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Can someone link to a kind of summary of the current best understanding of human evolution and dispersal? It's really fascinating to me. Until recently, I had

Can someone link to a kind of summary of the current best understanding of human evolution and dispersal? It's really fascinating to me. Until recently, I had naively understood "Out of Africa" to mean that homo sapiens evolved in Africa from some sort of ape like thing and then went out and conquered the world. But the idea that homo sapiens is just one of many kinds of human species, and that other ones like Neanderthals and Denosivans left Africa earlier (or evolved from homo erectus who left earlier still...?) is really mind blowing. It's weird to me to think of multiple human species living at the same time.

wazoox 7y ago
Homo ergaster had its own "Out of Africa" moment several hundred thousand years earlier, and branched into several subspecies like homo erectus; up to a million years before, there was even other homo species (maybe homo habilis?) that left Africa to become for instance homo georgicus.
otterteeth 7y ago
This is a good site - https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-history-of-our-tribe/ https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-history-of-our-tribe/
criddell 7y ago
You might enjoy Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens. It's written for a general audience and I got a lot out of it.
- devoply 7y ago
  However Sapiens is not about pre-history. It's about history and written by a historian.
blisterpeanuts 7y ago
The general consensus up until now is, roughly: Homo Erectus: 1 million B.C. to about 500,000 B.C. Homo Neanderthalensis and Homo Sapiens split off from common ancestor: 500,000 B.C. Homo Sapiens dominate Africa until about 70,000 B.C. when they spread into Europe, Middle East, and Asia. Neanderthals dominate Europe, Middle East, and Asia, until 70,000 B.C. when Homo Sapiens return out of Africa. There are a few other variations of humans in the 300KYA to 70KYA period, including: Denisovans (found in Siberia and other places), the "hobbits" found in Indonesia. It's possible and likely that around 100KYA, there were several species of humans cohabiting the earth, including modern humans (H. sapiens), Neanderthals, Denisovans, a few remaining H. Erectus, the hobbits, and some mixtures of the above. Each discovery sheds new light and sometimes, as with this possible modern human skull, shatters old theories about the timeline. It's fascinating to think that at one time in the not-too-distant past, there were multiple species of humans in existence, of which only one survived, though most non-African humans today carry 2-4% Neanderthal genes, so in a sense, some traits of the Neanderthals survived. We are the Neanderthals. It's time we stopped using the term "Neanderthal" as an insult. They were possibly as smart as modern humans, had larger brains, had tools, ritual burial, weapons technologies, and art work. Their anatomical structure indicates that likely they had language. It's possible that they were gentler than H. Sapiens which would explain how they got gobbled up and made extinct, despite their vast strength (Neanderthals bone structure and muscle attachments indicate that they were many times stronger than modern humans.)
- war1025 7y ago
  Sort of a tangent, but I've wondered before if the "Nephilim" mentioned in Genesis could have been some distant memory of when Humans coexisted with Neanderthals. From Wikipedia: When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. Then the Lord said, "My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown. — Genesis 6:1–4, New Revised Standard Version Basically says that there were people like humans, but different and larger and stronger. And that at some point they died out. Sounds a lot like what we know about Neanderthals. Also Genesis is sort of the "deep memory" of humanity. Especially the first few chapters.
  - zaat 7y ago
    Genesis is dated to no earlier then 2500 years ago, probably much later. Neanderthals left the scene about 68000 years before them. Compared to the Neanderthals, Genesis writers are our contemporaries. Genesis writers first-hand knowledge about Neanderthals is similar to that most people nowadays have. Their general knowledge is far lesser.
    - war1025 7y ago
      The writers of Genesis are our contemporaries, but my understanding is that the first few chapters is a recording of oral traditions that stretch back way further than that.
      - zaat 7y ago
        Most probably, but couple of thousands of years? more then 30,000?
        abathur 7y ago
jacurtis 7y ago
In the beginning of Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens, he discusses the history of Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthals), Homo erectus, and Homo sapiens. He discusses their history amongst eachother and why/how Homo sapiens succeeded. It then goes onto explain why Homo sapiens succeeded and grew into what humans are today (animal husbandry, agriculture, culture, industry, technology, information, etc).
bhalley 7y ago
https://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/what-happened-to-the-neanderthals.htm https://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/what-happened-to... Doesn't exactly hit your question but gives a good overview.
NeoBasilisk 7y ago
On a darker note, one could almost see it as a form of mercy that none of the other species survived into the era of civilizations. Given our willingness to enslave other humans, I can only imagine what would have been done with "lesser" humans.
- Taniwha 7y ago
  well they sort of did - modern Europeans are now acknowledged to carry some Neanderthal DNA (estimates go somewhere between 1.5-20% depending on how you count) People who think that Neanderthals/etc were "lesser" humans (for whatever bogus reasons) probably also need to conclude (for the same reasons) that Europeans are also lesser humans
  - f2f 7y ago
    adding australian aborigines, who some consider to be the oldest human civilization, dna-wise https://www.history.com/news/dna-study-finds-aboriginal-australians-worlds-oldest-civilization https://www.history.com/news/dna-study-finds-aboriginal-aust...
    - Taniwha 7y ago
      You forget about Africa which seems to have the largest genetic diversity of Homo Sapiens (the prehistoric dispora seems to have been a genetic narrowing point) - that means wider tails on bell curves - it's why they have the tallest and shortest populations, the fastest (and probably slowest), etc etc
      - inawarminister 7y ago
        Yeah, the Khoisan seem to be the FIRST population group to diverge from mainstream homo Sapiens (or was it the other way around?), and IIRC supposedly compose half of humanity by numbers back 100,000-20,000 years ago. It seems Ice Age Central and Southern Africa were the best biome for hunting-gathering humans. Of course, post-agriculture most humanity lives in (East and South) Asia, except in Cyrus' age where a third of humanity lives in West Asia and Eastern North Africa. Persia ruled 1/3rd of humanity then, the most out of any empire after that. Except perhaps China of some periods
maxlamb 7y ago
You would probably want to read "The Journey of Man" by Spencer Wells, great book on this topic.
- DrScump 7y ago
  There is also a good PBS miniseries of his work using the same title. One benefit is seeing his interactions with different aboriginal societies and how respectfully he treats their origin stories.

