evolution theory?
February 9, 2000
Trinicenter News
Australian National University scientists reported yesterday their dating studies estimated the skeleton at between 56,000 and 68,000 years old and the sediment it is buried in at between 59,000 and 63,000 years. Research leader Dr Alan Thorne interpreted the dates to argue that humans migrated to Australia in two separate waves.
''The research has important implications for the global debate over the development of modern human variation, the beginning of human sea travel, and the settlement by the ancestors of Aboriginal Australians of the semi-arid areas of the continent.
"The Out of Africa idea has long been disputed by Dr Alan Thorne, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University's research school of Pacific and Asian studies. Thorne, along with Professor Milford Wolpoff of the University of Michigan, has championed what is known as the "multi-region" theory.
The two scientists agree with the Out of Africa theory that Homo erectus began in Africa about 2 million years ago, and emigrated. But from here their theory differs. They think Homo sapiens did not evolve solely in Africa but simultaneously in Africa, Europe, North Asia and South-East Asia."The Lake Mungo 3 skeleton, described as a ''gracile'' human form, is interpreted by Dr Thorne as an example of a strain of humans which migrated from east Asia more than 60,000 years ago. He believes a later migration - maybe as recent as 25,000 years ago - occurred of people with ''robust'' skeletal form who probably originated in south-east Asia. According to Dr Thorne, these two tribes interbred, giving rise to Australian Aborigines.
While many archeologists and anthropologists disagree with Dr Thorne's views on the implications of the new LM3 dates, some also dispute the accuracy of those dates.
Professor Jim Bowler, of the University of Melbourne, - who discovered the skeleton in 1974 - says the results of three sophisticated dating techniques used to arrive at the 56,000-68,000 year estimate range do not agree with his interpretation of the field evidence available at the burial site.
Dr Bowler says the dating of the sediments is ''very exciting.'' However, he says, it is most unlikely for sediments and skeletal remains to be the same age. The common experience is for the human remains to be younger than the earth in which they were buried. An agreed age for LM3 may take a few more years to achieve. Agreement on where his ancestors came from will take much longer.
While there may be some disagreement over where the major differences in humans evolved there is common agreement that humans were first in Africa. More on www.howcomyoucom.com/