"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:BvWdnaWR4MleaALbnZ2dnUVZ_vmlnZ2d@comcast.com...

Skulls confirm we're all out of Africa
Thu Jul 19, 2007 11:50AM EDT
By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - An analysis of thousands of skulls shows modern humans
originated from a single point in Africa and finally lays to rest the
idea of multiple origins, British scientists said on Wednesday.

Most researchers agree that mankind spread out of Africa starting about
50,000 years ago, quickly establishing Stone Age cultures throughout
Europe, Asia and Australia.

But a minority have argued, using skull data, that divergent populations
evolved independently in different areas.

The genetic evidence has always strongly supported the single origin
theory, and now results from a study of more than 6,000 skulls held
around the world in academic collections supports this case.

"We have combined our genetic data with new measurements of a large
sample of skulls to show definitively that modern humans originated from
a single area in Sub-Saharan Africa," said Andrea Manica of the
University of Cambridge's Department of Zoology.

Manica and colleagues wrote in the journal Nature that variations in
skull size and shape decreased the further a skull was away from Africa,
just like variations in DNA.

The decrease reflects the fact that, while the original African
population was stable and varied, only a small number of people embarked
on each stage of the multi-step migration out of Africa. This effectively
created a series of "bottlenecks", which reduced diversity.

The highest level of variation in skull types was seen in southeastern
Africa, the generally accepted cradle of mankind.

The Cambridge work also suggests in-breeding with other early humans,
such as Neanderthals, either did not happen or was insignificant. That is
in contrast to recent suggestions that such hybrids may have been fairly
common.

"We're not saying there was never a single mating between a homo sapiens
and a Neanderthal. But I can say, very confidently, that whatever the
product of that mating was, it didn't breed back into the population,"
Manica told Reuters.

Chris Stringer, a palaeoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in
London, said the new research was important for indicating that modern
human diversity was derived entirely from Africa rather than coming from
inter-mixing elsewhere.

Damn! No way to inbreed humans to get back to the Neanderthals.

In article <BvWdnaWR4MleaALbnZ2dnUVZ_vmlnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

Skulls confirm we're all out of Africa
Thu Jul 19, 2007 11:50AM EDT
By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - An analysis of thousands of skulls shows modern humans
originated from a single point in Africa and finally lays to rest the idea
of multiple origins, British scientists said on Wednesday.

Most researchers agree that mankind spread out of Africa starting about
50,000 years ago, quickly establishing Stone Age cultures throughout Europe,
Asia and Australia.

But a minority have argued, using skull data, that divergent populations
evolved independently in different areas.

The genetic evidence has always strongly supported the single origin theory,
and now results from a study of more than 6,000 skulls held around the world
in academic collections supports this case.

"We have combined our genetic data with new measurements of a large sample
of skulls to show definitively that modern humans originated from a single
area in Sub-Saharan Africa," said Andrea Manica of the University of
Cambridge's Department of Zoology.

Manica and colleagues wrote in the journal Nature that variations in skull
size and shape decreased the further a skull was away from Africa, just like
variations in DNA.

The decrease reflects the fact that, while the original African population
was stable and varied, only a small number of people embarked on each stage
of the multi-step migration out of Africa. This effectively created a series
of "bottlenecks", which reduced diversity.

The highest level of variation in skull types was seen in southeastern
Africa, the generally accepted cradle of mankind.

The Cambridge work also suggests in-breeding with other early humans, such
as Neanderthals, either did not happen or was insignificant. That is in
contrast to recent suggestions that such hybrids may have been fairly
common.

"We're not saying there was never a single mating between a homo sapiens and
a Neanderthal. But I can say, very confidently, that whatever the product of
that mating was, it didn't breed back into the population," Manica told
Reuters.

Chris Stringer, a palaeoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in
London, said the new research was important for indicating that modern human
diversity was derived entirely from Africa rather than coming from
inter-mixing elsewhere.

Now watch some fundy complain that it can't be because the Garden of
Eden was supposed to be in the Middle East.

this is a good find. It confirms what many suspected all along..