>>>> On Tue, 28 Nov 1995 13:02:37 -0800 (PST), vandewat@seas.ucla.edu said:

>> Note also the conclusion of this secular (?) author. Homo sapiens
>> did not "coevolve" from many different homo erectus populations.

This is not a radical conclusion. The notion that all modern humans
come from a small root population, probably in Africa, was already the
majority view. The idea that Homo erectus populations around the world
all "coevolved" towards Homo sapiens was a minority position, and the
new findings will probably make it more so.

Which leads to the answer of your next question:

>> How much of the fossil evidence for human evolution does this
>> effectively eliminate, I wonder?

None, although it does support the already widespread idea that some
fossils (e.g. Asian fossils such as Java Man and Peking Man) were our
uncles and aunts rather than our parents.

-- Jim Foley                         Symbios Logic, Fort Collins, COJim.Foley@symbios.com                        (303) 223-5100 x9765