wazoox 7y ago

Homo ergaster had its own "Out of Africa" moment several hundred thousand years earlier, and branched into several subspecies like homo erectus; up to a million years before, there was even other homo species (maybe homo habilis?) that left Africa to become for instance homo georgicus.

otterteeth 7y ago

This is a good site - https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-history-of-our-tribe/ https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-history-of-our-tribe/

criddell 7y ago

You might enjoy Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens. It's written for a general audience and I got a lot out of it.

devoply 7y ago
However Sapiens is not about pre-history. It's about history and written by a historian.

blisterpeanuts 7y ago

The general consensus up until now is, roughly: Homo Erectus: 1 million B.C. to about 500,000 B.C. Homo Neanderthalensis and Homo Sapiens split off from common ancestor: 500,000 B.C. Homo Sapiens dominate Africa until about 70,000 B.C. when they spread into Europe, Middle East, and Asia. Neanderthals dominate Europe, Middle East, and Asia, until 70,000 B.C. when Homo Sapiens return out of Africa. There are a few other variations of humans in the 300KYA to 70KYA period, including: Denisovans (found in Siberia and other places), the "hobbits" found in Indonesia. It's possible and likely that around 100KYA, there were several species of humans cohabiting the earth, including modern humans (H. sapiens), Neanderthals, Denisovans, a few remaining H. Erectus, the hobbits, and some mixtures of the above. Each discovery sheds new light and sometimes, as with this possible modern human skull, shatters old theories about the timeline. It's fascinating to think that at one time in the not-too-distant past, there were multiple species of humans in existence, of which only one survived, though most non-African humans today carry 2-4% Neanderthal genes, so in a sense, some traits of the Neanderthals survived. We are the Neanderthals. It's time we stopped using the term "Neanderthal" as an insult. They were possibly as smart as modern humans, had larger brains, had tools, ritual burial, weapons technologies, and art work. Their anatomical structure indicates that likely they had language. It's possible that they were gentler than H. Sapiens which would explain how they got gobbled up and made extinct, despite their vast strength (Neanderthals bone structure and muscle attachments indicate that they were many times stronger than modern humans.)

