Essay - Evolution: Early Dispersal from Africa to Asia the Very First...

Evolution: Early Dispersal From Africa to Asia

***** very first Asians are believed by palaeoanthropologists to be the early versions of ***** genus Homo that originated in Africa and moved into Asia 1.8 million years ago (Myr), called as a generic term, hominins ***** scientists. The *****ctual timing of the appearance of *****se "small-brained hominines" - according to an article in the journal Nature - has been, based on fossil discoveries in the past ten years, recalculated ***** "hundreds ***** thousands of ***** earlier than previously envisaged" (Dennell, et al, 2005). The specific time frame for specimens ***** H. ergaster to have arrived ***** eastern ***** - and colonized Asia as the foundation ***** a population ***** hominins c*****led H. erectus - is uncertain, Dennell writes.

For those interested in evolutionary exactitude as far as ***** timing of H. erectus' arrival in *****, there is *****deed a cloud ***** *****ty. It's possible, Dennell asserts, to project that ***** actually left ***** as early as 3.0 to 3.5 Myr *****. And that window of time problem could be resolved if scientists could learn "the full range of hominins that inhabited both Africa ***** Asia in the late Pliocene and Pleis*****cene periods." But without solid testing procedures (***** ***** records) in Asia ***** match the quality of research in Africa, these hominin movement questions will remain unanswered, Dennell continues.

Indeed, the main point of this ***** is that there ***** "large*****scale imbalances" between record-keeping methods, and hence, what few discoveries are made in Asia are not enough to piece together "the jigsaw" that scientists currently *****. ***** article points out, too, that its not enough to postu***** that a fossil record can be traced to a given date; "we need comparable data sets to infer legitimately that" the H. erectus was absent prior to that date. The conclusion ***** this ***** sets up challenges, substantial hurdles, for ***** working in ***** and ***** Asia: one is that "comparability [Africa with *****] is still many generations of research away." The second hurdle: when stone tools are d*****covered in Asia that are *****d as older than 1.9 Myr ago, they are either "dismissed or (most usually) ign*****ed," ***** that flaw ***** to be corrected, in order to gain a better understanding ***** to who made those tools, and from whence ***** came (what part ***** Africa), when, ***** how. ***** finally, though, as Dennell *****, there may be "an understandable reluctance" to get scientists ***** re-think the operative "Out of Africa" model (***** table) for migration to Asia - which is "stifling a rigorous evaluation" of new data interpretation - opening up the discussion to a wider "r*****nge ***** ***** hypotheses" would be extremely useful.

***** Cited

*****, Robin, & Roebroeks, Wil. (2005). An *****n Perspective on ***** Human Dispersal

***** Africa. Nature, 438(22/29),