The Origin of Anatomically Modern Humans (Homo sapiens) in Africa

The Origin of Anatomically Modern Humans (Homo sapiens) in Africa

doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2026.54.3.003-027

A.P. Derevianko
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

The emergence of anatomically modern humans was a pivotal event in evolution. It has been dealt with in hundreds of books and an infinite number of articles. I have been tackling this problem for more than half a century, especially in the last 15-20 years, after the results of sequencing Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA had become available. My conclusions will be outlined in two articles. The first one focuses on the evolution of H. erectus in Africa, culminating in the emergence of early Homo sapiens, while in the second one the emergence of H. s. neanderthalensis in Europe and H. s. denisovensis in Central Asia, and the convergent evolution of local H. erectus populations toward H. sapiens in East and Southeast Asia will be examined. Homo sapiens sapiens originated in the process of the dispersal of anatomically modern humans from Africa 60-30 thousand years ago and their admixture with H. s. neanderthalensis in Europe, Denisovans (the informal term is Homo s. denisovensis) in Central Asia, and early modern humans, informally termed Homo s. orienthalensis, who had originated in China and Southeast Asia.

Keywords: H. erectus, H. sapiens, H. s. neanderthalensis, Denisovans (informal term H. s. denisovensis), H. s. orienthalensis, pebble-flake industry, Acheulean industry, Upper Paleolithic.