war1025 7y ago
Sort of a tangent, but I've wondered before if the "Nephilim" mentioned in Genesis could have been some distant memory of when Humans coexisted with Neanderthals. From Wikipedia: When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. Then the Lord said, "My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown. — Genesis 6:1–4, New Revised Standard Version Basically says that there were people like humans, but different and larger and stronger. And that at some point they died out. Sounds a lot like what we know about Neanderthals. Also Genesis is sort of the "deep memory" of humanity. Especially the first few chapters.
- zaat 7y ago
  Genesis is dated to no earlier then 2500 years ago, probably much later. Neanderthals left the scene about 68000 years before them. Compared to the Neanderthals, Genesis writers are our contemporaries. Genesis writers first-hand knowledge about Neanderthals is similar to that most people nowadays have. Their general knowledge is far lesser.
  - war1025 7y ago
    The writers of Genesis are our contemporaries, but my understanding is that the first few chapters is a recording of oral traditions that stretch back way further than that.
    - zaat 7y ago
      Most probably, but couple of thousands of years? more then 30,000?
      - abathur 7y ago

jacurtis 7y ago

In the beginning of Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens, he discusses the history of Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthals), Homo erectus, and Homo sapiens. He discusses their history amongst eachother and why/how Homo sapiens succeeded. It then goes onto explain why Homo sapiens succeeded and grew into what humans are today (animal husbandry, agriculture, culture, industry, technology, information, etc).

bhalley 7y ago

https://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/what-happened-to-the-neanderthals.htm https://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/what-happened-to... Doesn't exactly hit your question but gives a good overview.

NeoBasilisk 7y ago

On a darker note, one could almost see it as a form of mercy that none of the other species survived into the era of civilizations. Given our willingness to enslave other humans, I can only imagine what would have been done with "lesser" humans.

Taniwha 7y ago
well they sort of did - modern Europeans are now acknowledged to carry some Neanderthal DNA (estimates go somewhere between 1.5-20% depending on how you count) People who think that Neanderthals/etc were "lesser" humans (for whatever bogus reasons) probably also need to conclude (for the same reasons) that Europeans are also lesser humans
- f2f 7y ago
  adding australian aborigines, who some consider to be the oldest human civilization, dna-wise https://www.history.com/news/dna-study-finds-aboriginal-australians-worlds-oldest-civilization https://www.history.com/news/dna-study-finds-aboriginal-aust...
  - Taniwha 7y ago
    You forget about Africa which seems to have the largest genetic diversity of Homo Sapiens (the prehistoric dispora seems to have been a genetic narrowing point) - that means wider tails on bell curves - it's why they have the tallest and shortest populations, the fastest (and probably slowest), etc etc
    - inawarminister 7y ago
      Yeah, the Khoisan seem to be the FIRST population group to diverge from mainstream homo Sapiens (or was it the other way around?), and IIRC supposedly compose half of humanity by numbers back 100,000-20,000 years ago. It seems Ice Age Central and Southern Africa were the best biome for hunting-gathering humans. Of course, post-agriculture most humanity lives in (East and South) Asia, except in Cyrus' age where a third of humanity lives in West Asia and Eastern North Africa. Persia ruled 1/3rd of humanity then, the most out of any empire after that. Except perhaps China of some periods

maxlamb 7y ago

You would probably want to read "The Journey of Man" by Spencer Wells, great book on this topic.

DrScump 7y ago
There is also a good PBS miniseries of his work using the same title. One benefit is seeing his interactions with different aboriginal societies and how respectfully he treats their origin stories.