In: Biology
what do you think is the most likely story for human evolution: many distinct species of hominins, branching into many evolutionary dead ends, as suggested by the many morphospecies that have been designated based on the current fossil record; or a simpler family tree, comprising only a few hominin species within which there was morphological variation that has been preserved in the fossil record and misinterpreted as many species? Support your answer
Homo sapiens rapidly dispersed into europe and asia reaching australia by 55,000 years ago and the americas 13-16,000 years ago. The DNA analysis over the last decades has shaken up this tidy version of history. The ancient DNA from millennia old fossils, palaeogeneticists have uncovered a more intriguing tale of interspecies trysts: humans Neanderthals, Neanderthals with Denisovans, Densovans with humans and possibly others.
The first encounter probably occurred in the Middle east around 50,000 to 60,000 years ago as homo sapiens migrated out from Africa. All modern humans, bar africans still carry traces of Neanderthal DNA usual around 1-2% of the genome.
Humans also interbred with the Denisovans, a group known from limited remains- a finger bone and a few teeth-recovered from a siberian cave dating to around 100,000 years ago.
However many times we and our extinct relatives did interbreed, these ancient DNA studies highlight how different modern times are to almost any other period in our pre-history.