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 06 July 2008 03:32 BST

New evidence proves Out of Africa theory

Thursday, 19 Jul 2007 11:36
All humans descended from Africa, study claims

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All modern humans originated from a single area in sub-Saharan Africa, researchers claim to have proved.

Conflicting theories have sought to determine where modern humans evolved from, with one camp arguing that humans evolved and migrated from a single point in Africa while the other camp believes populations evolved independently in different areas.

A new study published in the journal Nature by scientists at the University of Cambridge argues that the former theory has now been "definitively" proved.

The researchers combined studies of global genetic variations in humans with over 6,000 skull measurements across the world.

They found that the further a population was from Africa, the greater the loss in genetic diversity and physical attributes.

Lead researcher Dr Andrea Manica from Cambridge University's Department of Zoology, said: "The origin of anatomically modern humans has been the focus of much heated debate. Our genetic research shows the further modern humans have migrated from Africa the more genetic diversity has been lost within a population.

"However, some have used skull data to argue that modern humans originated in multiple spots around the world. We have combined our genetic data with new measurements of a large sample of skulls to show definitively that modern humans originated from a single area in sub-Saharan Africa."

The research team also made efforts to test the validity of other theories, but these did not prove successful.

"To test the alternative theory for the origin of modern humans we tried to find an additional, non-African origin," said researcher Francois Balloux. "We found this just did not work. Our findings show that humans originated in a single area in sub-Saharan Africa."
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