> The finds, which are published on 7 June in Nature1, 2, do not mean that H. sapiens originated in North Africa. Instead, they suggest that the species' earli

> The finds, which are published on 7 June in Nature1, 2, do not mean that H. sapiens originated in North Africa. Instead, they suggest that the species' earliest members evolved all across the continent, scientists say. From the actual research(1, 2): > Furthermore, it shows that the evolutionary processes behind the emergence of H. sapiens involved the whole African continent. > The emergence of our species and of the Middle Stone Age appear to be close in time, and these data suggest a larger scale, potentially pan-African, origin for both. I'm a bit confused by this concept of pan-African evolution - Wouldn't we have more stark differences such as the Chimpanzee and Bonobo? Sure, we all look different but the differences we have across the globe are scant compared to our closest primate relatives. If the evolution of H. Sapiens was considered "pan-African" - I think of a few implications that could/could not allow this to happen.... the environments are quite different across Africa: A) Bipedalism and our ability to traverse long distances, allowed a more "cosmopolitan" evolution path for humans B) H. Sapiens actually emerged even earlier than 300K years - but the "mosaic of features" (source 1) should disprove this C) Intermingling between other humanoid primates occured far earlier than 300K years - creating the human mosaic disproven in B.