MATRIX CORRELATION TESTS SUPPORT A SINGLE ORIGIN FOR MODERN HUMANS

THE debate over human origins has focused on two competing theories. T he single African origin model holds that anatomically modern Homo sap iens evolved in Africa 100,000-200,000 years ago. Members of this popu lation migrated out of Africa, replacing archaic human groups through Asia and Europe, with racial differentiation occurring within the past 100,000 years1-3. The alternative regional continuity model proposes continuous evolution over the past million years, with racial variatio n developing early, and similar modern human traits developing in all regions as the result of worldwide gene flow4-6. The persistence of sp ecific morphological features within regions over the past million yea rs supports regional continuity, whereas the identification of anatomi cally modern fossil specimens from Africa and the Levant 50-60,000 yea rs before they are found elsewhere, provides support for a single orig in. I give here the first quantitative test of the fossil evidence for each of these models. Results support a single African and/or Levanti ne origin for modern humans.