Evolution And History

Reconciling the Evidence 207

The recently discovered well-preserved specimens from Herto,

Ethiopia, provide the best fossil evidence in support of the recent

African origins hypothesis. Though these fossils unquestionably

possess an anatomically modern appearance, they are still relatively

robust. In addition, it is not clear whether the higher skull and

forehead indicate superior cultural abilities.

© David L. Brill/Brill Atlanta

A comparison of the Neandertal (left) and the contemporary H. sapiens (right) shows that

while both possess large brains there are distinct differences in the shape of the skull. The

Neandertal has a large face, pronounced brow ridges, and a low, sloping forehead while the

contemporary H. sapiens has a high forehead and a chin. The back of the Neandertal, though

not visible from this angle, is robust (as seen in the Herto skull pictured below). In what

other ways is Herto like these two specimens? How do these three skulls compare to the Cro

Magnon skull pictured on page 205?

Visual Counterpoint

© Pascal Goetgheluck/Photo Researchers Inc.

As widely reported in the popular press (including

cover stories in Newsweek and Time), preliminary results

suggest that the mitochondrial DNA of all living humans

could be traced back to a “mitochondrial Eve” who lived

in Africa some 200,000 years ago. If so, all other popula-

tions of archaic H. sapiens, as well as non-African H. erec-

tus, would have to be ruled out of the ancestry of modern

humans.

For many years, the recent African origins theory has

been weakened by the lack of good fossil evidence from

Africa. In 2003, however, skulls of two adults and one

child, discovered in Ethiopia in East Africa in 1997, were

described as anatomically modern and were reconstructed

and dated to 160,000 years ago (see Anthropologists of

Note).^5 The discoverers of these fossils called them Homo

sapiens idaltu (meaning “elder” in the local Afar language).

While conceding that the skulls are robust, they believe

that these skulls have conclusively proved the recent Af-

rican origins hypothesis, relegating Neandertals to a side

branch of human evolution.

Reconciling the Evidence

Though the recent African origins hypothesis is the ma-

jority position among Western paleoanthropologists, the

theory does not prevail throughout the globe. Chinese

(^5) White, T., et al. (2003). Pleistocene Homo sapiens from the Middle Awash,
Ethiopia. Nature 423, 742–747.