Multiregionalism and Diversity

I've just finished my report on diversity and how it relates to 'Out of Africa' vs. Multiregionalism. It's a PDF, ~12 pages, single spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman.[link removed]Abstract:

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The human population has relatively low levels of racial and regional diversity when compared with other species. In this report, I look at that phenomenon through the lenses of two opposing theories of human evolution: 'Out of Africa' theory, and Multiregional theory. I will first introduce an hypothesis of diversity that is based on the latter theory, and then explain each theory briefly. Next, I will present evidence regarding genetic studies and the fossil record in an attempt to show Multiregionalism to be correct. Having shown Multiregionalism to be the correct theory, I will conclude that the hypothesis of diversity presented in the introduction is more plausible than the one accepted by 'Out of Africa' proponents. The report will finish with an analysis of my research, and address minor problems in the diversity hypothesis and this report.

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I do not want to discuss whether the report 'sucks' or not, but instead the issues that it brings up. We can perhaps start with the genetic aspects, and then move on from there. Regards,
JonEdited by Jon, : Formatting.Edited by Jon, : Added purpose.Edited by Jon, : Formatting II.Edited by Jon, : (link removed)Edited by Jon, : (quotes fixed)

Doddy,Thank you for your reply. As a noted limitation of my paper, I based much of it off the research of others.

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Dr Harding's research which she is presenting at a conference of the Human Genome Organisation later this week suggests the two species interbred for the ginger gene to survive.

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The two species overlapped for a period of time and the Oxford research appears to suggests that they must have successfully interbred for the 'ginger gene' to survive.

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However, that research all seems to support the idea that the gene as found in modern H. sapiens came from Neanderthal-sapiens breeding.Regards,
Jon_________________
Kendall, Paul. ””The ginger gene Why Evans may owe his red hair and pale skin to Neanderthal man.’’ 1st ed. Daily Mail London (UK), April 17, 2001. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=71440247&sid=1&Fmt=3&c...
Are Neanderthals Connected With Humans? | Physics Forums (3rd post shows source)Edited by Jon, : No reason given.

Nuggin,I brought up the Wiki article on what you are refering to. According to the article, it is known as the 'Toba Catastrophe Theory' According to that article, the theory says:

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[A] massive volcanic eruption severely reduced the human population ... around 70-75,000 years ago [when] the Toba caldera in Indonesia underwent an eruption of category 8 (or "mega-colossal") on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. ... [reducing] the average global temperature by 5 degrees Celsius for several years and [possibly triggering] an ice age.

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[Stanly] Ambrose postulates that this massive environmental change created population bottlenecks in the various species that existed at the time; this in turn accelerated differentiation of the isolated human populations, eventually leading to the extinction of all the other human species except for the two branches that became Neanderthals and modern humans.

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The article continues with an addressing of the genetic diversity of other species, saying:

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[that] most recent common ancestors traced via large sets of different genes lived anywhere from 2 million to 60,000 years ago. The complete picture of gene lineages does not support the theory of a human population bottleneck.

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As the article concludes, there is little liklihood of this theory being correct, since these much older species show no signs of the bottlenecking postulated with this theory. Furthermore, the claim that:

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...humans once again fanned out from Africa after Toba when the climate and other factors permitted.

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... doesn't address the dating problems. According to this graphic: Map of Human Migrations (from Wikipedia :: Human) H. sapiens were moving out of Africa at least 130 kya, and had populated Australia by at least 60 kya. This source, as you can tell, is pro-'Out of Africa.' In this case, the Toba Catastrophe Theory and 'Out of Africa' Theory seem to disagree.The Toba Catastrophe Theory doesn't seem to agree with the genetic evidence, nor is it consistent with either of the competing human evolution models. It is perhaps safe to say that the Catastrophe Theory is unsubstantiated, and even irrelivant”at least in regards to the two theories.Regards,
Jon__________________
Note to Creos who might want to quote mine me: the word theory is used loosely here, and in my opinion (and perhaps in the opinions of others) is a misrepresentation of this idea, which is really just an hypothesis.Edited by Jon, : No reason given.

Kuresu,This is an excellent point to bring up. From all appearances, the source I cited in my paper regarding the ginger gene is pro-'Out of Africa,' as it talks about Neanderthals being a dead-end species (though capable of interbreeding), and claims they died out due to their lack of technological inovativeness.Regards,
Jon

Sfs,Can you, please, address the actual point? This entire post of yours contains NO information whatsoever relevant to the debate. All you've done is taken a cheap stab at my research technique. Furthermore, if you had bothered looking into the matter in even the least bit, you would've seen that there are many sites that talk about the ginger gene, a deal of which are from universities, etc.; not to mention that the research which came to this conclusion was undertaken at a credible university (Oxford), by an expert in molecular medicine, who just so happens to be pro-'Out of Africa.'Now, would you like to address the evidence itself, or just retract what you said?Regards,
Jon