An expert who believes that life evolved from other things has rejected the long-held theory that the first humans came from Africa.
Dr Huan Shi, from Chinaprovided evolution began in East Asia where fossils from the African period found.
Evidence of genetic diversity is at the heart of his ‘out of East Asia’ theory, based on the concept of ‘maximum genetic diversity’ (MGD) which states that complex species tend to have fewer species.
Dr Huang said that because East Asians have very few genetic variants, they must be true ancestors.
Early Europeans were also found to be very close to East Asians, he argued, both in terms of their paternal and maternal genetics.
From this point of view, fossils of early humans that are genetically very similar to each other and to humans that are very distant from today are the most likely candidates for the origin of life, Dr Huang argued.
If the ‘out of Africa’ model was correct, a recently retired biologist said that DNA from 45,000-year-old European samples could be very similar to ancient African DNA.
‘Ancient DNA (aDNA) from the oldest modern humans found in Europe, which was published this week,’ Dr Huang said at the end of December, ‘also showed more similarities to Asians than to Africans.’
‘From Africa,’ he boasted, ‘it has been repeatedly disproved by DNA!’
Dr Huang Shi’s ‘out of East Asia’ hypothesis – supported by ancient DNA analysis – suggests that humans first appeared in Asia where pre-African fossils have also challenged the theory. Above: a map of the sites with the oldest human remains
A 2017 analysis finds that Dali’s skull (pictured) shares many characteristics with modern humans – which supports Dr Huang’s ‘out of East Asia’ theory.
The reason his MGD theory holds up, he said, is that complex organisms like humans need many parts of their DNA to work together, meaning there is little room for mutations that act as genetic ‘improvisations’ to survive.
“A simple test can explain,” Dr Huang wrote in an article published last November in a Chinese journal. Prehistoric Archaeology.
‘You can create three different groups of organisms – yeast, fish and humans – using the same gene, and then leave these three organisms to diverge for a long time or about 500 million years.
‘A gene in yeast will change more, like 50 percent, and its corresponding gene in fish will change more but less than yeast, like 30 percent,’ he continued, ‘(but) its corresponding gene in humans will change. very little, like 1 percent.’
What has happened in the history of these different species shows that it is easy for species not to change much from other species that evolved from other species.
Dr Huang, who was a professor of epigenetics at Central South University’s Center for Medical Genetics in Hunan before retiring, had trouble getting academics to accept his theory. But experts deny it less.
“The theory of MGD is a new but controversial theory,” said Stanford-trained anthropologist German Dziebel.
Dziebel also noted that there is broad agreement that ancient European DNA samples are significantly different from recent samples.
MGD theory and thus ‘out of the East Asia‘ the theory that it supports ‘has potential,’ according to Dziebel, ‘and should be expanded further.’
Above, a striking image of an ancient caveman dressed in an animal hide hunting with a stone spear.
‘Ancient DNA from the earliest modern humans found in Europe,’ said Dr Huang this month, ‘showed a greater similarity to Asians than to Africans.’ Above, a map of genetic diversity showing how ancient European and Asian DNA has proven to be (bottom panel)
Evidence emerging from other studies, including language and family relationships, has also supported this theory, Dr Huang said.
This includes the analysis of ‘It’s a skull’ is an amazing endingwas discovered in 1978 in Dali County in China’s Shaanxi Province.
The 260,000-year-old skull, which was exposed with its face and brain, was analyzed by experts from Texas A&M University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017, who discovered it. they share many characteristics with modern humans.
The ‘Dali’ skull was found to be very similar to the oldest known Homo sapiens, found 6,200 kilometers away in Morocco.
Instead of choosing sides in the ‘out of Africa’ versus ‘out of East Asia’ debate, these researchers tried to choose a more balanced approach.
Homo erectus (skull on the left, reconstruction on the right) is thought to be the first human ancestor in our evolution. The Chinese ‘Dali’ skull was originally thought to be from Homo erectus, but a 2017 analysis shows that it is more similar to Homo sapiens.
“I think the gene flow would have been more diverse, so that some of the things seen in Europe or Africa would have come from Asia,” Texas A&M Professor Sheela said. The New Scientist.
But, in detail, the main ‘out of Africa’ theory of human origins has been that modern humans first. appeared in southern Africa about 50,000 years ago – hundreds of years after ‘Dali’ Homo sapien lived and died.
“African advocates are silent at the moment because they have not progressed in the last 10 years,” said Dr Huang. South China Morning Post.
Scientists have also discovered the skull of an ancient human in China – homo julurensis – which may have had the largest brain of any known hominin based on the size of its skull (above as a digital rendering). This ancient sage can also reinforce Dr Huang’s theory
Comparing skull fragments found in China (above), experts estimate that the skull of homo julurensis would have had a cranial volume of 1700 ml – larger than any other known hominin.
This growing body of evidence has given Dr Huang and his fellow East Asian theorists hope.
In the eight years since Dr Huang and his team presented their ‘from East Asia’ theory at an international academic conference in 2016, they have not been able to find an academic journal outside of China willing to publish the theory.
“We tried to submit the paper to many newspapers and they were rejected, so we gave up,” Huang said.
‘Any intellectual who wants to change popular opinion will face the same difficulties,’ he commented. ‘But it’s fine as long as what you’re promoting is true and you don’t care how long it takes (to be accepted).’
