Are Chinese descendants of an African Eve?
0 
Chinese may be "hybrid" descendants of "natives" and African migrants
Wu doesn't rule out that Chinese people interbred with African or European migrants but maintains this was relatively rare.
There is evidence of genetic exchanges between ancient Chinese and Europeans and Southeast Asians. Unlike the rectangular eye sockets of most Chinese hominid fossils, the Maba skulls unearthed in south China's Guangdong Province had round orbits, which may have come from interbreeding with Europeans. Another example is the bulging occipital bone in skulls discovered in Guangxi. Similar skulls were also discovered in Sichuan and Yunnan. The characteristics are also typical of Europeans. Moreover, some ancient Chinese skulls also exhibit high nose bridges, which could come from either European or African ancestors.
Xu Hankui says the similarities between the skulls of Nanjing Man and European and African Homo erectus and Homo sapiens prove that hybridization took place during the evolution of the modern Chinese.
Wu says hybridization became more frequent as human travels covered a wider area. Foreign genes gradually changed the original Chinese type. As a result some modern Chinese have rectangular eye sockets and some have round ones.
Can human history be inferred from fossil DNA?
According to Xu, inferring human history from tests on modern human DNA is an uncertain approach. But why can't we use DNA from fossils?
As early as 1974, scientists successfully collected mitochondrial DNA from 60,000-year-old remains in southeast Australia. They concluded the DNA had no connection with other DNA discovered in specimens of early Man known to have originated in Africa. At the time, the result cast doubt on the idea that modern humans originated in Africa.
But Xu said DNA collected from fossils is unreliable because after being buried for millions of years it could be polluted by other materials, especially water. He says only DNA collected from the insects preserved in amber can reliably be used in genetic research.
Wu cites an article by Chinese American, Wen-hsiung Li, who argues that the genetic research done so far is relatively limited in scope and that much more evidence needs to be gathered before final conclusions can be drawn.
So while the genetic evidence points strongly to the African origin of all modern humans, including the Chinese, dissenting archeologists maintain the fossil record supports some version of the multi-regional hypothesis and suggest DNA evidence alone is inconclusive. Obviously, this complex debate is set to continue.
Go to Forum >>0 Comments