THE CONTEXT OF HUMAN GENETIC EVOLUTION

The debate on modern human origins has often focused on the relationsh ip between genes and fossils. Although more and more genetic evidence has been accumulating in favor of a recent African origin for modern h umans, it has been assumed by many that the fossil evidence remains am biguous. On the contrary, it has been clear for some time that the fos sil evidence does not support the multiregional model: Fossils and arc heology indicate a pattern of multiple dispersals from and beyond Afri ca, against which the genetic data can be compared. The continuing val ue of paleobiology is in complementing genetic information by revealin g the context of human evolution: locating the dispersals and extincti ons of populations in time and space, correlating these events with th e environmental forces that shaped them, and providing an increasingly detailed understanding of the morphology and technology of early huma ns.