With the help of modern natural science, we can be described as precious to all kinds of creatures on the earth, but we don’t know everything about ourselves. Regarding the origin of human beings, there are theories of evolution, gene mutation, and even theories of seeding of extraterrestrial organisms, such as mysterious and mysterious speculations.
The mainstream view of the origin of human beings that is currently recognized by the scientific community is the theory of evolution, that is, human beings evolved from ancient apes to Homo sapiens, and Homo sapiens evolved into modern humans, and modern humans are our direct ancestors. However, the origin of modern man is divided into “complete replacement hypothesis” and “regional evolution hypothesis”. The holders of these two views have been arguing with each other. They have been arguing for years and have been inconclusive.
The “complete replacement hypothesis” occupying a mainstream position
The “complete replacement hypothesis” believes that our ancestors all came from Africa, so the ancient African humans were the common ancestor of all human beings today. The difference between this hypothesis and the other mainstream hypothesis-the “regional evolution hypothesis” is whether there is an event that “humans outside tropical Africa have been extinct”.
Why does the proponent of the “complete replacement hypothesis” think so arbitrarily that all primitive humans except Africa have been extinct? The evidence supporting their view is the eruption of Mount Toba that occurred 74,000 years ago. The event was once believed to have caused the deterioration of the global environment, and the world’s temperature dropped sharply. In the end, only ancient humans in tropical Africa survived, and ancient humans in other parts of the earth were all extinct. After the catastrophe, the surviving tropical African ancients multiplied and grew out of Africa, spread across the world, and developed magnificent and brilliant civilizations. There are many supporters of this hypothesis in the world.
In addition to the eruption of Dopa, what other evidence supports the “complete replacement hypothesis”?
In this regard, Dr. Ge Yong from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences explained: “There are two main theoretical foundations for this hypothesis. This has become the basis of the’complete replacement hypothesis’; secondly, through molecular biology, that is, the DNA study of living populations, it is found that there is a process in which African populations replace populations in other regions. After inference, scientists believe that this event has occurred. 60,000 years ago to 50,000 years ago.”
With the support of molecular biology related evidence, the “complete replacement hypothesis” has prevailed for a period of time. However, molecular biology related research has not yet fully explained why an event such as “humans outside tropical Africa was extinct” occurred. At this time, research on Doba volcano has just given a perfect explanation for the “complete replacement hypothesis”. .
The Doba volcanic eruption is the largest known volcanic eruption in the past 2 million years. This event took place near the global climate transition period. About 70,000 years ago, the earth’s climate changed from the warm MIS 5 (deep ocean oxygen). Isotope stage 5) to the cold MIS 4 (deep sea oxygen isotope stage 4). By analogy with the effects of large-scale volcanic eruptions in history and combined with winter theory, researchers believe that the eruption of Toba volcano caused the earth’s environment to stay in a cold state for a long time, and this result can correspond to the 60,000 years of the “complete replacement hypothesis”. The incident of “human extinction outside tropical Africa” 50,000 years ago.
“Therefore, the eruption of Toba volcano is considered to be the cause of the event of human extinction outside tropical Africa, and the event of human extinction outside tropical Africa is the result of the eruption of volcano Toba.” Ge Yong emphasized, After researchers have established such a causal relationship, the “complete replacement hypothesis” has become the mainstream theory for a long time.
However, the international journal Quaternary International published the latest research progress made by Dr. Ge Yong and Gao Xing, a researcher from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, on the origin of modern humans. The study believes that the eruption of Mount Doba did not lead to global cooling and human extinction, so the eruption of Mount Doba cannot be used to support the “complete replacement hypothesis.”
Human activities outside Africa have not stopped
In order to clarify the impact of this volcanic eruption, Ge Yong, Gao Xing and other researchers collected global high-resolution geological records covering the eruption period of the Doba volcano. The collection objects include ice cores, stalagmites and lake sediments, as well as Europe, Archaeological records of Asia and Africa to comprehensively assess the impact of Mount Doba on the earth’s environment and ancient humans.
Through a comprehensive analysis of various records, the researchers found that the eruption of the Dopa volcano that appeared about 74,000 years ago did not cause global climate cooling and environmental degradation, and that human activities outside tropical Africa have also occurred since then. Did not cut off.
“Therefore, there is no global cooling and human extinction event caused by the eruption of Mount Doba, and the eruption of Mount Doba cannot be used to support the’complete replacement hypothesis.” Ge Yong said. As an important scientific issue, the origin of modern people should be treated more carefully and discussed in depth.
At the same time, with the development of paleoenvironment, archaeology and molecular biology and the accumulation of related evidence, more and more evidences show that Neanderthal and Denisovan genes also exist in the living population. , While Neanderthals and Denisovans were all races that were extinct between 20,000 and 30,000 years ago. In the past, these ancient humans were believed to have made no contribution to the evolution of living populations.
“So judging from the various evidences available now, the eruption of Mount Toba does not have the ability to cause the extinction of humans outside of tropical Africa, and whether the event of human extinction outside of tropical Africa really exists? It is worth reconsidering, that is,’the theory of the complete replacement hypothesis may be biased.’ Ge Yong said that when discussing the origin of modern humans, supporters of the two hypotheses need to find more strong evidence instead of using Dopa. The volcanic eruption was used as a tool to resolve disputes.
There is no evolutionary interruption and substitution for modern people in East Asia
Regarding the origin of modern man, in addition to the “complete replacement hypothesis”, there is also the “regional evolution hypothesis”.
The “regional evolution hypothesis” believes that there is no such thing as “human extinction outside tropical Africa”. In other words, after the eruption of the Toba volcano, the native populations in various regions were never extinct, and there may be hybridization with African populations. “The main basis for this hypothesis lies in various archeological evidence, such as the spread and inheritance of stone tool technology, the continuation of human activities, etc.” Ge Yong said.
Regarding the origin of modern people in East Asia, Gao Xing once said that since the discovery of “Beijing people”, especially since the German anatomist and physical anthropologist Wei Dunrui put forward the hypothesis of “multi-regional evolution”, the East Asian population has been in a long time. The inner is considered to be a continuous evolution, that is, from Homo erectus to early Homo sapiens, late Homo sapiens, to the living population, there is no interruption and replacement of evolution.
Xujiayao-Houjiayao, Beiyao, Dadiwan, Xujiacheng, Sarawusu, Ulan Mulun, Zhijidong, Qinling Sites, Jingshuiwan, Huanglong Cave and other sites of the stratigraphic and dating data show There is no material gap between 100,000 and 40,000 years ago in the land of Shenzhou, and the chain of human evolution has not been interrupted during this period. This makes the “complete replacement hypothesis” supporters of the so-called “blank period” of existence material self-defeating.
“Through the characteristics of the raw materials of stone products and the methods of development and utilization, the production technology of stone tools, the types, forms and combinations of stone products, and the evolution of regional cultural traditions, we can see that the Paleolithic culture of China and the entire East Asian region is in the same line. , Which shows that the ancient people living here are native, endless, and continuous evolution.” Gao Xing said.
However, the eruption of the Doba volcano has led to the “extinction of humans outside tropical Africa” and its impact is still far-reaching, not only in scientific debates, but also in many film and television works and popular science lectures. Ge Yong said that this view should obviously not continue to exist. Although the scale of the Doba volcano eruption is indeed large, it may only have a short-term devastating impact on the area near the Doba volcano, and does not affect the earth’s climate system. And the environment has undergone drastic changes, and it does not have the ability to cause global extinction.
