New model suggests African human origins involved a weakly structured ancestral population
In short: Researchers analyzing newly sequenced genomes from 44 Nama individuals in southern Africa found that human origins in Africa are best described by a weakly structured stem model. This model suggests that the earliest population divergences occurred between 120,000 and 135,000 years ago, following a long period of gene flow between similar ancestral groups.
By using diversity-based statistics and linkage disequilibrium, the study provides an alternative to models that rely on archaic interbreeding. The researchers found that this 'stem' model explains genetic patterns previously attributed to archaic hominins. However, the study's findings are based on complex demographic inferences and rely on the accuracy of the models used to interpret genomic data.
Why it matters: This model provides a new way to understand how early human populations moved and interacted across Africa without needing to invoke archaic interbreeding.
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Sources
- Source: Research: Ragsdale et al. (2023). A weakly structured stem for human origins in Africa. Nature. · cc-by
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