Why the computer model and Stone Age reality may not match
So are from Homo habilis and Homo ergaster Hardly any finds are known in the African Rift Valley. Correspondingly few, narrowly defined regions depict the maps of the computer models for these human forms. “Now nobody can rule out the possibility that these groups also lived in other areas where no traces of them have been found before,” says Kullmer. In addition, researchers can usually only document stone tools, more rarely bone material, which would reveal more precisely which early humans lived at a site and which tools they used. For the Senckenberg researcher, however, this is not only problematic for computer modeling, but for paleoanthropology in general.
“The study provides us with very interesting suggestions that should not be overinterpreted, but should definitely be investigated further,” says Kullmer. Mike Petraglia argues in a similar way. So the computer models show that Homo heidelbergensis lived in Africa, Europe and the western regions of Asia for a long time until the species slowly disappeared a few hundred thousand years ago. At the same time, the climate changed – and the Neanderthals appeared in Europe and the anatomically modern humans in Africa. From this, Axel Timmermann and his team conclude: The new climate had an impact on the development of Homo heidelbergensis to Neanderthals and modern humans. Where exactly, they also conclude from their calculations. They located the places where living conditions have changed and found that homo sapiens probably originated in southern Africa rather than in the east of the continent.
However, this approach could easily lead to a fallacy. “There are some indications and many considerations that indicate that different groups of early humans repeatedly met and mixed,” says Petraglia. »Until finally from these mixtures modern man, homo sapiens, arose.« This scenario is much more convincingly consistent with the theory that the cradle of mankind lay in several areas of Africa, not just in a relatively small region in the south of the continent. The »Nature« study by Timmermann and his team would nevertheless offer a new approach to exploring human history and would provide anthropologists with many ideas for further research. Mike Petraglia and Ottmar Kullmer also agree on this.