The recent African origin model states that modern humans evolved in East Africa between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago, with a small subgroup leaving Africa 60,000 years ago to colonize the rest of the world. The multiregional hypothesis, which claims different races developed independently, was disproved by mitochondrial DNA testing. All humans can trace their family tree back to ancestors who lived in Africa less than 60,000 years ago. The timing of the spread of humans from Eurasia to the Americas is uncertain.
The recent African origin model, also known as the (recent) out of Africa model and recent single origin hypothesis, is a scientific hypothesis about the origin of mankind. It claims that a common ancestor of all modern humans evolved in East Africa between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago. About 60,000 years ago, a small subgroup left Africa to colonize the rest of the world, displacing other living species of the genus Homo, such as Homo neanderthalis, along the way. About 15,000 years ago, all landmasses besides Antarctica were settled by our species.
While the recent African ancestry model has been almost universally adopted in today’s scientific mainstream, this has not been the case for many centuries. In fact, the recent African ancestry model was only formulated in the 1980s, based on studies of modern mitochondrial DNA (mDNA), and later supported by work in physical anthropology. Prior to that, the dominant hypothesis was the multiregional hypothesis, which claims that different races all developed independently of ancient species of the genus Homo. Multiregionalists often claim that Europeans are descended from Neanderthals, for example. Mitochondrial DNA studies have all but disproved these theories.
As stated earlier, the original support for the recent African ancestry model came from mitochondrial DNA testing of modern humans. Mitochondrial DNA is DNA contained within the mitochondria (power plants) of human cells and is passed on from mother to child (by matrilineal route). Unlike most other DNA in the human body, this DNA remains essentially the same as it’s passed from mother to child, although it mutates over the years. Since the rearrangement of mDNA is much less extensive than that of DNA in human chromosomes, it can be used to confirm an individual’s membership in a given matrilineal lineage.
What mDNA testing has shown is that all humans are relatively closely related to one species, and that everyone in the world can trace their family tree back to ancestors who lived in Africa less than about 60,000 years ago. The recent African ancestry model implies that humans originated fairly recently and that most of the world was devoid of humans until recently. While there is a fair degree of certainty about the timing of the dispersal of humans from Africa to Australia and Eurasia, there is greater uncertainty regarding the spread of humans from Eurasia to the Americas. This event may have occurred as early as 30,000 years ago or as late as 14,000 years ago.
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