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Samples, Species, and Speculations in the Study of Modern Human Origins

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Part of the book series: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology ((IDCA))

Abstract

In many respects, the genesis of renewed interest in the origin of modern humans, which has characterized paleoanthropology in recent years, coincides with a series of ideas published in a single volume eight years ago (Smith and Spencer 1984). In this volume, two basic paleontological viewpoints central to the present debate on the pattern and mode of modern human origins were initially articulated in detail. First, the Afro-European “sapiens hypothesis” (Bräuer 1984) presented a detailed argument for a monocentric origin of modern humans in Africa, based on the pertinent fossil hominid record. Additionally, although long favoring a classical monocentric origin for modern people, Stringer provides his first unequivocal endorsement of Africa as that center of origin (Stringer, Hublin & Vandermeersch 1984). Second, the basis for modern multiregional evolutionary thinking was articulated by Wolpoff, Wu & Thorne (1984); and regional continuity was suggested to characterize various regions of Eurasia, albeit to differing degrees depending on author and region (Smith 1984; Trinkaus 1984)

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Smith, F.H. (1994). Samples, Species, and Speculations in the Study of Modern Human Origins. In: Nitecki, M.H., Nitecki, D.V. (eds) Origins of Anatomically Modern Humans. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1507-8_11

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