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Article: Continental drift. (evolution) (American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS, annual meeting)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- February 26, 1994
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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EVOLUTION rarely goes into reverse, but understanding of it sometimes does. The received wisdom at the moment, for instance, is that the origins of humanity lie in Africa. At some point a little over 1m years ago, people of a species known as Homo erectus muscled their way into Asia. As is the way with species, Homo erectus then started to fragment, with one group, Neanderthal man, subsequently spreading into Europe. Then, 100,000 years ago, a second migration occurred. A new human species--Homo sapiens- emerged from Africa and the "archaic" people vanished as the newcomers took over. Modern humanity had come into its own. It is a neat story, but one that not everyone agrees ...