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The view that modern humans evolved through a bottleneck from a single founding group of archaic Homo is being challenged by new analyses of contemporary genetic variation. A wide range of middle to late Pleistocene ages for gene genealogies and evidence for early population structures point to a diverse and scattered ancestry associated with a metapopulation history of local extinctions, re-colonization and admixture. A different balance of the same processes has shaped chimpanzee diversity.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.gde.2004.08.010

Type

Journal article

Journal

Curr Opin Genet Dev

Publication Date

12/2004

Volume

14

Pages

667 - 674

Keywords

Africa, Biological Evolution, Demography, Genetic Variation, Genetics, Population, History, Ancient, Humans, Paleontology