About the origin of our species

Experts from the Natural History Museum, the Francis Crick Institute and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Jena have teamed up to unravel the different meanings of ancestry in the evolution of our Homo species sapiens.

Most of us are fascinated by our ancestry and, by extension, the ancestry of the human species. Periodically we see headlines like “Newly discovered human ancestor” or “New fossil changes everything we thought about our ancestry,” and yet the meanings of words like ancestor and ancestry are rarely discussed in detail. In the new article, published in Nature, experts review our current understanding of how modern human ancestry can be traced around the world to the distant past and what ancestors it traverses during our time travel.

Professor Chris Stringer, co-author of the Natural History Museum, said: “Some of our ancestors will have lived in groups or populations that can be identified in the fossil record, while very little will be known about others. Over the next decade , will grow recognition of our complex origins should expand the geographical focus of paleoanthropological fieldwork to regions previously considered peripheral to our evolution, such as Central and West Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia. “

The study identified three key phases of our ancestry that are surrounded by important questions and that will be frontiers in future research. From the global expansion of modern humans about 40-60 thousand years ago and the last known contacts with archaic groups such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, to an African origin of modern human diversity about 60-300,000 years ago, and finally the complex separation of modern human ancestors from archaic human groups about 300,000 to a million years ago.

Scientists argue that currently no specific time can be identified when modern human ancestry was limited to a limited place of birth and that known patterns of the first appearance of anatomical or behavioral traits are often used to define the Homo sapiens adapt to evolutionary histories.

Co-author Pontus Skoglund of the Francis Crick Institute said: “Contrary to many people’s beliefs, neither the genetic record nor the fossil have so far revealed a definite time and place for the origin of our species. when most of our ancestry was found in a small geographical region and it is possible that the traits we associate with our species did not exist.For now, it would be useful to move away from the idea of ​​a single time and place of origin “.

“After that, the main emerging questions relate to what mechanisms propelled and maintained this human patchwork, with all its diverse ancestral threads, over time and space,” said co-author Eleanor Scerri of the Group of Research on the Pan-African Evolution of the Max Planck Institute. for the science of human history. “Understanding the relationship between fractured habitats and changing human niches will no doubt play a key role in misunderstanding these issues, clarifying which demographic patterns best fit the genetic and paleoanthropological record.”

The success of direct genetic analyzes so far highlights the importance of a broader and older genetic record. This will require continuous technological improvements in ancient DNA recovery (aDNA), biomolecular detection of fragmented fossils to find unrecognized human material, broader searches for sedimentary DNA, and improvements in evolutionary information provided by ancient proteins. Interdisciplinary analysis of growing genetic, fossil, and archaeological records will no doubt reveal many new surprises about the roots of modern human ancestry.

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About the Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is both a world-leading scientific research center and the most visited natural history museum in Europe. With a vision of a future in which both people and the planet thrive, he is in a unique position to be a powerful advocate for the balance between the needs of humanity and those of the natural world.

He is the custodian of one of the most important scientific collections in the world, comprising more than 80 million copies. The breadth of this collection allows researchers around the world to document how species have and continue to respond to environmental changes, which is vital to help predict what might happen in the future and report on future policies and plans. to help the planet.

The museum’s 300 scientists continue to represent one of the largest groups in the world studying and allowing research into all aspects of the natural world. His science provides critical data to help the global struggle to save the future of the planet from major threats of climate change and biodiversity loss to find solutions such as the sustainable extraction of natural resources.

The museum uses its enormous reach and global influence to fulfill its mission to create advocates for the planet: to inform, inspire and empower everyone to make a difference for nature. We welcome more than five million visitors each year; our digital production reaches hundreds of thousands of people in more than 200 countries every month and approximately 30 million people have seen our traveling exhibitions in the last ten years.

About the Francis Crick Institute

The Francis Crick Institute is a biomedical discovery institute dedicated to understanding the fundamental biology underlying health and disease. His work helps to understand why the disease develops and to translate the findings into new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, infections and neurodegenerative diseases.

An independent organization, its founding partners are the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, Wellcome, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London and King’s College London.

The Crick was formed in 2015 and in 2016 moved to a new state-of-the-art building in central London that brings together 1,500 scientists and support staff working collaboratively across disciplines, making it the center of London. largest biomedical research of a single team. roof in Europe.
http: // crick.AC.UK /

Regarding the Pan-African Research Group in Evolution

The Pan-African Research Group on Evolution, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Human History, is an independent research group dedicated to investigating the origins of our species and the parallel transformation of environments and ecosystems. . The group’s work is revealing human history from the perspective of little-researched regions and environments, merging new data and developing new methods for understanding population movement patterns, cultural change, ecological adaptations, disease, and interactions. with the hominins already extinct. This research feeds on solutions to current global challenges by providing lessons from the past to find sustainable solutions to dual biodiversity and climate crises.

The pan-African research group was formed in early 2019 as part of the Lise Meitner program of excellence of the Max Planck Society.