Schlebusch, Carina M., Loog, Liisa ORCID: 0000-0002-1770-101X, Groucutt, Huw S., King, Turi ORCID: 0000-0003-3025-3829, Rutherford, Adam, Barbieri, Chiara ORCID: 0000-0001-8827-5655, Barbujani, Guido ORCID: 0000-0001-7854-6669, Chikhi, Lounes, Stringer, Chris, Jakobsson, Mattias ORCID: 0000-0001-7840-7853, Eriksson, Anders, Manica, Andrea, Tishkoff, Sarah A., Scerri, Eleanor ML., Scally, Aylwyn, Brierley, Chris and Thomas, Mark G. (2021). Human origins in Southern African palaeo-wetlands? Strong claims from weak evidence. J. Archaeol. Sci., 130. LONDON: ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. ISSN 1095-9238

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Abstract

Attempts to identify a 'homeland' for our species from genetic data are widespread in the academic literature. However, even when putting aside the question of whether a 'homeland' is a useful concept, there are a number of inferential pitfalls in attempting to identify the geographic origin of a species from contemporary patterns of genetic variation. These include making strong claims from weakly informative data, treating genetic lineages as representative of populations, assuming a high degree of regional population continuity over hundreds of thousands of years, and using circumstantial observations as corroborating evidence without considering alternative hypotheses on an equal footing, or formally evaluating any hypothesis. In this commentary we review the recent publication that claims to pinpoint the origins of 'modern humans' to a very specific region in Africa (Chan et al., 2019), demonstrate how it fell into these inferential pitfalls, and discuss how this can be avoided.

Item Type: Journal Article
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCIDORCID Put Code
Schlebusch, Carina M.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Loog, LiisaUNSPECIFIEDorcid.org/0000-0002-1770-101XUNSPECIFIED
Groucutt, Huw S.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
King, TuriUNSPECIFIEDorcid.org/0000-0003-3025-3829UNSPECIFIED
Rutherford, AdamUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Barbieri, ChiaraUNSPECIFIEDorcid.org/0000-0001-8827-5655UNSPECIFIED
Barbujani, GuidoUNSPECIFIEDorcid.org/0000-0001-7854-6669UNSPECIFIED
Chikhi, LounesUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Stringer, ChrisUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Jakobsson, MattiasUNSPECIFIEDorcid.org/0000-0001-7840-7853UNSPECIFIED
Eriksson, AndersUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Manica, AndreaUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Tishkoff, Sarah A.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Scerri, Eleanor ML.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Scally, AylwynUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Brierley, ChrisUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Thomas, Mark G.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
URN: urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-605060
DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2021.105374
Journal or Publication Title: J. Archaeol. Sci.
Volume: 130
Date: 2021
Publisher: ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
Place of Publication: LONDON
ISSN: 1095-9238
Language: English
Faculty: Unspecified
Divisions: Unspecified
Subjects: no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:
KeywordsLanguage
MODERN HUMAN-DIVERSITY; POPULATION-STRUCTURE; SUGGESTSMultiple languages
Anthropology; Archaeology; Geosciences, MultidisciplinaryMultiple languages
URI: http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/60506

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